Do you need to protect YOURSELF from online pornography and Gambling?  This is an embarrassing question. But sadly, one more and more adults today need to ask themselves. That’s the “bad” the Internet has brought along with all its good. The instant and free access we all have to so much problem content.

If you once had to drive a several miles to the bad part of town to rent some xxx movies, today, it’s literally as easy as a click of the mouse in the middle of your work day. And Internet gambling? Think of how many people would have never ventured inside a casino but may try their luck on a bingo, poker or other gambling site offering a $50 coupon just for trying them out. It’s not that the casino sites are generous. They base it all on statistics. Give away a certain number of those $50 promotions and a certain percentage of the takers are going to get hooked  . . .

So if you are addicted to online porn or can’t stop gambling online, at least you should know – -you are not alone. Now, it’s time to do something about it. The question is what? After all, it’s no longer realistic to avoid computers, smartphones and Internet access overall. You may need the Internet for school, for work, to do your banking, make doctor’s appointment . . . It’s a part of life today as much as driving a car. So how can you stay away from online sex and gambling when it’s right there in front of you?

Truth be told, it won’t be easy.  And don’t fool yourself. It’s not about whether you are a strong enough person to resist. Once you have developed a compulsive tendency, going cold turkey usually backfires and can even make an addiction worse.

At Optenet, we discovered that many adults were buying parental controls to install on their own computers. But then those adults realized that if they installed the web filter software themselves, they would know the password and every time they felt tempted, they could simply use the password to turn the filter off. That made the web filter useless for truly blocking porn, gambling and other content adults have trouble with (shopping, Facebook and general Internet overuse).

Alternately, we started suggesting that adults who need to block specific  Internet sites and content should choose a trusted sponsor to set up the web filter for them and guard the password. We still think this is ideal. But let’s be realistic. Not everyone has someone that they feel comfortable to let in on what is probably a well kept secret — porn use and gambling. Most people seem to prefer to try to manage it themselves without involving others. This is perfectly understandable.

So we developed a new service for safeguarding your web filter password. You use our random password generator to choose your password. Watch our video on how to set and forget the password  for detailed instructions. Then we instruct you on how to set up the web filter and designate  our professional staff  as your accountability partner.

If you think you could benefit from using a web filter to block pornography, filter gambling sites, keep off of shopping sites or just general better control of your Internet use, contact us and let us know you need help. We’ll be hapy to include you in our accountability program!

A Day to Disconnect is a worldwide movement headed by a Rabbi of Ohr Naava. It will take place on October 2, 2011. On that day thousands of people will voluntarily unplug their digital gadgets for part or all of the day.

Why? Because as gadgets and the digital world take up more and more of our time, we spend less and less time actually being with people and living in the moment. Our digital exposure is leaving a vacuum of emotional and spiritual needs and creating an Internet addiction epidemic among young and old alike. The temptation to push your child on a swing and text your office, to drive and talk, to play Angry Birds while sitting in a PTA meeting . . . . Whatever your digital weakness, you know what I am talking about.
Ohr Naava has a modest goal to accumulate one million hours of time without digital gadgets. An hour to do nothing but feel the moment. It is a wonderful idea to remind people not only of what is truly important in life but to simply take a break from the noise to reflect, to breath, to just be, and maybe to realize how dependent you have become on something that can be very distracting to actual living.

He forgets to turn his computer off and you can’t resist a peek. But what you find, may change your relationship forever. So be prepared. More women are taken by surprise than you can imagine. Here are the five things you never want to find on your husband’s computer:

1. Personal Email from women you don’t know.
Let’s be straight here. If he is corresponding with someone by email and it’s not for work and you don’t know the person, it immediately becomes suspect. If it is a woman, you can’t tell me that this is not going to (understandably) get you wondering why he is in touch with a strange woman by email. It’s going to be very tempting to look at the contents, but maybe you want to try to talk about it first before such an invasion of privacy.
2. Visits to Gambling sites and evidence he’s been spending money.
If you look at his browser history, depending on how it is set, you can see the sites he has recently visited. Many people gamble online and keep it completely secret. If he’s been on gambling sites and you have some credit card charges you can’t identify, put 2 and 2 together. He’s been gambling and if he is not telling you, he may have an online gambling problem.

3. Visits to porn sites.
This is the first thing you thought of when you read the title of this article right? It’s every wife’s fear. He’s going to compare me to the women in those movies; he is going to want me to be like them, etc. But it is more than that. Sure, it is hurtful to know your husband looks at pornography. It makes you feel you are not enough. But if he spends a lot of time with porn and you notice some changes in his behavior, he may have a very serious porn addiction problem. You’ve got to bring this out in the open no matter how embarrassing or upsetting it is. Don’t buy the common excuse – “Every healthy man looks at porn”.

4. The Facebook account he never told you he had.
You believed him when he told you he is not interested in connecting with old friends on Facebook and never opened an account but suddenly you see it. His visits to Facebook, his hundreds of friends, wall posts from old girlfriends. And he kept you out of this circle. It’s only some innocent social networking, but he kept it secret and it’s going to drive you mad until you confront him.

5. A clean history in his browser.
Here is the one place you don’t necessarily want your husband to clean up after himself. Most people have no reason to clean their browsing history. Certainly not on a regular basis, unless they want to make sure they are hiding where they have been visiting online. So if you look, the cache is empty and you know he spends time browsing the Internet, now would be the time to start being worried about what he is doing there. Talk to him.

A day does not go by when someone does not contact us about using Optenet PC to control their own Internet problem — gambling problem, pornography addiction, compulsive shopping or just someone who is spending too much time online. Many, want to get help but they are embarrassed and do not want anyone to know about their problem, especially someone close to them.

So while we think it’s possible to benefit from involving a friend or family member in overcoming any addiction problem, we understand, sometimes it is not possible. We have created two new services in order to help adults, who want to be discreet about their problem with Internet use, no matter what type of problem it is — gambling, sex, buying too much, addicted to Facebook . . . Now, we can help you to install and not be tempted to find a way to uninstall or turn off the web filter.

Set and Forget Your Web Filter Password
The Optenet PC web filter uses a password mechanism in order to prevent unauthorized tampering with the web filter settings. When it is installed by the administrator, that person can set it up and later go in and change the settings, turn it off or uninstall. It is important that any software installed on a computer can be uninstalled, if necessary.

With Optenet PC, you can now set the password yourself, even if you have installed it in order to prevent your own access to certain sites. Using a random password generator on our support page, you can create a password that you will not remember. Then copy it to the installation (you are asked to set the password during the installation) and you have a password but you will not remember it and not be able to us it yourself to uninstall the web filter.
In addition, to setting a random password, during the installation, you also need to define an email to which the password will be sent in case there is a need to recover the password. At any time, it is possible to request that the password be sent. Therefore, there are two choices:

1. While you may not want to have someone install the Internet filter for you and to be involved in helping you, you may feel comfortable to ask a friend or family member to use their email for this purpose. By entering their email for the password recovery, it means that IF you ever request the password, it will be sent to them. You only need to provide them with instructions of if and when they should provide the password to you.

2. If such an arrangement, as described above, does not suit you, it is possible to use the Optenet PC Sponsor Service. We will assign you an email to enter during installation and any password recovery email that you will request, will be sent to our staff. This way, you enjoy total discretion in using the web filter to block access to whatever websites or categories of content you need to.

For more information about using the Sponsor Service or questions about how to use Optenet PC to protect yourself, contact us at customersupport@optenetpc.com.

For detailed explanation of how to install Optenet PC and how to set and forget the password, watch the Optenet PC support videos.

Facebook Addiction?

Ever wonder if you are the only one to have developed a compulsive need to check your Facebook account every 20 minutes? Did you think you are alone in changing your status 10 times per day? Well, you are not.  Thousands, if not millions of others are just like you, but maybe embarrassed to talk about it. The old expression ‘Get a Life” has transitioned to “Get a real life”, as people poke fun of those who can not stay away from Facebook and other social networking platforms, like Twitter.

And speaking of Twitter, we can now show you, in real time, what people around the world are revealing about their Facebook Addiction. Check out Facebook Addiction on Twitter . You won’t believe how serious and widespread Facebook addiction really is!

dada, mama, enter

Research shows that our brains are changeable, over our entire lifetime. Without going into the neurological explanations, we can make the leap to the implications of this fact and safely assume that what we do, has an effect on our brains. And, in turn, what we do A LOT, can have a profound effect on our brains.

So when you compare a child that grows up with no exposure to the Internet to a child who grows up Continue Reading

More and more, human interactions are shifting from the real and personal world and over  to the virtual world. It started with shopping and the invention of e-commerce. While once we had to walk into a store and interact with sales people and other customers and cashiers, today we can buy anything online – even groceries for tonight’s dinner. Continue Reading

Everyone is on Facebook. Among children and teens, it’s as much a part of their lives as after school sports and homework. And for some, it is an obsession and even the most important part of their daily routine, often interfering with school, sleep, physical activity or just seeing friends in real life!  Parents need to take action to make sure their kids are keeping Facebook and internet use in balance. Take advantage of our Parental Controls Back to School Promotion – Use this  $5.00 Parental Controls coupon to buy now! Continue Reading

Today, the homepage of CNN boasted the results of a new study claiming that children who play video games on average of 2 hours per day suffer more than their peers who play less or not at all, from attention problems.
While we use such studies to help us understand the dangers we face in overusing technology and not being involved enough in our children’s daily lives, I can not help but to be amazed that we need such studies. I mean duh! Why would anyone think it is good that a kid sit in front of a monitor alone for a few hours EVERY day? How did we get here? Continue Reading

Optenet PC web filter  is the perfect first line of defense against Internet dependency. The symptoms of Internet addiction are like the symptoms of other addictions, including physical and emotional dependency. Anyone who suspects there is a problem with too much time spent online, will benefit from installing the web filter to manage an online schedule and to control the web content that can be viewed. Too much time using Facebook, shopping online, gambling, looking at porn or just spending a ridculous number of hours doing anything online effects employee productivity, family relationships and social life. There are even physical symptoms such as weight gain, muscle and joint pain and eye fatigue.

If you relate to this Facebook Rap, you may want to consider getting some help for your Facebook addiction! Most of us can laugh about this because we are not addicted and manage our virtual lives within our real lives, keeping the Internet in perspective. But for many people, the internet and social networking is an obsession that grows to be a real addiction, with all of the symptoms of addiction.

Dr. Gabriel Newman is a Psychotherapist who says social networking sites can make it more difficult to interact with people socially.

Facebook addiction is not listed as such in a medical book, because science still needs to catch up with technology. But Dr. Newman says it may be diagnosable soon.

Read ore about Facebook addiction and blocking facebook.

The Tiger Woods soap opera we have all been exposed to the last few weeks has turned from light entertainment — with revelations from each mistress unturned, websites dedicated to tracking each affair’s history — to a real human tragedy. If what is being said is true, Tiger Woods is a man who is suffering tremendously.

Continue Reading

The DSM-5, the updated version of  the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will be out in 2013. This is the bible of mental health professionals and it has huge ramifications for mental health patients whose insurance companies base coverage policies on the DSM.

Internet Addiction will not likely be added yet. Continue Reading

The DSM-5, the updated version of  the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will be out in 2013. The DSM is the recognized authority of medical diagnoses of mental illness in its various forms. Insurance companies base their coverage on the DSM and questions about whether an individual qualifies for disability are answered based on what the DSM says. Continue Reading

Teen star Aria Wallace is doing her part to help promote awareness of the growing problem of children and teens spending too much time on the Internet and too much time, in general, wired to all of their digital gadgets. This winter, she went “offline” for 40 days and kept a video blog to let her fans know how good it felt. Continue Reading

There is so much to do online, it is easy to spend hours moving from site to site – writing, playing, shopping, gambling – almost anything you can do in real life, you can do on the Internet today.
That’s nice when there is a snowstorm outside or you want to save gas and shop online or pay a bill. But if you are starting to find that your virtual life is taking over and you are spending many hours each day online, you may have an Internet addiction.
From people who check their email every few seconds to teens who are wired almost 24 hours per day, the Internet is playing a more central role in our lives. And if you are not careful, it can become an unhealthy obsession. Continue Reading