FamilyPC Names Cyber Patrol Best Parental Control Software

Cyber Patrol Included in Top 50 Software and Hardware Products for Families

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FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 19, 1997 -- Microsystems Software Inc. announced today that its filtering software, Cyber Patrol, has been selected by editors of FamilyPC as one of the 50 best products for families and kids.

Editors at the magazine looked at hundreds of products in making their selection for the annual awards. Cyber Patrol Filtering Software won a "special online award" as FamilyPC's choice for best parental control software.

"Cyber Patrol makes it easy to control access to Web sites, chat channels, newsgroups and even programs," the magazine wrote, in announcing its selection in the July/August issue. "Besides blocking use entirely, you can limit use to certain times of day."

Cyber Patrol is America's most popular filtering software, available to 85 percent of families going online, Cyber Patrol is the technology used by America Online for its parental controls and is offered to subscribers of CompuServe, Prodigy, AT&T, Bell Atlantic.net, GTE, Ameritech and other online and Internet service providers. It also can be downloaded and purchased directly from the Internet.

"Cyber Patrol is easy-to-use for parents, effective in protecting children and inexpensive so that families can afford to use it," said Richard A. Gorgens, CEO of Microsystems Software, Inc. "We are grateful to FamilyPC for recognizing the results of our effort."

Cyber Patrol allows parents to manage what time of day their children go online and how many hours they spend online each day. Objectionable material is broken down into a dozen categories to allow parents to block according to their own family values and beliefs. Web sites are researched and reviewed by a team of parents and teachers who put material into categories such as full nudity, partial nudity, sexually explicit material, profanity, alcohol and tobacco, militant extremism, gambling and others.

Categories can be turned on or off and individual sites can be added or deleted from the list.

The software also can be tailored to each individual child in a family, according to a child's age and maturity. Cyber Patrol filters newsgroups and chatrooms and can prevent children from divulging personal information online.

Cyber Patrol is available for $29.95 from http://www.cyberpatrol.com. The initial fee includes three months of weekly updates of the CyberNOT list of inappropriate sites. Additional weekly updates can be purchased for $29.95 per year.

"The Internet is a wonderful, educational resource for kids. Cyber Patrol gives parents the peace of mind to let their children enjoy the wonders of the Internet with fewer worries," Gorgens said. "It gives parents a tool to exercise their own choices for their children."

Microsystems Software Inc., a privately-held company, also has created a list of fun, educational sites known as the CyberYES list. Links to other kid-friendly sites can be found on the Microsystems home page at http://www.microsys.com.

CONTACT: Megan Lamb, 202-828-8893, for Microsystems Software