Overview: Handy is the word that sums up this book. It gives a broad picture of the major online threats that can snare children, and the software arsenal that parents can use to keep these at bay.

Content: Author Simon Johnson combines his experience as a parent and as an IT security professional of more than 10 years in this 336-page tome.

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So, parents get insider tips. For instance, Mr Johnson, or "the house husband" " as he calls himself on his website, www.keepyourkidssafe.com " will definitely not allow his daughter, now a toddler, to go into Internet relay chatrooms or IRCs when she's older.

Why? Because in one IRC for teenagers, where he entered posing as a precocious 10-year-old girl, he was hit on within minutes by people who wanted to know his age, sex and where he lived.

Australia's version of United States' Net angel Parry Aftab, Mr Johnson tested more than two dozen programs that fight everything from paedophilia to pornography and spam to spyware.

He gives independent reviews on each type of stay-safe tactic including firewalls, web filters, e-mail filters and programs to detect malicious software like viruses. Each review comes with a rating, pros and cons and comparison charts.

The simple language is easy to understand. An example: "A firewall is a bit like the traffic police; it directs and can stop traffic coming into your computer from the Internet and going out of your computer to the Internet."

Reviewer's comment: A good book to have for parents of primary schoolers but those with more savvy teenagers would find it rather basic.

Evelyn Yap is a freelance writer.