G
Guest
How do you keep your children from going inon their own accouint and
resetting the parental controls you have set up?
resetting the parental controls you have set up?
K
Kerry Brown
Make sure all accounts have strong passwords. Don't give them the password
to any accounts that have administrator privileges. Disable booting from
anything other than the hard drive and password protect the BIOS.
to any accounts that have administrator privileges. Disable booting from
anything other than the hard drive and password protect the BIOS.
M
Malke
K. Donovan said:
Standard security cut/paste:
Any computer running any operating system can be accessed by someone
with 1) physical access; 2) time; 3) skill; 4) tools. There are a few
things you can do to make it a bit harder though:
1. Set a password in the BIOS that must be entered before booting the
operating system. Also set the Supervisor password in the BIOS so BIOS
Setup can't be entered without it.
2. From the BIOS, change the boot order to hard drive first.
3. Set strong passwords on all accounts, including the built-in
Administrator account (this is account is disabled by default in Vista
but if you have enabled it, make sure the password you chose was a
strong one).
4. If you leave your own account logged in, use the Windows Key + L to
lock the computer (and/or set the screensaver/power saving) when you
step away from the computer and require a password to resume.
5. Make other users Standard users in Vista.
Please understand that these are technical responses to what is
basically a non-technical problem and there are ways around all of these
precautions. This is a family/interpersonal issue that can't be solved
by technical means.
Malke
J
Jane C
Make sure their accounts are Standard User accounts, and that they do not
have access to an Administrators password.
have access to an Administrators password.
P
Peggy Wilson
Take the computer away??????? 
T
Tim Judd
Kerry said:
Clear the CMOS data via motherboard jumper, password is cleared.
Enter BIOS and set boot order to other medium.
Boot from this other medium, crack/reset the Administrative password
(any of them).
Reboot, re-enabling the password in the BIOS to your own config.
Parents may not know how to get control back.
--------------------
OK, so we found a way to break in...
Install a physical lock on the computer to prevent the case from
opening. Break the physical lock with cutters.
Back to square one. Now what is your suggestion?
----------------------
Just a note (not intended for directions) to show that any current
mechanism to protect people are useless if the people have physical
access to the machine. Lock it in a cabinet, break the lock. Seal the
machine in a separate room, sledgehammer through the wall.
In today's world, there is nothing that can stop physical access.
Network access is the easiest, but physical isn't that hard to come by
anyway.
Thanks for your time.
J
Jon
K. Donovan said:
Confiscate any books on i386 assembly language found hidden in their teddy
bears.
K
Kerry Brown
You are right. With physical access a determined person can get access. In
this case we are talking about a family situation. If the precautions I
indicated aren't enough to keep the kids from hacking into the computer the
family has far deeper problems than securing computer access.
this case we are talking about a family situation. If the precautions I
indicated aren't enough to keep the kids from hacking into the computer the
family has far deeper problems than securing computer access.
A
Adam Albright
Oh please... any kid that's grown up in the era of computers can get
past any parental control in oh, about five minutes tops. Usually way
less. If he/she can't, he for sure has a buddy that can.
G
Guest
THe point IS.... you are the parent, they are the child. If they break the
rules, punish them. cancel their cell phone or ground them or disconnect
their internet. Be a parent. Stop depending on technology to do your job
for you.
Have a great friday!
rules, punish them. cancel their cell phone or ground them or disconnect
their internet. Be a parent. Stop depending on technology to do your job
for you.
Have a great friday!
L
Larry Maturo
If you want to be really sure, smash the computer to bits, then even
physical access to it, it won't help them break in to reset the parental
controls. Totally foolproof. Sometimes the cure is worst than the disease.
-- Larry Maturo
physical access to it, it won't help them break in to reset the parental
controls. Totally foolproof. Sometimes the cure is worst than the disease.
-- Larry Maturo
K
Kerry Brown
Adam Albright said:
Of course you can't stop them with technology. That's not the point. The
point is you set some rules that have consequences. If the rules are broken
you remove physical access or use some other method of enforcing the rules.
The only reason for setting passwords and possibly disabling booting from
removable drives is so the kids understand that you don't want them to do
this. It isn't to actually stop them.
A
Adam Albright
Oh, the do as I say, but not as I do approach.
Actually it IS the point and the same logic applies to UAC. It's a
sham. Nothing more than a feeble, poorly implemented feel good load of
BS. UAC by itself does NOTHING to protect you with its moronic
warnings since you can always turn it off or click through which is
what 99% of people are going to do. So what is UAC protecting? Same
for DRM. (Digital Rights Management) Anybody that seriously tries to
get around it, can.
Again what we're really talking about is little more than build-in
annoyances. Fine, if some users switch them on to somehow get lulled
into feeling more secure, I suggest a teddy bear or maybe sucking on
the end of a blanket is better, but to impose such things when it is
known to slow down the system and cause other issues is simply
foolish.
A better example would be lead by example. If daddy spends a hour a
night on the web looking at porn, must be so, since more porn is
downloaded that anything else, ask any ISP, or if the parents drink in
front of the kids or smoke in front of the kids or have poor eating
habits that caused them to be 50 pounds or more overweight or they
drive recklessly or do drugs, then the kids surely are more likely to
follow.
S
Saucy
K. Donovan said:
Your account:
Is an 'Administrators' account
And it has a password which only you know.
Their accounts:
Are 'Standard Users' accounts
Which may or may not have passwords - 'doesn't matter.
Also:
The built-in account "Administrator" is disabled - you can make sure by
running the "net" command from a command prompt while in logged in with your
account:
Start > All Programs > Accessories > right-click on Command Prompt and
select "Run as administrator'
At the Command Prompt type:
net user administrator /active:no
hit Enter
Saucy