A: It's exactly what it says; a 'universal safe search lock' for the web!


SafeSearchLock is a smart little web safety application that will COLLECTIVELY ACTIVATE and LOCK ON the maximum 'strict safe search' or 'family safe' content screening features provided by various leading search engines and other key web content providers.

As a result, unsavory, adult or explicit search results, images and videos from these sites will be generally blocked out at the source, so young children don't get any nasty surprises whilst using these popular services.

When you run SafeSearchLock (automatically or only when required), ALL of these services will be INSTANTLY LOCKED into their respective "child safe modes" without any need to register with or 'sign-in' to any of them.

No fuss, no hassle and no more worrying about individual safe search settings.

SafeSearchLock will finally enable you as a parent, teacher, carer, guardian, or system administrator, to automatically and universally enforce the child safety settings provided by a multitude of web services from just ONE PLACE, until YOU decide otherwise by simply entering a single convenient password.

No need to force kids to use a special search engine or special browser

"SafeSearchLock, giving you a little peace of mind
and your kids a little freedom to explore"

A: Just download, install and start it up!

Once installed, SafeSearchLock will run quietly in the background displaying a small icon in your taskbar. If you click on this icon at any time you will be able to adjust your preferences (if you wish) and add a personal password, so that then only YOU are able to deactivate it.

No configuration or technical knowledge required!

Whilst running, SafeSearchLock will ACTIVATE and LOCK ON the strictest safe search functionality provided by a wide range of leading online service providers. (See next topic for current compatibility list).

NB. SafeSearchLock may only be installed and managed from a Windows account with administrator status.

Extra features & options:

Password protection: When you first install and run SafeSearchLock it will have the default password "akumenta". You can (and should) change this to a personal password of your own choice. Keep it VERY safe and don't forget it as this will then be your 'key' to SafeSearchLock, allowing you (and only you) to access its settings and also deactivate it when required. (You can change your password at any time).

Start with Windows: Just tick the "Start with Windows" option and SafeSearchLock will automatically start every time your computer boots up, providing constant protection.

Multiple Windows user protection: If you are running several Windows user accounts on your computer,
then simply tick SafeSearchLock's "Start with Windows" option and it will automatically protect ALL users!

Log visited websites: If you have concerns and want to keep a record of your children's browsing habits, SafeSearchLock also offers a logging feature so you can see what sites they've been viewing. (This is OFF by default when you initially install SafeSearchLock).

Anti-Tamper: Whilst primarily intended to safeguard younger children, SafeSearchLock also employs various sophisticated anti-tamper features to help prevent unauthorised disabling by older more tenacious tech-savvy children. (Though for obvious reasons we can't go into specific detail about this here)!

IMPORTANT: As a parent, guardian or IT support admin, once you have chosen and entered your personal SafeSearchLock password NEVER MISPLACE OR FORGET IT!

A: SafeSearchLock is a web safety application designed to universally activate and enforce the 'safe search' / 'family filter' features offered by...

SafeSearchLock also works with many other search sites that draw upon these services

SafeSearchLock also works with the installed 'browser bar' versions of any of the above

SafeSearchLock is also designed to work across multiple Windows user accounts

SafeSearchLock is also designed to work with the above online services in any country

No need to force your children to use a special web browser or a special search engine

A: Many leading online service providers offer the ability to activate a 'safe search' or 'family filter' content screening feature...

SafeSearchLock is a smart little internet safety utility that automatically and collectively activates and locks on this behavior. (See current compatibility list in the item above).

Generally speaking, once 'safe search' has been activated with any of these leading online search and content providers, then results containing pornography, explicit sexual content, profanity, and other types of 'hate content' will, on the whole, be filtered out and removed at the source so that children don't get any nasty surprises (this also applies to video or image searches). Additionally, searches being performed using 'inappropriate words or phrases' will be blocked outright.

It's also worth mentioning that with YouTube's own particular 'child safety' feature activated, then in addition to the search screening characteristics mentioned above, many inappropriate videos will also be blocked from viewing even if your child uses a direct link or web address (with the message "This video is unavailable with Safety Mode enabled"). The user comments below videos shown in YouTube (usually shown by default) will also be hidden unless you choose to view them, where upon many expletives will be replaced by asterisks. (So you don't have to worry so much about the appalling bad language which, unfortunately, can often be displayed within discussions shown directly beneath a perfectly harmless video). Furthermore any subsequent 'recommended' videos being presented will also be content moderated.

For specific details on the content screening features being provided by each particular service provider please review their respective websites. Please also consider that no service provider claims to guarantee 100% totally infallible safety screening features, however activating them is considered by most as a crucial first step for any parent or carer before allowing young children Internet access.

(See our Useful Links page for more good advice regarding online safety for kids)

A: No, not with SafeSearchLock installed!

Typically though, you would indeed have to be signed-in (and registered) with each and every respective service provider in order to manually configure / activate and then lock on their own particular 'strict safe search' or 'family filter' features (where any kind of locking ability is actually offered).

This can be time consuming, even impractical, and due to its nature, still relatively easy to turn off even if 'locked'. Additionally, if you want to enable and lock 'safe search' functionality on multiple user profiles on the same computer, then you will need to do this using each individual Windows user account. Equally, if the computer is running more than one web browser, then you will need to activate and lock any respective 'safe search' functionality individually via each browser package.

Finally, how can you really be sure that you will have 'safe search' permanently configured and locked on with any particular service provider, let alone across multiple service providers (e.g. Google + Bing + YouTube), especially just on the off-chance that your children may only occasionally or suddenly want to use one of them? It's all a bit of a nightmare for parents, which is why we have created this effortless and smart solution...

SafeSearchLock will instantly activate and lock on the strictest 'safe search'
functionality available from a multitude of leading online service providers,
even when you're not signed in to them.

A: SafeSearchLock is designed to work with all modern Windows PC's

One size fits all! SafeSearchLock has been designed to work with all modern operating systems (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, including 64 bit versions) and all leading up-to-date web browsers including (but not limited to) Internet Explorer (version 7 & upwards), Firefox (version 3.6.4 & upwards), Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.

SafeSearchLock is not a limited "browser specific add-on", instead it installs on your computer and works with ANY modern web browser and ANY Windows operating system. Better still, it even works if you have several different web browser packages installed and / or multiple Windows user accounts in use. It's not complicated, over bloated or resource hungry.

To see for yourself we encourage all users to download and try out a free trial of SafeSearchLock. Once installed you'll have 20 minutes to play with it and make sure it works perfectly on your system. If you're happy, you can then easily register / fully activate your already installed trial version.

A: Click here to download a free trial of SafeSearchLock and try it out!

Once you've downloaded SafeSearchLock you'll have a 20 minute trial period to try it out.

Then if you're happy, you can fully activate and register your installed trial copy for JUST £2 UK pounds! (or your local currency equivalent). Wherever you may be in the world, it's a very simple and secure process via PayPal. (You don't need an account with PayPal and you can pay by most credit or debit cards).

This will license you to use the SafeSearchLock utility on one PC for as long as you wish, and also receive free automatic updates for as long as this project remains active and viable.

(Did we mention it's just £2! And if you wish to install SafeSearchLock on multiple PC's for a school or business, just get in touch for discounted site licensing and also the opportunity of a free custom MSI build)

(A simple installation and activation overview is available in our support area)

A: SafeSearchLock costs just £2 (that's about $3 US Dollars / €2.4 Euros or your local currency equivalent). This is a straightforward one-off charge with automatic compatibility updates thrown in for FREE.

But don't let our small token fee fool you, SafeSearchLock was neither an easy or quick project to put together! Extensive time and effort (and money) has gone (and is still going) into this project. On the other hand, due to it's very positive nature, we did actually consider giving the utility away for free...

Ultimately though, it was decided that we can't live off the positive karma alone (we all have bills to pay and ongoing costs to cover!), so without any external funding, at least for now we have opted to charge a very small nominal fee. Additionally we're not a fan of bombarding users with advertising or other nonsense, so we didn't want to go down that root in order to support this project. Instead we'd rather supply you with an honest, clean and friendly product for a small token contribution.

Hopefully our smart little internet safety utility will be embraced by many and prove popular enough to cover all development, hosting, support costs...

A: SafeSearchLock is an internet safety innovation from the good folks at Akumenta, a humble but popular and well regarded digital media enterprise based in Staffordshire, England, UK.

With young families of their own, the Akumenta team originally devised the SafeSearchLock project out of concern for their own children's online safety, and the often overly involved and varying ways in which popular service providers offer the ability to properly enforce their respective 'child safe' screening functions.

Instead of having to worry about this kind of manual 'safe search' activation for each and every leading service provider, they simply wanted an effortless and uncomplicated solution; something that would collectively activate and lock on this safety functionality across multiple leading online service providers.

Additionally they wanted to create something that would focus on this primary task and do it well, without being over bloated, overly involved or resource hungry.

It was soon realised that this primarily 'in-house' initiative could clearly offer a little instant peace of mind to concerned and conscientious parents everywhere, hence the somewhat 'evolved' product that you may now download here and try out for yourself!

A: For convenience and to help protect kids from potentially upsetting search results, images and videos whilst they use the web's leading services.

The chances are, if you're a conscientious parent or guardian with young children then you've likely stumbled upon our little application because you already know what you're looking for and why you need it. You've likely been searching for an effortless, uncomplicated and inexpensive solution like SafeSearchLock for some time!

To give the dilemma some clear perspective, just consider for a moment that here in the UK, (and in many other countries), TV stations are not allowed to broadcast anything that might be considered harmful to children until later in the evening, when most children will not be watching. Clearly this is sensible and necessary, yet conversely, the internet has potentially MUCH WORSE than evening TV on offer to children 24 hours a day!

Here are a few potential example scenarios:

e.g. 1) Your young child performs a quick search in Google or Google Images (or another popular search engine, or a service such as YouTube) for the most innocent of search terms, but one or more of the results may inexplicably turn out to be alarmingly inappropriate or adult in nature and clearly not something that your child should be exposed to.

e.g. 2) Your young child has unfortunately picked up a fairly 'adult' word or phrase, and curiously types it into Google (or another popular search provider). They are then inundated with highly explicit and totally inappropriate search results. (Even if you have content filtering software installed to help block adult websites, remember that just search results alone can still be extremely explicit).

e.g. 3) Whilst on YouTube your young child views a particularly 'dramatic chipmunk', but just below the video there may be a string of profanities or hateful and abusive comments added by a 'global village idiot'; clearly not something you want your child exposed to. Not only that, but some of the "recommended" or "related" videos being offered may not be suitable for a young audience. Additionally of course, just like in any search engine, a search in YouTube can bring up scores of results unsuitable for a young audience.