Need help blocking inappropriate internet site access

bushcaro · 14 September 2007 at 9:29AM

Is there a way to block particular internet sites/searches.
I have discovered my 12 year old son has been accessing VERY inapp sexual material . He will need access for homework so a complete ban would not be practical.

BillScarab · 14 September 2007 at 9:38AM

various commercial software is available such as netnanny and cybersitter, there are others but they're only ones I can think of at the moment. There used to be a freeware one as well but it's no longer developed.

If you're using Vista you can set up restrictions which are reasonably effective. If you've got a firewall you can usually set up lists of banned IP addresses or sites but it's a manual task and may not be very effective.

snax · 14 September 2007 at 11:39AM

Move the PC into the Lounge/sittingroom so you can monitor his surfing habits and educate him as to the good, the bad and the 'other'.

It's completely normal for there to be 'curiosity' at the age of 12 or so - but there are dangers inherant in this kind of 'click to see' approach - not least from virus/trojans/keyloggers/dailers and all sorts of other web nasties which will all but render the PC unusable and unsafe for normal surfing.

My sister has 2 teenage boys, the PC is in the lounge - she has no problems [I have scanned the cookies folder going back quite a way over time - there is no evidence].
Any time that they are visiting friends with internet access she politely asks the parents to be 'observant'.

seems to work for her.

hope it helps.

bushcaro · 14 September 2007 at 11:50AM

snax wrote: »

Move the PC into the Lounge/sittingroom so you can monitor his surfing habits and educate him as to the good, the bad and the 'other'.

It's completely normal for there to be 'curiosity' at the age of 12 or so - but there are dangers inherant in this kind of 'click to see' approach - not least from virus/trojans/keyloggers/dailers and all sorts of other web nasties which will all but render the PC unusable and unsafe for normal surfing.

My sister has 2 teenage boys, the PC is in the lounge - she has no problems [I have scanned the cookies folder going back quite a way over time - there is no evidence].
Any time that they are visiting friends with internet access she politely asks the parents to be 'observant'.

seems to work for her.

hope it helps.

On this note - another query from a non tachie parent - teenage daughter has a laptop which she uses in her bedroom ( homework was the main reason for purchase) but hoped she would not be able to access the internet - it has a built in wireless card and she picks up the internet from our neighbours - any simple way to disable??

Thanks for all your ideas.

hawkwind · 14 September 2007 at 12:07PM

I have found this FREE web filter by far the best http://www.k9webprotection.com/ You can have it set for different age groups etc. Not only does it stop your kids from viewing innappropriate material, it also blocks sites that maybe vunerable to spyware/virus/trojans. It is password protected so kids cannot disable or change the settings. If they try to disable the program in the task manager then they will be unable to access anything on the internet. The best piece of freeware i have ever installed.

BillScarab · 14 September 2007 at 12:10PM

Firstly, if she is using someone else's connection with out permission she is breaking he law. Secondly if she is using it with their permission they might be breaking the T&Cs of their contract with their provider.

Do you know which neighbour it is? If os go round and tell them to secure their connection then your daughter won't be able to use it

You could disable the wireless on your daughter's laptop but if she has the knowledge to connect to someone else's wireless she would probably be able to re-enable it.

you could try disabling it i the BIOS and then password protect the BIOS but if she wanted to she could find a way past that fairly easily.

hawkwind · 14 September 2007 at 12:22PM

Yes i agree there the first point of call should be to your neighbours as they may be unwittingly compromising their own security by having their wireless connection broadcasting.

Do you also have a firewall that you can password protect on her laptop and block all network activity with it.

buglawton · 14 September 2007 at 12:41PM

I used to use iProtectYou Free, after a bit of tuning where you add some allowed sites manually (when you DD or DS comes asking why they can't access a certain chat room for instance), it was quite good. Just don't lose your administrator's password as it's hard to uninstall then.

About $34 nowadays, no longer free alas.

http://www.softforyou.com/

Need help blocking inappropriate internet site access

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