How To Block Access To MSN

recovering_spendaholic

Hi - My 16 year old was a happy gregarious kid until about 18 months ago when she discovered MSN and MySpace - she now spends almost every waking moment, when she is in the house, on these sites and if I need the computer she is tetchy and stroppy about having to give it up. Her general behaviour has suffered and she somtimes sits up until very late talking to who knows who... As soon as she comes in from school she goes on and as a result her schoolwork has gone from brilliant to very poor, and I don't expect good GCSE results next week. I have tried limiting her time and taking the data cable out of the computer but this doesn't work as the fall out is unbelievable when she is stopped and she bought a new data cable herself. Doing away with the internet is not an option as I need it for research for work (from home). I need to know if there is any way to block access to MSN - so far when I have removed it she just reinstalls it, parental controlling it doesn't work as she knows all kinds of ways round it and the Telewest Broadband tell me that they can't help. Does anyone know a way to stop access to MSN, hotmail, Myspace etc? I am nearing the end of my tether.

jem16

If you are using XP why not set up different user accounts with passwords? You can then set up an account for her with restricted rights, one of which would be the inability to install programs. That way you could install what you want her to use and nothing else.

Rex_Mundi

Hopefully you've already got a firewall installed (you should have). You can normally set these to block access to any sites you want. You should also be able to set the firewall so you can only make changes with a password.

nickj_2

if you are running windows xp try this
log in to thre admin account
click start > set programme access and defualts> custom then untick the enable access to msn

to stop this being changed you can set a master password for the admin account by clicking start > control panel >user accounts >computer admin >then create a password ,

good luck

John_Gray

I'm sorry to say that in a "PC technology war" I'm tempted to think that your daughter will win. She seems to be utterly determined to have her way.

It would perhaps be better and/or more productive to approach matters from the human angle, but I certainly don't envy you this task...

John

MercilessKiller

I wouldnt block it.

I'm 19 now. Used msn since i was 14. For a couple of years I had a bad time school wise, and msn kept me happy - now I have a girlfriend and some great real friends.

Meanwhile, while i had this bad phase I met someone over msn. Just an "msn mate" as such. She's now my best friend in real life!!! was 2 years talking over msn (and then eventually the phone before meeting)...

MSN and (reluctantly) myspace are VERY important tools of social lives today. Most people under the age of 20 will use msn regularly to talk to friends!!! Its cheaper than mobile phones which parents always complain about bill wise... so not being rude to parents, but please.. give us some options

I would advise limiting use rather than blocking it completely. And the best way to do this would be to only enable it on one user account, and only you can log into that.

sra

There's an interesting looking program here.

But I would definitely go for a restricted account to minimize the chance of getting round it.

Maybe if you came to a compromise about the amount of time and when, she wouldn't feel the need to try and get round it

But I think there are ways around any system if you want it enough. There are also web-based MSN interfaces that you'd have to block if she knows about them.

Bennifred

What I have done to overcome a similar problem is to put a password onto the internet access, and I disconnect when I/OH are not using. If my children need to use the internet, they have to ask me to connect for them so at least I am aware they are online and can keep an eye on what they are doing (normally it's just downloading guitar tabs etc). I don't allow MSN or any other chat rooms either, and any arguments are met with the "It's my computer so I decide, when you have your own and pay the bills for it then it will be your choice." line. They soon got used to it.

littleange

MercilessKiller wrote:

I wouldnt block it.

I'm 19 now. Used msn since i was 14. For a couple of years I had a bad time school wise, and msn kept me happy - now I have a girlfriend and some great real friends.

Meanwhile, while i had this bad phase I met someone over msn. Just an "msn mate" as such. She's now my best friend in real life!!! was 2 years talking over msn (and then eventually the phone before meeting)...

MSN and (reluctantly) myspace are VERY important tools of social lives today. Most people under the age of 20 will use msn regularly to talk to friends!!! Its cheaper than mobile phones which parents always complain about bill wise... so not being rude to parents, but please.. give us some options

I would advise limiting use rather than blocking it completely. And the best way to do this would be to only enable it on one user account, and only you can log into that.

I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure whether to say so. I've also been using things like MSN since I was around 15 (25 now). I'd imagine its very important to your daughter to be able to keep in touch with her mates in this way so she feels like she's fitting in - so don't forget that, and as MercilessKiller said its much cheaper than mobile phones. My boyfriend's recently started a new job where he is allowed to chat on MSN and I don't think I've used my phone much since, so its saved us a fortune in texts. I often find if you think someone is doing the wrong thing there's not much point going on at them, they have to learn the lesson for themselves. You can't do anything about her GCSE results now so maybe if she hasn't done too well it might make her think about the effort she didn't put in and sort herself out. Maybe you shouldn't worry about it so much, sounds like its stressing you out, shes 16 and probably just wants to have fun with her mates - which I'm sure most 16 year olds do, I'm sure she's not doing it to annoy you. Maybe you should try talking to her and let her know that you understand its important to her and come to a compromise and she might then be less stroppy with you when you need to use the computer.

devizes18193

your problem is with your kid and what ever you do she ;ll smell a rat ,i've mixed feeling on the whole msn thing , but most teen agers are tech savvy and at worst they can always call a mate or come to a site like this (but the youngester s IN THE ABOVE POST SEEM TO HAVE A PONT .) i'm 43 luckly my kids have not got to that stage yet . all the best

MercilessKiller

Started a new post on the msn debate to let people give advice to the op on the actual question.