Blue Coat upgrades their K9 web protection software

Blue Coat Systems released an update to its free, award-winning K9 Web Protection Internet filtering software. New features include Windows Vista support, additional safeguards for “social networking” sites and new Web category and email/password management capabilities, giving parents more protection and control over their family’s use of the Internet.

Designed for parents and families, K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat’s enterprise and government customers worldwide. K9 Web Protection divides the Internet into 60 categories, relying on Blue Coat’s commercial filtering database that maintains and automatically updates approximately 15 million ratings. Parents can configure the software to block or allow specific categories such as pornography, spyware, and adult/mature content, and also block access to the web at selected times of day.

New features include:

” Windows Vista Support. In addition to supporting Windows 2000 and Windows XP, K9 Web Protection now supports the new Windows Vista operating system, enabling families upgrading to or purchasing Vista to still be protected without interruption.

” Enhanced Web Categories, including “Social Networking.” Due to the increased popularity of social networking sites like myspace.com, facebook.com, xanga.com, and the potential dangers they bring, K9 Web Protection now includes a separate Social Networking category, giving families the option to allow or block access to this specific type of site. In addition, Web category protection levels have been modified to an age-appropriate rating system.

” Email and Password Change Options. In the previous version of K9 Web Protection, changing email addresses and passwords required an email request to tech support. The new option gives parents the ability to make changes and updates directly within the administration function.