NetSafe – Parental & Enterprise Security

AI-powered web filtering, screen time, YouTube Restricted Mode, and safe browsing for families and businesses.

NetSafe is a comprehensive web safety extension that gives parents, guardians, and administrators direct control over what their managed users see online — without sending a single byte of browsing data to anyone else's servers. Built on Chrome's modern Manifest V3 architecture, NetSafe combines category-based content filtering, screen time scheduling, YouTube safety, AI chatbot detection, and a clean activity dashboard into one tool that works the moment you install it. No subscription. No account. No cloud. Your filtering rules and your child's browsing history live exclusively on your device. ★ WHY NETSAFE Most parental control tools fall into one of three traps. They monetize your family's browsing data by selling "anonymized" reports to advertisers. They lock essential features behind escalating subscription tiers. Or they ship a single blunt blocklist that catches adult content but misses social media, streaming distractions, gambling, and the AI chatbots that are quietly reshaping how young people interact online. NetSafe takes a different approach. Powerful, granular filtering. Complete privacy. Free to use. Designed by an engineer who got tired of recommending paid tools to friends and family that turned out to be data brokers in disguise. ★ CORE FEATURES Category-Based Blocking Block seven customizable categories with one click each: Adult Content (25+ sites), Gambling (20+ sites), Violence & Gore (7+ sites), Social Media (13+ sites including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, Facebook), Streaming & Video (10+ sites), Piracy & Torrents (12+ sites), and Online Gaming (11+ sites). Each list is curated to catch the major destinations young users actually visit, not just obscure long-tail domains. Categories update with each new release. Screen Time Schedule Set daily time limits or specific allowed windows ("Internet permitted 8 AM–9 PM weekdays, 9 AM–10 PM weekends"). When the schedule kicks in, attempted navigations show a friendly NetSafe block page explaining why access is paused — no confusing browser errors, no cryptic "ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED" that prompts a frustrated kid to start troubleshooting their network. YouTube Restricted Mode NetSafe automatically enables and enforces YouTube's Restricted Mode site-wide, hiding mature comments, age-restricted videos, and channels flagged by Google's safety teams. Works across watch pages, embeds, and search results. Can't be turned off from inside YouTube without the admin password — even a tech-curious teen can't bypass it through the YouTube settings menu. AI Chatbot Detection NetSafe detects visits to high-risk AI chatbot platforms (Character.AI and similar romance/companion-style chatbots that have been associated with concerning interactions and minors' wellbeing concerns). Triggers an optional notification to the supervisor with the URL and timestamp. VPN & Bypass Detection Detects when a user navigates to known VPN provider sites (ProtonVPN, NordVPN, etc.) — a common bypass attempt in households and schools. Optionally flags the attempt to the supervisor so you know when someone is trying to route around the rules. Custom Allow & Block Lists Override the default categories for any specific site with one click. Allow SparkNotes through even though Streaming/Entertainment is blocked. Block a niche site you've decided is off-limits. Per-site overrides take effect immediately and persist across browser restarts. Activity Dashboard A clean, password-protected dashboard shows what's been visited, what's been blocked, which categories are most active, and a daily wellbeing score derived from browsing patterns. Children can't access the dashboard without the admin password, so your settings — and your visibility into their activity — stay private. Pause Internet A single switch in the popup pauses all browsing for everyone using this Chrome profile. Useful for dinner time, homework time, or when you want a hard reset on screen behavior without negotiating about each site. Classroom Preview (Early Access) A preview of the upcoming classroom management dashboard for teachers and small-business administrators: lock student screens, push class-wide policies during a lesson, monitor live activity, and quickly allow educational sites for the period. Currently ships as a UI preview; full multi-device sync and per-student persistence are rolling out in v1.3. ★ BUILT FOR YOUR FAMILY For Kids and Younger Users NetSafe was designed with the supervised user in mind, not just the supervisor. Blocked sites display a friendly explanation page — not a scary technical error — and include a "Request Access" form so kids can ask for legitimate exceptions (a school project on a normally-blocked site, an educational YouTube channel, a research source). Requests land in the parent's dashboard for review. The screen-time block page shows when access will resume, so younger users know exactly when they can try again instead of feeling locked out without warning. For Parents and Guardians NetSafe gives you one tool that handles content filtering, screen-time enforcement, YouTube restrictions, and visibility into your child's browsing — without the privacy compromises of cloud-based competitors. There's no monthly fee, no signup, no data leaving your home. Setup takes under five minutes: install the extension, set your admin password, toggle the categories you want blocked, set a screen time schedule. The dashboard gives you a daily snapshot of what your child encountered online, with no need to read through line-by-line logs unless you want to. If your child needs an exception (a research site, a class assignment), they can request it through the block page and you can approve from the dashboard. For School IT and Classroom Teachers NetSafe deploys as a standard Chrome extension, which means it can be pushed to managed school Chromebooks via Google Admin Console's force-install policy with no additional licensing per seat. The extension runs entirely on-device, so student browsing data never enters a third-party data processor — a meaningful simplification for FERPA, COPPA, and state-level student privacy compliance. The included Classroom Preview dashboard shows teachers a live view of class activity, lets them lock screens during instructional time, and supports quick allow-listing of educational sites for the duration of a class period. (Multi-device sync is in active development for v1.3.) For Administrators and Building Managers For non-school environments — public libraries, community centers, faith-based organizations, family resource centers — NetSafe offers a free way to ensure shared computers stay focused on their intended use. Configure the categories appropriate to your organization's policy, set a screen-time schedule that matches your hours, lock the configuration behind an admin password, and walk away. The extension is silent until needed and never displays advertisements or promotional content of its own. For Business Enterprise NetSafe addresses three concerns that come up repeatedly in small-and-mid-sized business contexts: distraction-driven productivity loss, shadow IT in the form of unauthorized AI tool usage, and the slow drip of compliance risk from employees using personal accounts on work hardware. The category filters block social media, streaming, and gambling at the browser level. The AI chatbot detection surfaces unsanctioned use of tools like Character.AI for HR review. The VPN detection catches employees attempting to access blocked resources through commercial VPN services. All policy is enforced locally on the device — no SSL inspection, no proxy server, no man-in-the-middle decryption — so the existing network architecture doesn't need to change. (Centralized policy management for distributed workforces is on the v1.3 roadmap.) ★ PRIVACY YOU CAN ACTUALLY VERIFY Most "privacy-first" extensions ask you to trust a privacy policy that you can't independently confirm. NetSafe lets you verify the claim directly: — All settings, browsing history, blocked-site logs, and access requests are stored exclusively in your browser's local storage (chrome.storage.local). They never leave your device. — LinknWin LLC operates no servers that receive NetSafe data. There is no NetSafe backend to hack, leak, subpoena, or sell. — The extension's source code is open for inspection. The privacy policy linked from this listing explicitly enumerates every category of data NetSafe processes and where each piece lives. — Uninstalling NetSafe permanently deletes all of its data from your device. There is no copy elsewhere to delete because no copy was ever made. ★ FIRST-TIME SETUP After installing, click the NetSafe icon in your Chrome toolbar. You'll be prompted to unlock with an admin password. Open the Options page (right-click the NetSafe icon → Options) and set your own password before anyone else uses the browser — this is the single most important first-run step. From the Options page, toggle the categories you want blocked, set your screen-time schedule, and you're done. Setup takes about three minutes. ★ COMPATIBILITY — Chrome 102 or newer (Manifest V3 requirement) — Windows 10 / 11, macOS 11+, Linux, and ChromeOS — Compatible with Chromium-derived browsers including Microsoft Edge and Brave (manual installation required) ★ COMING SOON Multi-device synchronization (cloud-optional, end-to-end encrypted), centralized policy management for schools and businesses, full classroom dashboard with live device data, parental notifications via email, and per-user time budgets within a single Chrome profile. ★ SUPPORT AND FEEDBACK NetSafe is actively maintained by LinknWin LLC. Bug reports, feature requests, and feedback are welcome at shan007@gmail.com. We read every message and ship updates regularly. NetSafe — comprehensive web safety, complete privacy, no tradeoffs.