A COMPUTER programme which will help teachers track down internet bullies is being developed in Bolton.

Zentec Solutions will launch its Network Monitoring Solution in the autumn.

It will allow teachers to track which sites pupils are visiting and give parents the power to control every aspect of their children's internet activity, keeping them safe from online bullies and paedophiles.

The development of the programme follows the launch of an agency to tackle child abuse and indecent images on the internet.

Colin McKeown, managing director of Zentek, which is based in St Mark's Street, near the town centre, said: "This is an extremely smart and powerful programme.

"It can monitor what children are seeing online, as well as what they might be writing to others.

"It can monitor all types of documents and applications, only reporting on words and phrases that are pre-agreed and inappropriate or unacceptable, allowing them to be highlighted and flagged.

"It will store the PC name or IP address, user logon ID and time it happened of anything it captures.

"It also allows programs such as Internet Explorer, Media Player and MSN to be closed down at certain times, for instance during night-time hours."

"Everything is password-protected so, as long as teachers and parents use good security, the system is robust."

While the solution has taken 18 months to develop, the underlying technology has been researched over three-and-a-half years.

It will be available primarily to schools, who will use it on their networks and who will also be able to sell it on to parents. It will also be commercially available from the company's website for about £ 40, plus VAT, per year.

Mr McKeown said: "This approach to the problem does work.

"We see schools where thousands of violations of all manner and type happen every day when in our solution is installed in stealth mode.

"It quickly drops down to less than 20 per day once the system is activated and advises the perpetrator of unacceptable use.

The company has already installed secure networks in more than 450 schools across the UK.

Huge strides are being made in the field of child protection on the internet. The Government's new Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre will be staffed 24 hours a day by police, computer technicians and child welfare specialists.

Based in London, it is affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK's new FBI-style organisation. Among the tactics it will use will be officers posing as children in online chatrooms to entrap paedophiles, and setting up fake websites to entice abusers to disclose credit card details.