[Dreamwatcher]

looking for some free software for my daughter so she can go on the internet safely

anyone recommend anything???

[Elvira]

Take a look at this one, dunno how good it is, just did a general search.

http://www.radiance.m6.net/

[Silent Bob]

Vista? Has brilliant parental controls built in now.

[Reckless]

I use a custom hosts file to prevent access to sites. This method doesn't work if a link is IP based.

If you use Firefox, you can use Blocksite which is an add-on that can handle black or white lists.

Enable 'safe' search results under Google (I expect there's similar options on other search engines?) which is a per user setting.

Enable/Install anti-phishing facilities in your browser.