Microsoft Family Safety Filter Blocks Google

mike.rimov writes "I saw that part of the brand new Windows Live package is the Family Safety Filter, so I decided to give it a spin. Turned it on, set it to 'basic filtering' (their lowest level), and went to Google ... oops, it blocks Google! So I logged into the settings and added Google as an exception. Google still wouldn't come up. Just in case, I turned off the family filter: voila, Google. As we all know, 'Don't be evil' is not part of Microsoft's motto! Oh yeah — and with the filter on, Microsoft's own search engine, live.com comes up." Anomaly?

Comments

Eh?

[Computershack]

I'd love to know WTF the author has done. It's never blocked Google on the three lappies its installed on here.

Possible related to Google filtering options?

[nlewis]

I seem to recall a much older filtering software package (I don't recall which offhand - DansGuardian, maybe?) that will block Google if you have disabled "SafeSearch" in the Advanced Preferences - that is, if you have it set to "Do not filter my search results."

Re:Possible related to Google filtering options?

[nlewis]

Following up on my own post, yes it is DansGuardian that can be configured to block Google searches if Google SafeSearch is turned off. So maybe Microsoft's filter is taking a similar approach? The obvious thing to try is to turn off the MS filter, check your Google preferences and make sure SafeSearch is enabled, then turn the filter back on and see if the problem persists.

Blogger's navigation bar was blocked

[Kligat]

The navigation bar of Google's Blogger website was blocked for me. Random things were blocked that weren't noticeable as missing, popping up every time, so it felt like spyware. I tried to turn it off through Ctrl+Alt+Delete (actually, Ctrl+Shift+Esc since I use Vista). The process would not let itself die and restarted itself over and over. Then it blocked Wikipedia, I think before or after I went to "Stop Service." I asked if the owner of the computer meant to install it, and sure enough, it was hidden in some automatic update crap. The same automatic update crap rolls back my graphics drivers to the lazily outdated computer manufacturer-approved one, rather than the newest Intel one. The former has a problem with rendering bumpmaps on 3D objects so that if you're looking at an object with a bumpmap in front of an object with a bumpmap, both bumpmaps are rendered on the object nearest the camera. The latter fixes it. It also used to replace my wireless card driver with a driver from the same manufacturer meant for wirelessly communicating with other computers in a local area network, though this hasn't been a problem since I stopped using that card.

Re:First Post!

[El Lobo]

No, seriously. Gotta love SlashDot. Just submit an anecdotal story (with anti Microsoft content of course) and it may be published in the main page without any research or the minimal am mount of testing. This filter is installed in every single computer in my kid's school and no... Googgle is not blocked. Asked the technician that installed it and... no, out of the box: big G is not blocked either. Of course THIS anecdote would never get published here.

Way to go /., keep throwing your reputation down (not that is there any serious reputation left in this place, ow ever was for that matter).

It operates in two modes, blacklist and whitelist.

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows Live Family Safety operates in two modes: basic and strict.

In BASIC mode, it uses a BLACKLIST to filter adult web content (porn). This mode is intended for teenagers, guests, etc. Google is available.

In STRICT mode it uses a WHITELIST limited to a small list of children's sites (Nick, Barney, Barbie, etc) plus custom sites the parent can add. This is designed for young children who really aren't going to care that they can't visit Google, nor CNN.com, nor Slashdot. This mode is to keep kids entertained.

The author of the post was probably running in STRICT mode and didn't realize the purpose of the software.

Re:Wait a minute... This is important...

[PhxBlue]

Clippy: You appear to be spreading misinformation about your competitor's products. Would you like assistance?

If Google doesn't want to be excluded, provide freaking intelligent results or results that can be ensured to not have donkey goat porn, which apparently Google can't do or doesn't want to do effectively.

Umm ... you mean like SafeSearch?

Re:First Post!

[hairyfeet]

Nah, they BOTH suck with the evilness. Vote for the underdog. Go Yahoo! And be sure to check out the 'more tab(it is that little blue tab just below the search box) as it makes finding related searches MUCH quicker IMHO than MSFT or Google. It is just a shame the guys that made the GUI didn't think to label the damned button.

But it gives you the "more" links on the left and related concepts on the right. VERY handy and an easy way to drill down to what you are looking for. So much better than the 'more' button at the top of Google that just gives you more Google crap like Google blogs. So support the underdog. Go Yahoo!