Smartguard Interview

First off we would like to thank Jill Dornan,Jerald Block,M.D.,Smartguard Software for doing this interview with us.

Those of us with kids thank you for your software.

About WallFly

WallFly is a Windows application which helps parents place reasonable and effective limits on a child's computer use and computer-based game-playing.

With WallFly parents can restrict access to PC games based on the industry standard rating category and content.

Try it out at

Q1. What made you come up with the ideal for this software???

A1. The two founders of SMARTguard are active medical doctors and longtime friends.

In their independent medical practices, each came across numerous patients that struggled with compulsive computer use.

Both doctors found it frustrating that there were no useful solutions to offer their patients, so they went about creating one.

Q2. What is the softwares memory footprint???

A2. Around 6.5 Meg

Q3. Will you port or make a Linux version??

A3. This first product works on Windows 2000 and XP.

We are open to making several other versions for other OS's and/or the gaming consoles in the future.

Q4. As a parent how do I know that if my kids computer savvy enough that he can't just remove the software???

A4. In our testing, most kids will not be able to or will not try to remove the software.

For the few that can, we will notify the parents when the software is disabled and appears to have been hacked.

What the parents then do with that information is up to them.

If disabled, the servers will send notification to the parents if the product has not connected in a week or two.

Q5. What do you feel are the high lites of your program???

A5. WallFly was carefully designed -- it is easy to install, has minimal impact on the computer, and yet provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help control, monitor, and report on computer-based game-playing.

We are quite proud that we have made such a powerful and versatile tool as WallFly.

Parents can set policy to limit computer use by ESRB rating, ESRB content descriptors, weekly computer and/or game use time budgets, and/or by daily time limits.

Alternatively, parents and children can just use the program to monitor their own game use, without establishing any limits.

It was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), formerly knows as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA).

Q6. What other software do you make???

A6. SMARTguard currently offers one other program, Blockster.

Blockster is a parental tool that prevents the use of Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks that have illegal content, without first getting parental consent.

This product was unveiled at SMARTguard's presentation to the FTC last Fall.

See our comments at

Blockster is available free of charge via our website.

Q7. What type of support do you offer for this program???

A7. SMARTguard Software customers have access to extensive free online support as well as free e-mail support.

The program directly ties into a forum, as well.

Daytime phone support is available M-F (except holidays).

Technical support is free to registered WallFly users for one year from the date of purchase.

Normal turn-around time for email support is 24 hours.

Q8. How long have you been in operation???

A8. SMARTguard was launched in 2003, but the technology was in the works long before then.

Q9. Why should I use your software over say another company???

A9. There is no other software program specifically designed to monitor games in the many ways that we do, and nobody else uses the ESRB ratings database.

Q10. How do you handle updates to the software???

A10. Registered users are emailed and told when a new source update is available.

The game database autoupdates, as needed.

Q11. Do you offer paid support or free???

A11. Free with annual subscription.

Q12. Can you tell us about the ease of use of your program???

A12. It is easy to use and once setup the parent can forget about it.

That should make the product very, very easy to use.

Q13. What is your warranty policy???

A13. You can try the product for two-weeks without laying down any money.

Thereafter, it costs $39.95 - though we reduced that to $29.95 for the month of April.

Q14. Can a parent have reports sent via email with this program???

A14. Yes, parents are sent a weekly log of game use.

Q15. Do you install it on a server or the user computer???

A15. The program is installed directly on the PC.

Q16. Have you thought of approaching the game makers themselves and and offering a bit of code that your product would see once the game is installed and auto configure with the parents permission???

A16. We are in discussions with gaming industry organizations, software developers and platform developers about this technology.

Q17. Have you approached fire wall makers to add in your software to theirs???

A17. Great idea! Not yet. Any firewall manufacturers out there? Call us!!

Q18. What other types of software along this line will or do you make???

A18. Can't talk about that.

It is a hush-hush, need-to-know sort of thing.

Q19. How do you test your software??

A19. Beta testers and PCTest, a software testing firm.

Both have been enormously helpful.

Q20. What platform do you write your code in???

A20. We coded in C++ and PHP.