Keeping you family safe online with F-Secure

In a world where we spend an increasing amount of time online, connecting to our loved ones, sharing images on social media, doing our shopping, banking and even asking search engines random questions we wouldn’t ask anyone else, do you worry how secure your personal data is?

It’s important to keep all our devices protected and our information private as there are all sorts of threats out there that even the most internet savvy person can get caught out by from fake tax rebate emails phishing for your details to facebook messages from friends, supposedly sharing a video of you, which seems to be the one doing the rounds at the moment.

We were asked to try F-Secure TOTAL, which combines the award-winning security of SAFE and the easy-to-use privacy app FREEDOME VPN into one subscription. This gives you complete security and privacy on ALL your devices.

Setting up computer protection has historically been a bit of a nightmare, but F-Secure couldn’t be easier by simply registering your account and then downloading the F-Secure app onto each device you want it to protect.

By turning the VPN protection on, it creates a secure and private tunnel between you and the rest of the Internet. This tunnel encrypts your traffic between your device and the VPN server, so your traffic can’t be intercepted or read by anybody, including your Internet service provider, advertisers or Wi-Fi hotspot operators. This makes it great for searching for flights and getting the best deals.

It also hides your real IP address and location from the rest of the web.

You can add F-Secure to up to 7 devices and each device can have different security settings. You set your chosen settings from the app on the device, that way the teen has more access than the younger kids to enable him to research homework etc.

The settings include:

• Time Limits – set daily time limits for internet browsing
• Content Blocking – a handy checklist of types of content to block
• Finder – Locate your device if it gets lost and play an alarm on it to help you find it (perfect for me as I am forever misplacing my phone). You can even share your location via SMS or email incase you are lost or in trouble.
• My Location – perfect for when your child misplaces their device
• Statistics – Shows a graph of time online and the number of websites checked and blocked

I strongly recommend you password protect the app to stop little geniuses changing the settings!

I am really impressed with F-Secure so far as I am more confident to let the kids use their tablets to surf the internet without looking over their shoulder, although they do still have to use them in the same room. I am not sure they are too impressed with the time limits, but it does mean we can be more strict as the gone are the days of  “Just 5 more minutes Mummy”.

F-Secure Total costs from £79.99 for a one year subscription for up to 3 devices, increasing in price for the more devices you want to add. This product is now available for a free trial through F-Secure’s e-store, and supports Windows PCs, Macs and Android and iOS tablets and smartphones.

On Wednesday 29th November at 8pm – 9pm, Tots100 is teaming up with F-Secure for a #SafeandTotal Twitter party.

During the Twitter party, they’ll be awarding prizes for the best tips and questions shared using the #SafeandTotal hashtag, plus they will be giving away five £25 Amazon vouchers plus copies of F-Secure TOTAL Internet security and privacy.