This application blocks pornographic images from loading on your system although some lewd material still seeps through its mechanisms. PicBlocks doesn't use keywords to block URLs based on content so parents be warned: offensive terms and text are viewable. PicBlock's standard interface allows you to adjust its restriction levels from mild to normal to strict, but strangely enough no clarification is given as to what each level permits and prohibits. You can choose to display a pop-up notification from the system tray, a prompt, or a simple blink from the tray each time a site with porn images is loading. A hot-key combo can be used to unblock Web sites you'd like to gain full access to and PicBlock will automatically place the URL on your safe list for future visits. While some images were blurred out of sight, it didn't obscure every vulgar image on several Web pages, even at its strictest configuration during testing. Although free, we can't readily recommend this program since offensive images and text may still be viewable by children.
What’s new in version 4.2.4
Version 4.2.4 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
EVERYTHING LIKE SLOWING DOWN YOU COMPUTER, CAN'T GO ON THE INTERNET, DOES NOT EVEN BLOCK PORN I TESTED IT, IT ONLY BLOCKS NONE PORN STUFF ONLY THINGS THAT ARE NOT PORN SO PLEASE DON'T MAKE AN OTHER ONE PLEASE!!!
Summary
BAD!!!
I downloaded and it's not blocking porn pics & videos.
missyconrad
Pros
Nothing yet, not working
Cons
That it is not blocking like it should
Summary
Why is it not working ?
Good start, needs work
DereksDiscourseDotCom
Pros
Blurs out bad pictures
On some sites, it kept the faces but blurred out the naughty bits
Cons
Blurs out regular pics
Unblocking sites still didn't help
Could not shut down program with taskmgr (BIG CON)
Summary
The bottom line is this a great start, but it needs work. Hand this concept over to the OpenSource community and let them have a crack at it. The fact of the matter is, I went to one porn site and it blocked out the girls breasts and lower regions, but kept her face clear. Bad thing is, it also blocked a ton of google news and drudgereport pics as well. Download Ad-Block Plus and use it until they find something better.
Kills internet connection/system restore at uninstall.
aLifeBringer
Pros
None, it didn't work at all.
Cons
Kills upon uninstall, I had to re-image my machine!
Doesn't work with anything I had.
Gave me an ICA proxy error (with no proxy setup) and stopped letting my PC from renewing my IP (repair) upon restart.
I had XP SP3 build 2600 or 2100
Summary
Beware of this seemingly suspicious application! It brought me down (with several good antivirus running) and it'll bring your PC down.
I waster 2 hours getting my laptop re-imaged for this mess.<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Jan 24, 2010<p/>Just to clarify, this killed my PCs ability to gain an IP address, use safe mode and conduct a system restore.
I tried restoring the original system files and that didn't help either. :-(
good i like it
Tabby1983
Pros
good I like it
Cons
good I like it
Summary
good/great
Great idea too long in coming.
CraftyPip
Pros
FREE and Easy to setup and configure
Cons
Lack of recognition of pornographic images , and false positives
Summary
PicBlock 3 is a great idea which, on the face of it, should be a solution to web pages with pornograghic content. It is simple to install and use and the setup options are easy to understand but, it falls flat on its face when it comes to pornographic picture recognition. The program was tested using IE 7 and sure enough it blocked the offending pages form opening. However, adjusting the settings to allow the page to load but to have the offending pictures pixalated out did not function correctly at all with any of the availble settings .
False positives will occur as expected owing to the very nature of the recognition process, and some people may be offended by the taxi on the cover of Taxi 3 Extreme Rush or the logo for Kaspersky, to name but two innoucuous pictures which were pixalated, but when it came to the outright naked pornography, the images remained for all to see.
I can only rate PicBlock with 2 stars, one for the concept of the program and one for its limited recognition or lack thereof
Good general picture blocker.
David
Pros
Generally worked.
Cons
Not always effective.
Summary
It did not seem to work well on certain web sites.
WARNING! MALWARE! DO NOT INSTALL!
coolijive
Pros
Nice concept...
Cons
Would not install properly, even with security apps disabled. Lots of error messages. Attempting to uninstall kills internet access, System Restore, and Safe Mode! Computer functions slowed by over 1000 percent! No response from tech support.
Summary
DON"T RISK THE STABILITY AND FUNCTIONALITY OF YOUR SYSTEM!
Worked then crashed. Not worth the trouble.
cfd15
Pros
Great idea and it worked initially. Blocked some non-pornographic pictures, but generally did block pornographic ones.
Cons
Began to fail at startup, both on XP SP2 and Vista Home Premium. Worse yet, even after supposedly closing the application (an option once the error occurred), it caused Windows Explorer to close repeatedly, again under both OSs. Bottom line: Not worth the trouble.
Summary
Works as described!
thorin_2
Pros
A cool, free alternative to the bloated parental control tools on the market. I love the fact that my daughter can still use search engines for her homework assignment, and know she'll be protected. It does a good job of blocking images - tested by using MSN and Google image search with strict control turned off, and searched for terms such as nude, naked, bikini, etc. and it blocked virtually all of image results. Yet innocuous pictures were not blocked (for the most part). I couldn't tell how well the image blocking worked on regular word searches because picblock’s bad word filtering kept blocking any sexually explicit word I tried, in both English and Spanish. I'm pretty happy with it so far.
Cons
Sometimes benign images are blocked. When that happens I usually unblock them and then add the web site to picblock's "safe" list. That way my kids don't ask me 10 times a day to unblock some wrongly blocked image.
