Net Nanny for Mac FAQs
How do I block or allow specific web sites using Net Nanny for Mac?
You have two different was to unlock a specific website:
- 1st way - You want to unlock a blocked web site:
- When the Net Nanny blocked webpage is displayed in your browser, click on the "Allow this website" link.
- A dialog should appear. You can customize the unlocked address.
- Click on the unlock button, and enter your Net Nanny password or your Mac OS X administrator password when asked.
- 2nd way - You want to lock or unlock a specific web site:
- Open Net Nanny, and select the appropriate user.
- Make sure the selected profile is "Customized".
- Click on Filters, then Web. Make sure Web Filtering is enabled (the checkbox next to Web should be checked).
- Look at the selected Mode.
- If the mode is "Filter Access By category":
- Display the exception list. In order to do so, click on the book icon, below the list of categories.
- Add a new exception in the list by clicking the + (plus) button.
- Type the appropriate URL. You do not have to type the "http://" prefix.
- Click on the "Stop" / "Go" icon in order to always block (Stop) or always allow (Go) this website.
- If the mode is "Restrict to specific websites":
- A list of allowed websites is displayed. You can add an allowed website by clicking on the + (plus) button. Then, you can edit the URL
- You can remove an allowed website by selecting it and clicking on the - (minus) button.
NOTE: For best results when adding a URL to the Blocked Sites list, or the Trusted Sites list, make sure to add the URL without the www. For example, if you are trying to block www.yahoo.com, type yahoo.com as URL.
My SMTP server uses a special port, but I don't see a port field. How can I set up email to send via a server that uses a special port?
Simply type serveraddress.com:port as server address. (For example, smtp.intego.com:1234 )
I want to be sent a record of my child's Internet use. How do I set up email notifications in Net Nanny for Mac?
- Launch the Net Nanny application
- In the Net Nanny menu, select "Preferences..."
- Click on the "Reporting" button
- Click on the "Configure..." button next to "Account Information:"
- In the newly opened dialog, enter a Recipient email address (where you want the log sent to), a Sender email address (what email address it will use to send it), and the address of your SMTP server (to relay outgoing email). You can check your mail client for the SMTP server or contact your ISP to find out what it is. You may also have to add a User Name and a Password if your SMTP server required authentication
- Click on the Ok button
- Check the 'Send log report every' box - You can choose to have the log emailed to you every hour, day, or week
- You can check "Report only blocked accesses" if you only want to be informed about blocked web pages.
- You can also check the box to immediately 'Send Anti-Predator notifications' to the same recipient email address
I use Firefox and Safari. Will Net Nanny for Mac work with more than one browser?
Net Nanny for Mac is browser independent. It works with all browsers: Apple's Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and others.
Net Nanny for Mac's filtering engine captures data before it goes to the application level, so no matter which browser you use, you're protected.
I found a site that contains offensive content but it was not blocked by Net Nanny for Mac. What do I do?
Please feel free to send any URLs of questionable content by email to submit@netnanny.com. We will use this information to update and improve our filters.
The Net Nanny for Mac filters are updated on a regular basis. You should always make sure to keep both Net Nanny for Mac and its filters up to date using the integrated update mechanism.
Filter updates include URLs that were submitted to the submit@netnanny.com address. If your filters are out of date, you will not see the end result of your submissions to submit@netnanny.com.
To check for updated Net Nanny for Mac filters: In the Net Nanny for Mac application: on the Update toolbar, at the top of the main window, click on the 'Check Now' button. Net Nanny will check to see if any filter or application updates are available.
Why is it important to update my Net Nanny for Mac filters?
The Net Nanny for Mac filters contain a 'known URL list' that contains the URLs of sites that are known to have objectionable material on them; this list is always growing and changing.
Filter updates include URLs that were submitted to the submit@netnanny.com address. If your filters are out of date, - you will not see the end result of submissions to submit@netnanny.com
If there are other URLs that you think should be on our filter list you can submit them to submit@netnanny.com.
To update your Net Nanny for Mac filters:
In the Net Nanny for Mac application, on the Update toolbar, at the bottom of the main window, click on the 'Check Now' button. Net Nanny will check to see if any filter or application updates are available.
I added a site to my 'Blocked Sites' list but I can still load the page in my web browser. Why?
This may be caused by your browser's cache settings. The 'cache' feature of web browsers was developed as a way to speed Internet access at a time when most users were using slow dial-up access. When a page is loaded, your browser places the page in its 'cache', and, rather than reload the page from the Internet, it reads the page from its cache files on the hard drive. If the browser could read the files from the hard drive rather than wait for a download each time a page was asked for, it would appear much faster.
In, for example, Safari's Safari menu you can choose Empty Cache to delete all cache files. This will force Safari to reload web pages that it has already downloaded. Other browsers have a similar menu command. You can also reload a page in any browser by holding down the Shift key before the page loads.
How do I secure Net Nanny for Mac's settings from being changed?
To add an administrator password to Net Nanny for Mac:
- Launch the Net Nanny application
- Click on the Net Nanny menu (The Net Nanny menu is located in the upper left hand corner of the screen next to the apple icon.)
- Click on Preferences
- Click on Password
- Check the 'Protect Net Nanny for Mac X with a password' box
- Set an administrator password.
- Close the Net Nanny for Mac application
You will need to enter the administrator password every time the Net Nanny for Mac application is opened.
Users without the administrator password will have no access to the Net Nanny for Mac application
Further security under Mac OS X:
Net Nanny for Mac is a content control program: it is designed to filter and block certain Internet content according to the settings you choose.
Net Nanny for Mac is not designed to limit a user's access to the Macintosh itself.
Net Nanny for Mac does not include functions for limiting access to applications, control panels, files on the hard drive, or system files.
Mac OS X is a multi-user environment. Net Nanny for Mac for Mac OS X should be used in conjunction with the built-in security features of Mac OS X. We suggest that you set up at least two separate accounts on the machine: one for yourself to act as Administrator, and another account for the filtered user that does not have Administrator privileges. You can do this through System Preferences in the 'Accounts' pane. If your filtered user does not already have a user account, click the 'New User...' button. This will open a form that you will need to fill out with information for the user's name, password, etc. The important step here is to NOT check the box for 'Allow user to administer this computer'. Click OK to create the new user account.
If your filtered user already has an account, in the 'Accounts' pane of System Preferences, choose this user then click on 'Edit User...'. Make sure that the box for 'Allow this user to administer this computer' is NOT checked.
While in the 'Accounts pane, let's turn our attention to the Admin account. You are probably going to want to change this information to match yourself. You should also change the password to something that your filtered user will not know.
If this computer is used mainly by your filtered user, you may want to use the 'Set Auto Login...' feature of 'Accounts' to log this account in at start-up. At least make sure that it does not still log in the Admin account automatically.
As an ongoing precaution you will need to make sure that you do not leave the machine logged in as the Administrator when your filtered user is using it; always log out the Administration account.
What is the best way to set up Net Nanny for Mac to prevent my child from accessing inappropriate sites?
Set up at least two separate accounts on your Mac. One for yourself to act as Administrator, and another account for your child's use that does not act as an administrator. You can do this through System Preferences in the 'Accounts' pane. If your child does not already have a user account, click the 'New User...' button. This will open a form that you will need to fill out with information for the user's name, password, etc. The important step here is to NOT check the box for 'Allow user to administer this computer'. Click OK to create the new user account.
If your filtered user already has an account, in the 'Accounts' pane of System Preferences, choose this user then click on 'Edit User...'. Make sure that the box for 'Allow this user to administer this computer' is NOT checked.
While in the 'Accounts pane, let's turn our attention to the Admin account. You are probably going to want to change this information to match yourself. You should also change the password to something that your filtered user will not know.
If this computer is used mainly by your child, you may want to use the 'Set Auto Login...' feature of 'Accounts' to log this account in at start-up. At least make sure that it does not still log in the Admin account automatically.
As an ongoing precaution you will need to make sure that you do not leave the machine logged in as the Administrator when your filtered user is using it; always log out the Administration account.
Once you have set up the non-admin account for your child to use, launch Net Nanny for Mac. Choose the new non-admin user from the drop down menu in Net Nanny for Mac. You can customize the filtering to be age-appropriate for the child by blocking some types of sites and not others.
The No Access preset will block all Internet access. The Filtered Access preset will filter all the topics in the filter list.
Net Nanny for Mac isn't filtering my child's Internet access...
If you return to Net Nanny for Mac, are the changes you made to settings of the user which is not filtering still as you left them, or did they revert back to the default settings? If they did revert back, use the "Disk Utility" program in the "Utilities" folder inside the "Applications" folder to "Repair Permissions" on your hard drive. This will usually solve this problem.
Are you using any type of "web accelerator" software? These packages often act as proxy servers that run directly on your machine and use the address "localhost" to route your web requests. Net Nanny for Mac does not filter the "localhost" address due to the problems that this may create for the operating system. Some web accelerators can be reconfigured to use another address.
This problem might be caused by your browser's cache settings. When you switched to filtered access, your browser still had the pages you want to filter in its 'cache', and, rather than reload the page from the internet, it reads the page from its cache files on the hard drive. The browser cache is separate for each user account on the Mac.
In Safari, there is an "Empty Cache" command under the "Safari" menu at the top of the screen; other browsers have a similar command. Use this to remove the cached pages.
The cache feature of browsers was developed as a way to speed Internet access at a time when most users were using slow dial-up access. If the browser could read the files from the hard drive rather wait for a download each time a page was asked for, it would appear much faster.
How do I delete some of the preset sentences in Net Nanny for Mac's anti-predator phrase list?
You cannot delete the preset sentences Net Nanny for Mac anti-predator phrase list, but you can disable them, by uncheking the boxes in the Chat filter preferences. Just make sure the user has the Custom profile selected.
Net Nanny for Mac keeps redirecting my searches back to Yahooligans. How can I stop this?
- Launch the Net Nanny application.
- Click on Filters
- Click on Web
- Switch "Redirect search engine to" popup to "Do not redirect".
I cannot seem to block www.myspace.com using Net Nanny for Mac. How can I get Net Nanny for Mac to block MySpace without entering every single MySpace URL into the blocked list?
Create a category in the web filters list. You can name it whatever you like (ex: Social Networking). Add "myspace" (minus the quotes) as a keyword. You can do this for any social networking site like Friendster, FaceBook, tribe.net, etc...
It may also be helpful to add variations to the keyword list as well. For instance add "myspace", "myspace.com", "MYSPACE", and "MYSPACE.COM".
Be sure to empty your browser cache when you make these changes. Then test to make sure the sites are being blocked. In Safari to empty the cache, go to the Safari menu and choose Empty Cache. Other browsers have a similar command.
If you come across any sites that are not being blocked that you feel should be blocked, please send the URL to submit@netnanny.com.
Is Net Nanny for Mac compatible with Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) and Lion (Mac OS X 10.7)?
Yes, Net Nanny for Mac is compatible with Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion.
My subscription should still be active but now the software has a red message that says 'Your subscription expired' at the top. Why is it saying this?
Some slower PowerPC-based Macs may see this behavior which is purely cosmetic. Your software is still active and working. If the software had actually expired you would be prompted to renew and the software would no longer filter.
How do I manage my licenses and seats from "My Account"?
If you need to purchase additional seats (licenses) for Net Nanny you can do so by logging into "My Account" or by contacting customer support.
On occasion, you will uninstall Net Nanny to free-up an extra license, but when attempting to reinstall Net Nanny you receive an error message saying you've exceeded the number of seats/installs for that particular license. This usually happens because you were not connected to the internet or your firewall blocked Net Nanny from contacting our servers when you uninstalled.
You can now manage your Net Nanny licenses from "My Account". Once logged in, simply “Deactivate” the uninstalled computers to free up those seats.
What happens if I accidentally "deactivate" the wrong computer in "My Account"?
No need to worry, as long as Net Nanny is installed, Net Nanny will eventually reactivate itself and synchronize with your "My Account".
I uninstalled Net Nanny on one computer so I can install it an alternate computer, but I get an error message saying I've reached the maximum number of installs for this license.
This usually happens because you are not connected to the internet or your firewall may be blocking Net Nanny from contacting our servers while uninstalling Net Nanny. To free up that license, simply log into "My Account" and select "Deactivate" for the appropriate computers.
I uninstalled Net Nanny on the computer named "Living Room Computer" but when I log into "My Account", it still says Net Nanny is still activated on that computer.
This usually happens because you are not connected to the internet or your firewall may be blocking Net Nanny from contacting our servers while uninstalling Net Nanny. To free up that license, simply log into "My Account" and select "Deactivate" for the appropriate computers.
I'm in "My Account" and I want to "deactivate" Net Nanny on an old computer but I don't know the name of the computer. How can I tell which one to deactivate?
- Go to the computer you wish to Deactivate.
- On the Windows Desktop, right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties"
- In the System Properties window, select the "Computer Name" tab
- Take note of the full computer name
How to set up email notifications
Enter a sender's name, then enter one or more recipient e-mail addresses.
To add addresses, click +, then type an e-mail address. To delete any e-mail addresses, select them and click -.
You must also enter your outgoing mail server; if you don't know this, check the settings in
your e-mail program, or ask your ISP or your computer's administrator.
Finally, if your e-mail account uses some form of authentication, select the authentication method, and enter your user name and password. Only enter authentication information if you are sure that your email account requires it. Again, check your e-mail program to see if you have authentication set, or contact your ISP or administrator.
What if I forgot my password?
If you don't remember your password, you can use the download below to uninstall and reinstall to set a new one up.
Net Nanny for Mac
http://www.netnanny.com/downloads/169
How do I stop getting blocked for HTTPS?
Login to Net Nanny and click on Web and then on Advanced and uncheck the box next to Block Secure Web Sites.
How do I enter a new serial number?
Open Net Nanny and then click on the Net Nanny in the upper left and then on Enter Serial Number and enter the new serial number.
How do I change my Net Nanny for Mac password?
Open Net Nanny then click on the Net Nanny in the upper left hand corner of the monitor and then on Preferences. The option to change your password is found there.