Internet Safari is the newcomer on the kids browser block. Internet safety for children is something that I have been quite passionate about for many years. I have seen too many thing happen with children in my community, and online. While our family used Surfmonkey rather faithfully, I was willing to give this one a try. My kids liked the layout and format much better. Considering the changes Surfmonkey has undergone this past month, Internet Safari is now the winner in our house.

While Internet Safari lacks the tight sign-up constraints placed on kids using SurfMonkey, Internet Safari is more useable, and does not include the chat feature, which some parents do not like. The chats on Surfmonkey, frankly, were a ridiculous waste of time. They consisted poorly monitored rooms with animated bugs dancing around doing nothing productive.

Internet Safari also does not include the extremely strict e-mail configuration found at SurfMonkey. Your kids will get their own e-mail address, however. SurfMonkey demands that you as a parent accept any e-mail that is from someone you have not specifically said was 'OK'. Internet Safari is a good screener, but is not set up in such a fashion. While I like the extremely tight security of Surfmonkey's e-mail system, they are now charging a per month fee which I will not be paying. I did not feel that the features were worth the extra monthly expense, and the chats were becoming really annoying.

The safari interface is very nice, and my own kids and test kids loved it. You can type in the URL of any website by clicking on the animated jeep. If it is an unacceptable website, your child is given a cute message (read aloud) stating that there is "trouble up ahead, why don't we take a different route." There are other cute messages for bad links, and slow servers.

My daughter has enjoyed the Ask Jeeves site, but I must admit the links are not always acceptable. This program lets kids ask questions in the same straight-forward fashion, but routes them through Ask Jeeves for Kids. They came across nothing 'truly' offensive, but some parents won't be thrilled with the 'teenie-bopper' links that will show up.

If your kids need a bit more direction, the Safari mode is wonderful. My younger kids are always asking me to come up with interesting places to go on the Internet (usually while I'm cooking dinner or something!) Click on the Internet Safari icon, and you are whisked to base camp. From here you can visit hundreds of links that are pre-approved, and set up in an easy to navigate fashion. The screen shot above shows the various routes you can take from base camp.

Every time your child signs online, the program checks for updates in the background, keeping the program up to date and functional. A new version due out in September promises to be an even stronger product rivaling the 'big boys' of the Internet. Your kids will have a fully functional browser that will keep them safe and directed in their explorations.

I also appreciated the fact that this browser runs independent of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. When we used the original SurfMonkey browser, we had some problems with older kids being blocked from acceptable sites. Now when my younger kids want to get on the web I can just have them use the Internet Safari icon on the desktop. You can also install this on your home network, making it very versatile. This does not mean you do not have to be vigilant with your computer. Your kids can still access Internet Explorer or Navigator if you are not aware of what they are doing.

All in all, a good browser, with very useable interface