Can I tell if son is online?

Alltheloginsaretakenappar

On my netgear router I just log in to http://192.168.0.1 and look at the logs
For example these are the logs for just now:

1|Source:192.168.0.2 ALLOW:forums.moneysavingexpert.com Wed, 5/03/2006 01:24:04
2|Source:192.168.0.2 ALLOW:img.moneysavingexpert.com Wed, 5/03/2006 01:23:06
3|Source:192.168.0.2 ALLOW:forums.moneysavingexpert.com Wed, 5/03/2006 01:23:06
4|Source:192.168.0.2 ALLOW:img.moneysavingexpert.com Wed, 5/03/2006 01:23:06

Each computer has a different number, mine is 192.168.0.2 or you should be able to tell by the websites visited who is online

hobo28

In my job, I often see people try to use computers to solve the wrong problem. I think the same is happening here. This is not a technical issue but rather a parenting issue. Therefore, using technology to solve the problem in my opinion is not going to work.

Its like those TV programs which tell parents to use a gadget to restrict children's time in front of the TV!?!? What happened to just saying "No" to the kids!?!?!?!

Is staying up late and chatting to mates really a massive problem to a 15 yr old? At his age, I was in the pub getting drunk with my fake ID! As an earlier poster said, at least he's not out robbing cars.

Besides which, I'd put money on the fact that like in most families up & down this country, your Step-son is prob. the most computer literate in the house. You block one thing and he'll work out another. It could get to the point where he's successfully hiding it. Personally I'd monitor the situation rather than drive his behaviour underground and cause a huge family ruckus.

I can't really see a 15 year old responding well to "Your not allowed to do that" which is what he will hear.

BungleGirl wrote:

My theory is that if you let them get away with it they will continue to do so

.......or they learn to hide it better so they do get away with it!

albertross_2

Did you change the outbound "Firewall Rules" defaults to do this? I don't think logging is on by default..

Default Yes Any BLOCK always Any Any Never

BungleGirl

hobo28,

I agree with most of what you are saying - it is indeed a parenting issue, and after three years we (OH and I) have decided to go for counselling to try to resolve these issues. I disagree however with the idea that just because he is not out robbing cars we shouldn't stop him from being up 'til the early hours when we have given him an 11 o'clock bedtime - he doesn't have to go to sleep, he can watch telly in bed,but he is supposed to have switched off his computer and lights and actually be in bed. He doesn't have a hard life, there really is nothing else that he is asked to do.

The main problem I have is that if he lived with his mother (who now lives abroad) he would not dream of go ingainst what she said yet heplatentlt takes the p**s out of his father. His siter who lives with their mother is only allowed on the internet for a certain amount of time (an hour I think) and she always adheres to this. I don't expect him to only spend an hour on the net, just to switch it off at a certain (and I think reasonable) time.

To my mind parents should be parents not just friends, he has his own friends, what he needs is a parent - someone who has his best interest at heart and is prepared to give him boundaries and hopefully help him grow into an adult who has morals and respect for other people. He plans to join the RAF and has done since he was a small boy - how will he react when for the first time in his life he gets given orders and is expected to do what he is told?

Anyway my issue as you can probably work out from all of this is more with my OH than son - hopefully when we get through some counseling we will have respect for each others parenting beliefs and be able to meet somewhere in the middle.

Have to dash to work now - thank you for taking the time to post, it has given me something to think about today.

jockettuk

take the fuse out the plug and say there must be a problem you will have to send it away .. take it to a friends house for a few days then bring it back and tell him now its fixed he has to adhere to the rules or if it gets broken again you wont get it repaired..

fairytooth

A fairly quick and easy approach would be to register yourself with msn and then you will see him come on line when he logs in. I know there are ways around being seen but he might not realise you are checking on him at first.

In fact if you show yourself as always offline he won't see you there.

Any good?

BungleGirl

fairytooth wrote:

A fairly quick and easy approach would be to register yourself with msn and then you will see him come on line when he logs in. I know there are ways around being seen but he might not realise you are checking on him at first.

In fact if you show yourself as always offline he won't see you there.

Any good?

I have tried that one - but it no longer works as he knows about the 'block' and 'appear offline' features

BungleGirl

As this thread is going into parenting problems I have started a new thread on the families board - I hope that is the right place for it.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=192358

matto

There are tools available which will enable you to see what he is getting up to, what sites he is visiting, what he is saying on MSN etc. It can get pretty complex and most of them run on Linux rather than Windows but CDs are available to download which include Linux and all the neceesry tools and run straight from the CD, knoppox-std is a good example.

Our DD has been told right from the start that I will know what she is doing on the Internet.

I can't guarantee that the following will work unless you start doing more complex network manipulation but they are worth a try to start with:

MSN Sniffer from https://www.effetech.com (various other sniffers are available here to.) I wouldn't suggest you buy it, but you can use it for 14 days although it only sniffs the first 10 messages or so.

Etherwatch - https://www.etherwatch.com - displays downloaded pictures.

Ethereal for Windows - https://www.ethereal.com - more complex traffic analyser.

John_Gray

Although this is returning to near the start of this thread, you shouldn't need to play with DHCP if his PC has a name on your network.

Just PING pcname and it should give you the same sort of information as PING IPaddress (probably 192.168.0.whatever)

John