Spyware, viruses, & security forum: How do you keep your kids safe online?

...and overlapping of the two is hard to define. Even legitimate sites will load inappropriate spyware/adware and other popups that children shouldn't see. Some of the newer vulnerabilities have been placed on hacked websites.. Adware commonly loads "redirects" to porn sites. They're one and the same.

I don't distinguish between the two.. If the site is unwanted, block them all. It's one of the reasons I use a HOSTS file.. All unwanted sites are blocked.. If you want to allow a site that's currently blocked, remove it from HOSTS. If you want to ADD a site, add it to HOSTS.

Hope this helps.

Grif

A website such as Evilchili can be allowed in a HOSTS file while the links to bad websites are blocked. It works EXACTLY as you would hope. An errant mouse click simply brings up a blank page because the "bad" link is blocked.

Of course, an extensive HOSTS file might block a few of your "favorite" sites simply because they advertise too much.. In those case, remove the blocked site from the HOSTS file and you're back in business again.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Mac OS X and Safari have parental controls built in. They are easy to set up, easy to use, and they don't cost anything extra!

I know, as a parent of 4 children, a son who is now 22yrs. and a daughter that is 14 that what has been shared is fact. No matter what parents buy to keep their kids safe online, NOTHING substitutes parental supervision, and I think that anyone who tells you less is either trying to sell you something or is just that ignorant.
Even the nicest most rule abiding child will stray on the internet because they CAN.
Please do your kids a favor, WATCH them, BE WITH them, TALK TO them and above all STICK TO YOUR PLAN. They may think you're overprotective and "mean" or "unfair", but, they will thank you in the long run. One other tip that I would like to post, sorry if it has already been said, BUT, do NOT allow your child access to a webcam!!! They do NOT NEED one and too many bad things have happened to innocent kids because they are given access to this piece of equipment. Teens and young kids can be coaxed into a lot of behaviors that are completely inappropriate and sometimes harmful.
Protect them! They are precious and we only get ONE chance!
God Bless.
~DidaDragonfly~ concerned parent

Im only 16 and know for a fact that there is no program that can stop people form accessing Internet sites you don't want them too, even the newly installed computer monitoring software (vision Client) our school has in stalled isn't fool proof, the first day of it being installed everyone found a simple way to bypass it, the fact is that if an adolescent wants to find a way to get at dirty sites they will, the best thing to do is monitor them visually. My parents have installed such things but me knowing much more about computers then them have found ways to get around them, (not to look at bad material rather to see if i could do it).

Off topic:
Nothing out there is completely safe. There are workarounds for everything, some small little hole somewhere that, if given the time, people could work around. I'm not saying I could do it, I'm just saying that nothing is 100% foolproof.
Example:
DeepFreeze works on the concept of having the computer do a system-restore in the background during startup, anything you do can and will be removed, they claim to be foolproof, but there are multiple ways to break it, too.

Back on topic:
The best thing to do, as has been said, is monitor, monitor, monitor. I'm only 19, but my sister-in-law (who is 13) thinks she owns her mom's computer. She's on it more often than I used to be on mine (which is saying something, as I used to be on it for long times during the day, end of school to about 1AM the next morning). So I try to assist my mother-in-law however possible. Only problem: The kid's a spoiled brat, and (I hate to say it), knows as much as I do about security and protection software. Kids are getting smarter when it comes to computers, and without supervision, they WILL find a way. Unplug your computers when you're not home, and bring the power cord with you, forget about every type of software beyond virus- and adware-scanners, and make sure you're with them at all times.

You can get this program for free from Zdnet called WebAllow which permits you to only go to certain sites unless you have a password...Matter of fact, you can't uninstall the program unless you have a password.

we've used it for years and found it consistently keep a teenager in the right areas of the web.

I have several kids at home. They range from a graduating Toddler to Drivers Age (shudder at that thought !!! ;-)) **lol**
I have found that realistically you can only do so much to help protect your kids while they are online these days.
And believe it or not, regardless of how sophisticated the Hardware/Software may be, it's always the stupidest things (typical actions without any thought behind it) that a kid can do that winds up circumventing all the "Control Measures" that you might have in place to protect them !
After trying ALL the available software out there, From Cybersitter on down the line to the tune of more than a few hundred dollars I found that the simplest solution was to take an old P2 computer that was relegated to being a doorstop and wiped the drives and loaded Linux Apache Server, Stuck in a few Network Cards, and presto !!!
Instant Router with more actual protection than anything else I found.
I have my DSL going directly into this resurected computer, with the kids, as well as my own computer going through it to the Net ...
By properly tweaking the NAT you have a firewall better than anything you can buy. That is just the beginning ... I have total control over what times of the day the kids computers can access the Net, as well as for how long, and the best feature .... actually being able to control WHERE on the net they can get to ...
Since I monitor this "router" routinely I can even tell if anyone out here in Cyberland was gutsy enough to try to follow any of my kids back home .... The only other software I use is the Firewall support that came installed in the DSL Modem from my ISP, and that pathetic XP firewall that came with the O/S from Microsoft, both of which would only slightly hinder a somewhat knowledgable person.

One question I get asked about more often from other parents about my home network is: "what about kids clicking links in their e-mail to places that are unsavory at best?"
Once again, totally controlable.
Remember, even if the kids use online e-mail like Yahoo or Hotmail, I have total control over what sites can download, as well as to which computers in our network it could get to...

Basically, for less cost than a mid-level priced cybersitter type of program, I can rest easy when my kids are online, even if I can't be in the same room with them to directly monitor them.

Something I overheard from one of my kids friends recently, told me I finally have a real handle on things.

First Friend talking: "Hey you have DSL ... I know a place on the Net we should check out. I got the URL from my brother in the military."

Second Friend with tone of disgust in voice: "Forget about using his net connection, he's lucky if he gets to see naked animals with it!"

First Friend: "OK ... Meet me in the Media Center during lunch at school tomorrow .... I know we can check out the website with those computers !!! "

Relying on software, hardware, or physical presence to "protect" your kids from the "evil threats of the net" is ridiculous.

Being online is not different from a life offline. Of course there are criminals, rapers, kidnappers, robbers; there are natural disasters like earthquakes and tornados; there are accidents like car crashes and fire; there are bullies at school that may take your kid's lunch money; a lot of cruel people and dangerous situation you would not like to have anything to do with your children, however, you don't hire a bunch of armed bodyguards to follow them 24/7.

What you do (or must do) is talk to them, saying things like "never get into a stranger's car", or "don't walk alone at night", and "never tell a strager your address". And that's the same thing you should do regarding online stuff. Discuss with your kids what are the real threats and what they must do. A stranger in MSN trying to send you this "New game.exe"? Just tell the no. No need to block every download.

Furthermore, those pesky net-watching programs (as was previuosly posted) never work as they say. When I was 14, me and my buddy always find how to de-activate the "//$()"/! net-nanny to do our stuff. Sometimes it was as easy as just spying and getting the password, sometimes we had to boot to safe mode, then modify the registry to prevent the program form loading. The "tighter" the security program was, the more dangerous our solution was.


Parents should also be aware of what the real threats of internet are. Is a 15 year old watching porn "dangerous"??? Hell no. Its natural. All those hormones and the eager to learn. Its better to watch some naugthy pics than doing naughty (and potentially dangerous) stuff in real life. (though that is topic for another type of thread).

Not many years have passed since I had to struggle with those kind of pesky, exaggerated mesaures, and I always found a way to get around them. Considering that kids these days have more experience with computers than I had, I think most of them will be able to get around today's "security" measures too.

The real solution to the real problems is to teach your kids (specially teenagers) how to avoid them and how to solve them, just like you would in real life. Not point in putting them inside a "golden cage".

Being in my mid 20's, I remember all the software parents and the school's "put" to keep out porn, Napster...before the RIAA kicked in with all the law suits, and other things from entering... One of the easies way to bypass it was with a proxy server. And guess what... got all the porn my little 15 year old heart wanted without getting caught.. If a 15 year old in '97 could do it, what makes you think kids now wont be able to??

CrazyIvan, you wanted to see porn, so you found a way to get to it. Years ago, parents didn't keep porn magazines in their home, but Johnny went to his friend's house and looked at big brother's Playboy, if that's what he had to do. If a kid wants to see porn, he will find it, and it's indicative of a different problem regardless of the Internet. What the software protects is children who don't want to see porn.

Geez, so many of you are missing the point. Not only 15 and 16 year olds use computers and surf the net. What about the 8, 9 and 10 year olds? Don't tell me they are too young, maybe they are but regardless it's a fact of life. They are the ones who need protecting from UNWANTED and UNINVITED nasties. By the time a child is 15 or 16 the parents job has pretty much been done and their responses to certain situations will generally be dictated by how well (or badly) that job was done. I agree, in the main, that if children of this age want to view porn or nudity they will, one way or another. But don't forget the innocents who haven't been tainted and DON'T want to see this crap.
P.S. I am a father of 5 and have 14 grandchildren.

Regards JIMBO

I take a different tack: I just taught them not to be suckers from an early age. "Don't be a chump" was friendly, parental advice offered early on. My kids had no filters, no parental hovering. What they had was straight talk about life and the low-lifes to be encountered on- and off-line. My kids grew up to have have good radar for spotting cons of all sorts.

As for on-line porn, which seems to concern so many parents: I taught my kids that it's basically a waste of time and energy. I taught them that porn presents an unrealistic viewpoint on human sexuality. I figured they're going to check it out anyhow. So, why not just tell a truth: that it's damned stupid as a rule? That was a lot easier than trying to micro-manage their lives or going off an a moralistic sermon that they'd just disregard anyhow. None of my kids has a porn habit. I wound up pretty credible in the end, too.

Caveat: if your kid(s) is too dumb to learn how to spot sketchy situations, probably best keep an eagle eye on him/her.

I attended a presentation for parents on online safety for children. The presenter was a Northern California police officer who works undercover online posing as a 13 year old girl. He has caught hundreds of predators this way, stopped them from meeting kids in person and put many in jail (where I hope they will stay)! To demonstrate, our presenter logged on to an AOL chat room in his 13 year old girl disguise. It took only 34 SECONDS before he got his first contact: a 47 year old man who was real friendly and kept remarking about all "her" cute pics. Within another one minute there were so many conversations on screen that the police officer could barely keep up with all the chatting! I was not surprised to see all this, but at the same time, it was really creepy.

You can use software that is being suggested on this thread but I also strongly urge you to talk with your children about this issue. They need to know what you are doing to keep them safe and why. The goal is to make the internet safe for your children to wander around in, the same way you make the rest of the world safe for them to explore. As they get older they can learn (with your help) to handle the more adult parts of the internet on their own. But you wouldn't just let your 6 to 12 year old surf without guidelines and protection anymore than you would drop them off on a corner in downtown LA for the afternoon.