Concerned that your employees are surfing the Internet to plan family vacations or to check stocks on company time? Or worse yet, that some are frequenting inappropriate sites containing pornographic content?

If so, you may have good reason. According to a recent study of 110 companies conducted by Elron Software, 62% registered hits on X-rated sites during working hours.

Before you decide to cancel Internet access altogether, consider looking into Internet filtering programs. These applications let you do anything from track how long employees surf the web to block access to shopping and sports sites.

When choosing filtering software, you should think about what you want to accomplish. While the majority of site filtering applications combine monitoring and blocking functionalities, many tend to be stronger in one area.

At their most basic, site monitoring software allows you to track which sites employees visit. In addition, tracking can also provide more detailed statistics, such as the time users spent in categories, the size of downloaded files, and the amount of bandwidth they used. Some programs even go so far as to track users who try to visit blocked sites. Combined with a policy to sample logs randomly, this software can be effective in curbing non-work related browsing.

Site blocking software, on the other hand, works by restricting access to a Web site on the basis of either its URL (a.k.a. web address), key words, or content. Programs typically allow you to choose from a multitude of predefined categories to restrict from, in addition to giving you the ability to block specific sites.

One downfall of site blocking is that it has the tendency to restrict more sites than originally intended. However, applications that query databases of URLs or discriminate by content generally make fewer mistakes than when using key word blocking alone.

If you think that site blocking may become hindering, don't fret. Just because your company implements site blocking filters doesn't mean that it has to affect web surfing at all hours. Passwords can provide authorized users with different levels of Web access. Moreover, many filtering applications can easily be programmed to lift web blocking during certain hours -- say during lunch time.

You'll also need to think about what type of application to get. There are two basic types of Internet filtering applications on the market today: client-based and server/network-based.

With the older client-based filtering software, the application must be installed on each computer individually. In contrast, server-based filtering occurs at a centralized location like a server, so that sites can be blocked even before they reach the computer. And unlike client-based filtering applications that often require you to block sites and access Internet monitoring logs from each and every user's computer, server-based filters enable you to accomplish both tasks for the entire office from your desktop.

Internet filtering software can be found at a computer store or, for a list, go to www.buyerszone.com/soft/filter.html. On average, expect to pay between $300 and $600 for the software. Free upgrades are usually available for at least a year.

Quick tips

Set web rules. Make sure that you have an outline of employee cyber rules before you set-up any kind of Internet filtering software. This will help to prevent unpleasant surprises in the event that inappropriate Internet usage occurs. Check categories. Don't forget to research the categories that the Internet filtering software blocks. Some concentrate almost solely on filtering pornography and foul language, while others cover more discretionary categories such as shopping, vehicles, and job sites. Games-be-gone. Consider game filtering software if excessive game playing is a problem. These filtering applications can essentially scour hard drives for games, allowing you to delete them or restrict access to them, depending on how you see fit.