Hello everyone! I'd appreciate your help with keeping kids safe online and trusted parental control software. My teenage grandson is spending too much time online, isolating himself from his peers. I can't understand what attracts him so much online - I guess it's video games and social networking. But I'm worried about his safety, as several times he got malware while downloading something from insecure websites, so they had to reinstall the system a few times. Has anybody tried any of the tips on kids' online safety ? I'd like to hear your opinion, as we are sick and tired of not being able to protect our kid online as well as check his online activity.
Tips on how to keep our kids safe online
- Thread starter Benoas
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malware = MS Windows.
Linux is easier than ever. Even though I been using it since 2003. Mint or SuSE or Ubuntu are good ones to start off with. That said you do not have to ware about down loading the black plague or having your OS compromised.
Linux is easier than ever. Even though I been using it since 2003. Mint or SuSE or Ubuntu are good ones to start off with. That said you do not have to ware about down loading the black plague or having your OS compromised.
Ban the PC use and force him to use a cell phone.
He will be more social with friends, and it's a PITA to browse websites on phone... plus a data limit is good.
He will be more social with friends, and it's a PITA to browse websites on phone... plus a data limit is good.
I'd strongly suspect that teen is looking at porn, almost impossible to resist it for a boy at that age. I get a report every week about what my daughter is browsing from uSoft and we talk about anything that looks fishy (only 2 sites so far in 3 years).
My 12 year old is in the same boat and we are getting him an I Pad for Christmas. From then on he will be banned from the house computer. He does want to create videos so we are going to push that over watching YouTube as much as we can. My parents have 3 grandkids in their house and they are always crashing his computer, they had to be banned too.
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
I'd strongly suspect that teen is looking at porn, almost impossible to resist it for a boy at that age. I get a report every week about what my daughter is browsing from uSoft and we talk about anything that looks fishy (only 2 sites so far in 3 years).
Yep. If you are getting viruses he's looking at porn. I've only heard of a virus acquisition a handful of times that wasn't porn related.
I'd strongly suspect that teen is looking at porn, almost impossible to resist it for a boy at that age. I get a report every week about what my daughter is browsing from uSoft and we talk about anything that looks fishy (only 2 sites so far in 3 years).
Yep. If you are getting viruses he's looking at porn. I've only heard of a virus acquisition a handful of times that wasn't porn related.
you should use a firewall that he has to log on to and that ONLY allows a list of websites he can visit or use the firewalls filter list to block porn and other questionable sites.
Virus can be from mistyping urls like
yahooo.com etc.
just do a reinstall and then a backup of the OS. if bleep happens and restore to last good image.
Virus can be from mistyping urls like
yahooo.com etc.
just do a reinstall and then a backup of the OS. if bleep happens and restore to last good image.
I set up a laptop for a recently divorced female coworker years ago; she had two daughters, 13 and 15 at the time.
She had me set it up in the kitchen common area so she could supervise its use.
There is 'no way' she would be letting kids have unsupervised internet access @ those ages (e.g. in their rooms)
I thought it a bit draconian, but there were certainly no temptations.....
I would certainly use linux as the OS.
She had me set it up in the kitchen common area so she could supervise its use.
There is 'no way' she would be letting kids have unsupervised internet access @ those ages (e.g. in their rooms)
I thought it a bit draconian, but there were certainly no temptations.....
I would certainly use linux as the OS.
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This is our approach, although my youngest is almost 17. When they were younger, we had a computer in our loft for them to share. Now that they are older and have laptops, etc, we have two WiFi routers. One that only the kids and guests can use. It turns off at 11pm or midnight depending on weekday/weekend. The other is for my wife and me.
No laptop use in their bedrooms. Computer use has to be in plain sight. If they don't like it, the two adult children are free to move out.
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I set up a laptop for a recently divorced female coworker years ago; she had two daughters, 13 and 15 at the time.
She had me set it up in the kitchen common area so she could supervise its use.
There is 'no way' she would be letting kids have unsupervised internet access @ those ages (e.g. in their rooms)
I thought it a bit draconian, but there were certainly no temptations.....
I would certainly use linux as the OS.
No laptop use in their bedrooms. Computer use has to be in plain sight. If they don't like it, the two adult children are free to move out.
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I set up a laptop for a recently divorced female coworker years ago; she had two daughters, 13 and 15 at the time.
She had me set it up in the kitchen common area so she could supervise its use.
There is 'no way' she would be letting kids have unsupervised internet access @ those ages (e.g. in their rooms)
I thought it a bit draconian, but there were certainly no temptations.....
I would certainly use linux as the OS.
OpenDNS has some really good filters; and if you have your router or device(s) set to use OpenDNS for DNS servers you'll have very little to worry about. Although you do not need an account set up to use their service and filters, I have one so that even when I travel I have software that updates my location (IP address, specifically) so that OpenDNS still "knows" it's me logging in from [some remote location] instead of home and applies those filters.
https://www.opendns.com/
Be mindful, though, of taking your device(s) off of your property (and therefore off of your LAN) because then they would begin using whatever DNS servers are used by [who/ whatever is giving you internet access] and that likely does not have parental controls in place. Setting your devices to use OpenDNS instead of just your router mitigates this, but it a slightly greater pain in the butt to set up initially.
PM or post here if you have questions about how to set either your router or device(s) to use OpenDNS's servers.
Aside from that, setting the basic restrictions at Google and YouTube are a good idea. I am pretty sure that both the Google Play and Apple App stores have parental restrictions. If you dig into iOS's settings you can access some pretty nice restrictions as well.
Nothing ever, however, replaces direct parental involvement. None of these technologies can be or claim to be parental proxies!
And in addition to myriad other reasons, Linux-based OS's are going to be much safer, technologically, than others (I do prefer iOS's built-in restrictions over Android's; although the Android ecosystem offers many more installable options).
https://www.opendns.com/
Be mindful, though, of taking your device(s) off of your property (and therefore off of your LAN) because then they would begin using whatever DNS servers are used by [who/ whatever is giving you internet access] and that likely does not have parental controls in place. Setting your devices to use OpenDNS instead of just your router mitigates this, but it a slightly greater pain in the butt to set up initially.
PM or post here if you have questions about how to set either your router or device(s) to use OpenDNS's servers.
Aside from that, setting the basic restrictions at Google and YouTube are a good idea. I am pretty sure that both the Google Play and Apple App stores have parental restrictions. If you dig into iOS's settings you can access some pretty nice restrictions as well.
Nothing ever, however, replaces direct parental involvement. None of these technologies can be or claim to be parental proxies!
And in addition to myriad other reasons, Linux-based OS's are going to be much safer, technologically, than others (I do prefer iOS's built-in restrictions over Android's; although the Android ecosystem offers many more installable options).
Look into a free software called K9 Web Protection. I have used it for years and it works very well. There is no added garbage even though it is 3rd party software. Very safe. You can tweak to your specs to block what you want to block. I believe it will also send you reports when certain websites are attempted. It came bundled with webroot antivirus suite years ago and I have used it ever since. Completely free. I am not sure if it works or how well it works with a tablet or apple product though.
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I agree, get a good dns service to filter the web.
No applications to install that way.
No applications to install that way.
285south - I do not think that my grandson will agree to Change Windows 10 to Linux ...
Thanks for all your tips, but unfortunately I can't prohibit my grandson to use a computer or make him use computer in my presence only - we don't live together.
I found some recommendations at the Emsisoft company blog. The fist thing they advise is to talk with a child but the matter is that I can't even imagine how to start such a conversation...
Thanks for all your tips, but unfortunately I can't prohibit my grandson to use a computer or make him use computer in my presence only - we don't live together.
I found some recommendations at the Emsisoft company blog. The fist thing they advise is to talk with a child but the matter is that I can't even imagine how to start such a conversation...
Try to keep them busy so they use the internet as least as possible, that is probably the best way.
Personally, i'd get a service free or paid to place some restrictions on certain things and even monitor activity if you want. (Norton Family is a good choice for a paid service/software)
Educate them about the dangers of the internet, specially when it comes to privacy and social networking.
Personally, i'd get a service free or paid to place some restrictions on certain things and even monitor activity if you want. (Norton Family is a good choice for a paid service/software)
Educate them about the dangers of the internet, specially when it comes to privacy and social networking.
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