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Blue Coat Announces Free Web Filtering Software to Safeguard Families With Macintosh Computers

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Blue Coat Systems has announced the beta release of the next version of its award-winning K9 Web Protection Internet filtering software that will, for the first time, run on Macintosh computers. The new release also introduces key features, including expanded safe search engine support and a redesigned user interface for improved administrative management and feedback capabilities. K9 Web Protection is offered through the Blue Coat Community Outreach Program ( http://www.k9webprotection.com ) which provides materials and resources to educate Internet parents about the impact of the Internet on children and on parenting strategies.

"Families and individuals with Macintosh computers now have a powerful, easy-to-use, free solution for protection from inappropriate or damaging Web content, spyware and phishing," said Bethany Mayer, senior vice president, Worldwide Marketing, Blue Coat Systems. "We have long felt the demand for our free K9 Web Protection for the Macintosh platform, and this release can significantly expand the number of individuals and families we help."

Designed for parents and families, K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat enterprise and government customers worldwide. K9 Web Protection divides Internet Websites into 60 categories, relying on Blue Coat's commercial filtering database that maintains and automatically updates approximately 15 million ratings. Parents can configure the software to block or allow specific categories, such as pornography, spyware, and adult/mature content, and also block access to the Web at selected times of day. K9 Web Protection ensures a high level of protection by utilizing a database populated by real user activity. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. In addition, K9 Web Protection takes advantage of Blue Coat's unique Dynamic Real-Time Rating (DRTR) technology to automatically assess new and unfamiliar Websites "on the fly."

New features in this release include:

  • Macintosh OS Support. In addition to supporting Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP and Window Vista, K9 Web Protection now supports the Macintosh operating system.

  • Enhanced User Interface (UI). Based on customer feedback, the user interface has been redesigned to give users more flexibility and control of administrative management activity and user feedback. The new UI now passes W3C Validation and supports IE7, Firefox-Win, Firefox-Mac, Safari-Mac, Opera-Win, and Opera-Mac browsers.

  • Expanded Web Search Options. The current version of K9 Web Protection offers the option of enforcing Google SafeSearch, which diminishes the amount of adult material returned in an Internet search. With this new release, the enforcement of safe search functionality has been expanded to support MSN, Yahoo, Ask, A9, AllTheWeb, AltaVista, DogPile, EarthLink, HotBot, InfoSpace, Lycos, MIVA, Tiscali, and Wanadoo.



Parents using both PC and Macintosh operating systems will receive all features and capabilities included in K9 Web Protection. K9 Web Protection's Macintosh version will be generally available for free download in Q1 2008. For more information, visit:
http://www.k9webprotection.com


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