Staying Safe Online

General Tips

The Family Online Safety Institues https://www.fosi.org is a good source for helpful information regarding internet safety. Be sure to visit Tips For Keeping Your Teen Safe Online
The kids.usa.gov site has some good resources for internet safety. kids.usa.gov/parents/online-safety/index.shtml
PC Magazine recommendations for hardware and software to keep kids safe. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346997,00.asp
Making sure you have your privacy settings set correctly on Facebook is important. Here’s some good tips for checking them http://download.cnet.com/blog/download-blog/how-to-protect-your-privacy-...
All computers should have up to date virus and malware protection. I would not recommend free antivirus software and would suggest something like TrendMicro or Kaspersky.

Software for monitoring and content filtering

Software has the advantage of being able to monitor multiple users and behaviors including social media and time tracking. Some disadvantages are that it must be installed on any device with access to the web and can have a slight performance impact on devices.

Net Nanny netnanny.com gets top ratings for content filtering and time monitoring.
Veriato veriato.com is a true spy/monitoring software that can be installed on a device undetected and monitor most activities. Using this type of software could erode trust between family members.
Norton Family Premier https://us.norton.com/norton-family-premier receives the best ratings for protecting Android users.

Hardware monitoring and content filtering

Hardware content management requires a router that filters all network traffic across your home internet connection. The disadvantage is that it does not protect your child outside of the home.

iboss Home Internet Parental Control ibosshome.com/home_integration.html is one of the leaders in home network protection.

Free content filtering

opendns.com has two free filtering options which require using their DNS servers and can block content for your entire home network. Some technical skill is required to setup routers with the appropriate settings. Directions for setting up their Family Shield can be found here https://support.opendns.com/entries/46060260-FamilyShield-Router-Configu...
www1.k9webprotection.com offers software based filtering for free. While it does a good job of filtering it has several drawbacks including no user customization.
If you have a Verizon Wireless account, you can turn on content filtering for your devices.
Both Google Play Store and the Apple App Store allow content filtering of apps provided that a parent controls the password of the account.