Blocking a website to laptops using my wireless router - is it possible?

tronator

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

99% of people have no idea what a hosts file is, never mind the technical know how to change it.

This might apply to us old guys, but the kids these days know much more about computers than their parents...;)

And if he doesn't know, then surely one of his friends or he asks in a forum like this. Security by obscurity doesn't work.

Trinitrotoluene

tronator wrote: »

This might apply to us old guys, but the kids these days know much more about computers than their parents...;)

And if he doesn't know, then surely one of his friends or he asks in a forum like this. Security by obscurity doesn't work.

I'm not saying it is impossible but it is unlikely. Security by obscurity DOES work - most if not all systems can be bypassed by those in the know. A lot of systems rely on obscurity. It's not a good practice to rely on it but in situations like this where the user is a home user it is usually good enough.

That said, as I mentioned before the port blocking is the right way to go about this.

bof_3

:eek:

fiendishlyclever wrote: »

Or simply tell your son not to play it when you say, and follow through with sanctions if he ignores your request.... (e.g. removing PC or internet access)

This is why discipline in schools is on the slide....

Oh yes if only life were that simple
I have tried sanctions, in the last 10 months my son has lost his pocket money, his bus pass, his lifts here there and everywhere, he's had his internet access restricted and his xbox tv and laptop removed from his room and his phone taken from him. We even took our modem to bed to stop him going online in the early hours.

He has just got his internet access back in the last week after we removed it 6 weeks ago (along with his xbox/phone/tv) because he'd been making a big effort to change his attitude. However already I have the feeling that he has been going back to his old ways, though he does deny it and I can't catch him out because I think he's been messing with his history.


I have tried reasoning with him, threatening him, working out a gaming schedule and treating him like the adult he almost is. He is very good a paying lip service and making empty promises. He's also very computer savvy and has managed to get round the administrator password on his laptop to lift his restrictions.

My son is very stubbon and sees every sanction as a battle that he is determined to win. He will cut his nose off to spite his face rather than admit he's bothered by it.

I am tired of having to remember to take my modem to bed, I'm tired of the constant arguments and I'm tired of feeling that let down by my son. I would prefer to throw all his internet accessible equipment out of my home and have put it outside for anyone to take but my OH brought it back in because he thought this is going over the top :eek:

I have another child who also wants internet access, he knows which sites he is allowed on and sticks to the rules. I don't want my other child to loose out because of his brother.

Sorry to vent but your post did make me smile.

bof_3

Hhmm I'm trying to get on to the router webpage but it's not working, could he have changed the router IP addresss?
Sorry I'm not particularly computer literate so I hope I'm making sense,

Darksun

Different routers usually have different default gateway addresses, what make/model is yours?

Some routers do weird things and don't let you access the web interface through the IP address, for example some models of Netgear you have to visit http://www.routerlogin.net which it redirects to the admin interface.

tronator

bof wrote: »

Hhmm I'm trying to get on to the router webpage but it's not working, could he have changed the router IP addresss?
Sorry I'm not particularly computer literate so I hope I'm making sense,

Possibly. To find out the IP, open a command prompt and type in ipconfig followed by ENTER. The default gateway should be router's IP. He possibly also changed the password for it, so you might need to find out how to reset it.

Darksun

Once you get access to the router, look for an option for port blocking/filtering, that's probably the best way to block WoW. If you block port 3724 that will stop access to WoW.

bof_3

tronator wrote: »

Possibly. To find out the IP, open a command prompt and type in ipconfig followed by ENTER. The default gateway should be router's IP. He possibly also changed the password for it, so you might need to find out how to reset it.

Already tried this but it didn't work, just says no matches found oh hold on think it might be me. I don't normally have any problem getting onto the router webpage with 192.168.1.1 . Just seems strange that I can't do it now.
Looks like I'll be removing the router completely and resetting the admin password on the pc.

Just done the command prompt properly & the default gateway is 192.168.1.1

fiendishlyclever

bof wrote: »

Sorry to vent but your post did make me smile.

Sorry - the teacher in me took over

If you pay for his WoW account you can change the passwords and set parental controls from INSIDE the WoW account limiting the times he can play.

I have to sympathise a little - in the first year or so of WoW I clocked up nearly 30 solid DAYS of game play. I've been clean of wow for 18 months now

Good luck stopping the WoW

bof_3

fiendishlyclever wrote: »

Sorry - the teacher in me took over

If you pay for his WoW account you can change the passwords and set parental controls from INSIDE the WoW account limiting the times he can play.

I have to sympathise a little - in the first year or so of WoW I clocked up nearly 30 solid DAYS of game play. I've been clean of wow for 18 months now

Good luck stopping the WoW

Well done on giving up the WoW
We don't pay for his subscription as we stopped giving him pocket money ages ago, since then he's used Xmas and Birthday money, sold xbox games etc and after he finally ran out of things he was prepared to sell he now goes on his friends WoW accounts for them.
I resorted to removing the wireless router, uninstalling WoW(or as much of it as I could find) and restricting his access to the computer.