Covering the rest of the computer

What a Chrome extension can and cannot do, and what to use for the rest

What Porn Filter does not cover

Porn Filter is a Chrome extension. Chrome gives an extension access to Chrome and to nothing else, which is the right design — an extension that could read other programs would be a far worse thing to install. The consequence is worth saying plainly: Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave and Opera are not covered. Nor are apps — Telegram, Discord, Reddit, a game’s built-in browser — or another user account on the same computer.

If a browser is installed and Porn Filter is not in it, that browser is open. Removing the other browsers, or covering them with one of the tools below, is what closes the gap. Nothing on this page is made by us and none of it needs Porn Filter; use whatever fits your machine.

macOS — Screen Time

Built into macOS and locked with its own passcode.

1. Open System Settings → Screen Time in the sidebar. For a child’s account in a Family Sharing group, choose them under Family first.
2. Open Content & Privacy and turn it on, then open App Store, Media, Web, & Games.
3. Under the web setting choose Limit Adult Websites — or Allowed Websites Only if you want a short list and nothing else. (The third option, Unrestricted Access, is the default.)
4. Set the passcode: back in Screen Time, open App & Website Activity, turn it on if it is off, then turn on Lock Screen Time Settings and choose a four-digit code. Without this anybody can undo the rest in a few clicks.

The catch worth knowing: the web limit applies to Safari. Other browsers are not filtered by it — they are handled by refusing to run them at all. Use App Limits to give every browser except Chrome a limit of one minute a day, which in practice closes them, and leave Chrome running with Porn Filter inside it.

Apple’s own instructions: content and privacy restrictions and the Screen Time passcode.

Windows — Microsoft Family Safety

Comes with a Microsoft account. It needs the person you are protecting to be signed in to a child account in your family group — it does not apply to a shared administrator account.

1. Create the family group and the child account at family.microsoft.com, and sign that account in on the computer.
2. Open the member’s settings and turn on Filter inappropriate websites and searches.
3. Check the app and game filters: this is where a blocked browser can be allowed again.

Read this before you switch it on. Microsoft’s filter works in Microsoft Edge, and turning it on blocks other browsers so the filter cannot simply be walked around. That includes Chrome, and therefore Porn Filter. You have two coherent choices: let Microsoft block everything and use Edge with its filter, or unblock Chrome in the app and game filters and let Porn Filter cover it. Turning both on and unblocking nothing leaves you with a computer where our extension never runs.

Microsoft’s own instructions: filter websites and searches.

Family DNS — the whole network at once

The broadest option and the least fussy: change which server resolves domain names, and every browser, app and device that uses it is filtered — including phones, tablets and consoles. Set it on the router to cover the house, or on one computer to cover that computer.

Three family resolvers. Pick one and enter both addresses.

• Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 for Families — malware and adult content: 1.1.1.3 and 1.0.0.3. IPv6: 2606:4700:4700::1113 and 2606:4700:4700::1003. Setup.
• CleanBrowsing Family Filter — adult sites, plus proxies and VPN domains used to get round filters, and safe search forced on Google, Bing and YouTube: 185.228.168.168 and 185.228.169.168. Filters.
• OpenDNS FamilyShield — adult sites: 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. Setup guide.

What DNS does not do. It filters by domain name, so it cannot see inside a page and cannot judge an image. It is bypassed by a VPN, by Tor, and by anyone who edits the network settings — so set it on the router and, if the computer allows it, lock the network settings to an administrator. DNS and Porn Filter are complements: one covers every app crudely, the other covers Chrome carefully.

Which to use

If the computer is a Mac used by a child: Screen Time with a passcode, App Limits closing the other browsers, and Porn Filter in Chrome. If it is Windows with a child account: pick Microsoft’s filter or Chrome with Porn Filter, not both without unblocking Chrome. If there are phones and consoles in the house as well: family DNS on the router, underneath whatever else you choose.

Menu names change between versions. Every step above was checked against the vendors’ own documentation, which is linked in each section — if a name has moved, their page is right and this one is out of date.