Like the title says, any recommendations?
I'm about to upgrade to Win7 Home Premium * - does it have any built-in utilities or anything more than XP does/did?
Exactly, just want a backup plan for teenagers in the house. I can't watch them all the time.
uggh. thanks for the reminder that my daughter will be a teenager one day, and all the crap I'll have to worry about when that time comes.
Free filtering: opendns.org nothing is installed on the computer/networked device and logs can be checked from work.
Grtechguy wrote: Free filtering: opendns.org nothing is installed on the computer/networked device and logs can be checked from work.
What this guy said, kids are smart, they get around local software easy peasy. Everybody should be using opendns even if you don't have kids.
Don't try to monitor at the PC. That's as easy to avoid as just plugging in a different computer or downloading a linux live CD and booting off of that.
Better idea is to monitor at the router. You can see what IPs the machines on your network are making requests to, and there's no circumventing it on the local machine level.
If you have a spare box... check out Untangle.
ReverendDexter wrote: Don't try to monitor at the PC. That's as easy to avoid as just plugging in a different computer or downloading a linux live CD and booting off of that. Better idea is to monitor at the router. You can see what IPs the machines on your network are making requests to, and there's no circumventing it on the local machine level.
Yes openDNS numbers plugged into the router, which is password protected. For further security cable/dsl modem locked away to prevent by passing the router.
The teen in question is my daughter who isn't computer savy but likes the internetz.
FYI - Microsoft Live Family Safety is free and is monitored thru your Live (Hotmail) account. I'm trying it out.
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=other
ReverendDexter wrote: Don't try to monitor at the PC. That's as easy to avoid as just plugging in a different computer or downloading a linux live CD and booting off of that. Better idea is to monitor at the router. You can see what IPs the machines on your network are making requests to, and there's no circumventing it on the local machine level.
+1
How about a cheap pentium box running ipcop or endian? You can get as fancy as you want w/ the configuration, limit access times to the internet from certain computers, filter websites by readlily-available online "whitelist" sites, etc...
http://www.tech-faq.com/free-firewall-software.html
More zombie canoe.
hang on, i forget. Do we take a drink if a canoe revives an old thread and people continue posting, or is it if nobody notices?
Rufledt wrote: hang on, i forget. Do we take a drink if a canoe revives an old thread and people continue posting, or is it if nobody notices?
Yes.
<raises tea mug>
Check your router; I know my company (netgear) has parental control options available:
http://countries.netgear.com/lpc
SupraWes wrote:Grtechguy wrote: Free filtering: opendns.org nothing is installed on the computer/networked device and logs can be checked from work.What this guy said, kids are smart, they get around local software easy peasy. Everybody should be using opendns even if you don't have kids.
You realize that a filtering/logging DNS server is the easiest approach to work around right?
not really.
If all the internets in the house must pass thru one router that is being monitored by DNS software, thats your choke point?
Even if you set a client behind the router to a different DNS, it still has to go thru the router to get to that DNS, afaik
madmallard wrote: not really. If all the internets in the house must pass thru one router that is being monitored by DNS software, thats your choke point? Even if you set a client behind the router to a different DNS, it still has to go thru the router to get to that DNS, afaik
Its not that hard to find an open proxy server and go through there.
fastEddie wrote: The teen in question is my daughter who isn't computer savy but likes the internetz. FYI - Microsoft Live Family Safety is free and is monitored thru your Live (Hotmail) account. I'm trying it out. http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=other
She may not be savvy but someone in her class is. For a couple bucks (or free if the tech nerd in question is a guy and likes her), they'll configure a work around for her.
I'm convinced child-rearing today is much like "Hogan's Heroes." Unfortunately, we're Colonel Klink.
i'm more of the school of thought that goes like this:
"these are the terms for internet use here. Know that I am monitoring it. Any attempt to bypass means no more internet."
While they can circumvent it if dedicated enough, they usually aren't dedicated enough to do what it takes to cover tracks of circumvention.
Kinda like using a OBD2 plug tracker on the kids' car. "remove it, or if there's a gap in the log, you can't drive anymore."
I'm curious about what you are worried about your daughter seeing on the internet?
Porn? Sites related to drugs? I am not AGAINST monitoring, just curious as to the reason why... I expect all 14+ year olds to know what they are doing (in a generalized sense), as even I did back when the high speed intertubez were just getting fired up.
In reply to HiTempguy:
Well... I have 2 boys... and it does occur to me that boys looking for pictures of nekkid girls their own age could get the guy on the billing slip into quite a bucket of hot water. Even the fear of death my own children have of embarrassing their mother in the newspaper... won't stop one of their friends from googling "german schizer films".
I put the computer in the family room and only allow it on by permission now... but a little software help is on the roadmap.
I've been able to do a pretty good job of monitoring just by checking the history files and cookies. If Dad doesn't let them know how he found out they found nekkid chix, they will continue to think I have superpowers. When I start seeing missing time from the history files, I'll know they're really starting to grow up.
So far, I've busted my older son once with no repeat offenses...yet.
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