CNET Editors' review
This free monitoring program gets into the fight to keep your kids safe from online predators, but it failed to flag some sexually explicit terms in our tests. IMSafer doesn't have an interface. You'll perform all configurations and view content on the publisher's Web page, IMSafer.com.
After creating an account by submitting an e-mail address and password, the program is ready to monitor and send e-mail alerts. We like that you don't have to enter IM account names, as IMSafer automatically detects AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Trillian, and Adium, although the free version will only monitor one account at a time. The software sorts through conversations for inappropriate text, looking for requests for visits or phone numbers, obscene language, and sexual references.
These conversations are immediately flagged and sent to the specified e-mail address in real time, once a day or once a week. You'll have to log on to the publisher's site to view the details. Unfortunately, you can't tweak the program to identify specific language and it failed to flag sexually explicit terms during testing. While it has some nice features, this program's inability to capture all potentially dangerous conversations means your kids aren't totally protected.
Publisher's Description
From IMSafer:
IMSafer chat protection helps protect your children from online predators. IMSafer scans instant messenger (IM) conversations in real time, and looks for predator issues. We don't seek to spy on your children. Another great feature of IMSafer is our reputation system. Any time IMSafer presents you with a notification in a conversation between your child and someone else, you can vote on the perceived threat level of that other person. That way, when that person talks to another child using a computer protected by IMSafer, we can let their parents know right away.
What's new in this version: This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.
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All versions:
5.0 starsout of 2 votes
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Current version:
5.0 starsout of 2 votes
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My rating:
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Results 1-2 of 2
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"GREAT"
Version: IMSafer 1
Pros
Its just a great product for all parents who have kids. I reccomend you download the latest from imsafer.com It will monitor like verything from Myspace to facebook. AIM to MSN. It hides in the background so no one knows and it is not in the start menu. It wont even slow down your pc. It will capture conversations, and images. It auto knows when a new user is found.
Cons
Whats not to like? Its free
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"Great product"
Version: IMSafer 1
Pros
As the CEO of IMSafer, I am obviously very partial. It's a great product, and my team and I are very committed to solving the problem of keeping kids safe online. We do have an issue with the CNET review because the reviewer doesn't understand that we don't flag single words that are sexually explicit. The whole point of our software is to prevent overloading parents with data about what their kids are doing online, and our language analysis engine looks for things that are potentially dangerous. Saying "*****" won't trigger an alert, but saying "can I see your *****" will. It's that level of complexity in our engine's analysis that makes IMSafer so unique.
