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Alvosecure Parental Control

Neil J. Rubenking
 & Neil J. Rubenking Principal Writer, Security

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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Alvosecure Parental Control silently monitors your child's online activity and blocks some (but not all) inappropriate sites. Smart kids will get around it easily, and its reports can be difficult to read. You can do better. - Parental Control
2.0 Subpar

The Bottom Line

Alvosecure Parental Control silently monitors your child's online activity and blocks some (but not all) inappropriate sites. Smart kids will get around it easily, and its reports can be difficult to read. You can do better.

Pros & Cons

    • Browser-independent.
    • Can block search and social media sites.
    • Captures social posts containing banned keywords along with social media login credentials.
    • Content filter easily defeated.
    • No per-user configuration.
    • Blocks valid URLs containing banned keywords as substrings.
    • Doesn't block identified porn sites.
    • Awkward reports don't identify user account associated with reported actions.
    • Protects just one PC; does not support other platforms.

Parental control and monitoring tools perform all kinds of tasks, hiding nasty websites, controlling children's screen time, monitoring online chats, and more. Alvosecure Parental Control is among the simplest products in this area, with very few configuration settings to worry about. Kids won't even necessarily know it's there. It falls down in our hands-on testing, however.

For $29.99 per year you can install the Web-based version of Alvosecure on a single PC. You configure the program and view reports via the Web portal, though for certain configuration changes you need to run a special program on the protected computer. There's also a non-Web version for $39.99, but that's a one-time cost. With this local client version, you perform configuration tasks on the protected computer and receive your reports via email. Site licensing is available for school installations.

Installation
To get started with Alvosecure, you either purchase a license or sign up for a free trial. During setup, you're offered the chance to enter your own keywords to help identify bad sites. At first, I thought this meant that every parent would have to make a full list of smutty words. I learned later that the ones you enter are in addition to the product's built-in keyword list. Whew! You also get a chance to set the initial configuration.

The next step is to install the software itself. The installer is dated and awkward, and it triggers a warning from Windows that the publisher could not be verified. That's not an auspicious start for a product that's meant to enhance family security (the company is aware of this warning). It pops up a separate window asking you to verify that you're an adult, that those being monitored are under 18, and that you stand as guardian to them. Another window collects your email address and the order number from your purchase or free trial. After a reboot, Alvosecure goes to work silently. It has no user interface and gives no indication of its presence. It's a true stealth installation.

Configuring Content Filtering
By default, Alvosecure monitors everything but blocks nothing. For testing, I set it to block inappropriate websites. Unlike ContentWatch Net Nanny 7, Symantec Norton Family Premier£14.99 for the First Year, One Device at Norton UK, and virtually all of its competitors, Alvosecure doesn't let you see or modify what it means by inappropriate, other than the ability to add your own keywords.

Alvosecure Parental Control Keywords

Final Thoughts

Alvosecure Parental Control silently monitors your child's online activity and blocks some (but not all) inappropriate sites. Smart kids will get around it easily, and its reports can be difficult to read. You can do better. - Parental Control

Alvosecure Parental Control

2.0 Subpar

Alvosecure Parental Control silently monitors your child's online activity and blocks some (but not all) inappropriate sites. Smart kids will get around it easily, and its reports can be difficult to read. You can do better.

About Our Expert

Neil J. Rubenking

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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