Parents wishing to protect their children from some of the less savoury aspects of the Internet can avail of a number of options.

The most widely-used method of restricting access to sites considered unsuitable for young people is the software Net Nanny, available through most computer stores and sold by some of the Internet providers, such as Indigo. It costs £39.95, and is installed by the computer owners on top of their Internet access package. It blocks access to pornography, explicit violence and ability to give credit card numbers out over the net.

Ireland On Line (iol) has launched its Ireland On-Line Family service. It is a full Internet access service especially tailored to a family's needs. As well as the regular service, it provides a regularly updated "walled" children-only zone as well as full Internet access to adults using the same computer. It cost £25 to register and then either £15 a month or £150 a year.

Telecom Eireann's service provider, tinet, recommends Cyber patrol to its customers. It also provides it in all its computers in school customers and in Ennis as the Information Age town. Cyber patrol filters out offensive material, though it can be overridden with a password. It can be bought as a piece of software for about £25 or can be downloaded from the site www.cyberpatrol.co.uk