Ready to 
Google’s balls keep you safe
Jacqueline DiOrio
November 11, 2009 6:38 PM ET in Tech
It can be incredibly hard–in fact, virtually impossible–for today’s parents to keep their children from finding naughty things on the Internet. However, in an effort to make it a little bit safer, Google is now allowing parents to lock the engine’s SafeSearch level.
SafeSearch allows users to specify how NSFW they want their search results to be. While some items can still slip through, setting the function to “moderate” prevents most bad images from showing up, and strict search monitors both images and websites.
The new function allows users to lock Google at “strict search,” and also changes the appearance of the Google logo in the left upper corner of the screen. Instead of saying Google, large colored balls appear, which allow parents and teachers to spot whether or not Google is locked from across the room.
If you’d like to employ the SafeSearch lock, Google has published a how-to video.
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