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Zoodles Premium
- Company
- Inquisitive Minds, Inc.
- Version
- Devices supported
- Alternative Tool
- Operating system
- Mac OS X
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP - Price *
- 55.86 €
- Language of interface
- chinese, dutch, english, french, german, italian, japanese, korean, spanish
- Test date
- SIP Bench III, 4th test cycle, Summer 2016
USABILITY
Installation of the tool: An initial configuration - the creation of a child’s account - is necessary before downloading and installing the tool. The installation is guided by explanations on the website. It requires Adobe Air to be installed on the device.
Configuration of the tool: Configuration is web-based. There are no context-sensitive explanations, whose absence makes parts of the configuration process confusing.
Usage of the tool: The alert message is neither context-sensitive nor worded with regard to children. Basic reporting is available for the visited websites and games.
Usability of the installation process: 2.8
Usability of the configuration process: 2.7
Usability of the usage of the product: 1.9
Overall score for usability: 2.1 out of 4 points
FUNCTIONALITY
Zoodles Premium is a ‘walled garden’ environment. It allows creating up to six ‘playgrounds’. Parents can choose the kind and the amount of content the children are able to see and use. Content can be added to the black and white lists. White-listed games can be blocked, as well as limited via a violence rating scale from 0 to 5. Time limits can be set.
SECURITY
Too easy to exit from application killing it from task manager
or pressing ALT+TAB selecting the app from the task bar and closing it. A presence of a parent is required.
Overall score for security: 2 out of 4 points
DETAILED FUNCTIONALITY
| Area of need | Functionality | Specific issues | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management | Management of User profiles | Create several profiles | Yes |
| Remote Management | Manage on various devices | Yes | |
| Monitoring | Remote access to monitoring | Yes | |
| Filtering Customisation | Topics | Customisation of Filtering Topics | No |
| URLs White List | Restrict Browsing to White List | Yes | |
| Default White List | Yes | ||
| Modification OR Creation | Yes | ||
| URLs Black List | Creation of User's own Black List | Yes | |
| Keywords | Keywords | Default Black List | No |
| Default White List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's Black List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's White List | No | ||
| Time | Time Limit Settings | Set a specific time frame or web access duration | Yes |
| Blocking Message | Type | Ask for unblocking by parents | No |
| Redirect to safe resources | Yes | ||
| Usage Restriction | Web | Block Access | No |
| Monitor Access | Yes | ||
| Safe search | Availability | No | |
| Social Networks | Block Access | No | |
| Monitor Usage | No | ||
| Personal data Provision | Block | No | |
| Streaming | Block Access | No | |
| Monitor Access | No | ||
| P2P | Block the application | No | |
| Monitor Downloads | No | ||
| Skype | Block chat | No | |
| Block video chat | No | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Windows Life Messenger | Block chat | No | |
| Block video chat | No | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Block email client and/or webmail access | Yes |
DETAILED USABILITY FINDINGS
| Yes / No | |
|---|---|
| I: installation in 3 steps or less | No |
| I: choice of installation for beginners or advanced users | No |
| C: different degrees of strength for the filtering | Yes |
| C: different content criteria for the filtering | No |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between target users | No |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between devices | Yes |
| C: overall comprehensible configuration | Yes |
| C: overall conformity with user expectations | Yes |
| C: overall easy to learn | Yes |
| U: alert message in a child friendly language | No |
| U: option to customise the reaction in case of blocking | No |
| U: overall easily operable and comprehensible reporting | Yes |
DETAILED SECURITY FINDINGS
| The Tool prevents the user from by-passing the filter by: | Yes / No |
|---|---|
| Using the IP address instead of the URL | Yes |
| Using an alternative browser | Yes |
| Changing time and date settings* | Yes |
| Disabling or uninstalling the software without a password* | Yes |
| Closing the filtering tool trough the Task Manager | No |
| Using a proxy instead of a direct connection to the Internet | Yes |
| Accessing the web-pages through the Google Cache | Yes |
| Reaching a website through translation sites | Yes |
| Renaming a blocked application | Yes |
| Using Safe Mode | Yes |
| Filtering Content personalised by user | n/a |
| Filtering Content evolving through time | n/a |
| Filtering Multimedia content | n/a |
| Filtering outbound content | n/a |
