Cheap KidDesk Internet Safe (Software) (Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 95, Linux) Price

You get the picture.

KidDesk Family Edition will keep your kids out of your programs, and it cleverly does it by creating (with your help) a kid-friendly environment that the little whippers can't leave. Think of it as a really cool prison.

After a quick installation, expect to spend some time and thought setting up KidDesk on your PC or Macintosh, about 5 to 10 minutes per kid. Setup requires you to decide which programs you will allow your kids to access, and then add those programs to their desktop. Every application added to KidDesk is automatically accessible by all KidDesk users, but parents can hide applications from individual users if they choose. Also, adding a program to KidDesk doesn't affect the program in any way--it simply renders it accessible from KidDesk.

Now for the fun part: kids can customize their desks. Wild West, frilly, and ultrafuturistic are just a few of the myriad options. Each desktop also has a calendar, a writing pad, an address card file, a clock, a lamp that turns on and off, a calculator, and a fancy nameplate. A phone allows kids to record voice mails and send them to other KidDesk users in the family, and there's a mailbox for sending e-mail within the KidDesk system. There's so much to do with these groovy desktops that kids will soon forget they've been locked out of the mundane grown-up desktop that allows access to freelance articles, taxes, and the Web.

Parents can configure KidDesk so that it's the first thing that comes up when the computer is turned on, and the last thing kids see before they log off. If a kid manages to hack through this, that kid deserves his or her own computer.

A "secret" sequence of keystrokes enables parents to move around within KidDesk and get out of the system to access their own desktop. If Junior is old enough to find and read instruction manuals, parents can add a password. Oh, and it's probably a good idea to forgo the ubiquitous my-kid's-name-as-a-password technique for this one. --Anne Erickson