Controlling iChat at the router

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rick Altman
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Rick Altman

I have a Netgear RangeMax WPN824 and would like to know if I can
specifically control iChat. My daughter has an iBook that she uses for
homework. She also uses iChat, sometimes more than she should. We would like
to block iChat during homework time -- can this be done? I know how to set
up a schedule; I just don't know how to designate that iChat should be the
service disallowed.

Many thanks...
 
Rick said:
I have a Netgear RangeMax WPN824 and would like to know if I can
specifically control iChat. My daughter has an iBook that she uses for
homework. She also uses iChat, sometimes more than she should. We would
like to block iChat during homework time -- can this be done? I know how
to set up a schedule; I just don't know how to designate that iChat should
be the service disallowed.
Click to expand...

Unless I'm mistaken, iChat is an application that runs on an Apple and iBook
is an Apple. So this is not a Microsoft Windows issue. Check with Apple
tech support for parental control options in their software.

Malke
 
Malke said:
Unless I'm mistaken, iChat is an application that runs on an Apple and
iBook is an Apple. So this is not a Microsoft Windows issue. Check with
Apple tech support for parental control options in their software.
Click to expand...

And just to add to this, since you said "at the router" in your subject
line, the Netgear router isn't running Windows either. Some routers do have
parental controls and/or the ability to allow connections based on times of
day, network adapter MAC addresses, etc. Refer to the Netgear manual or
website to see if yours does. Most routers are configured from a browser.
It doesn't matter what operating system the browser is on.

Malke
 
Correct on all counts, Malke: This is not a Windows issue (but the people in
the microsoft forums are usually the most well-informed, so I went here
first), there is Mac software that would address this, and the router has a
Block Services page in its config. My daughter could easily defeat any
software running on her system, hence my interest in doing this at the
router level. But iChat is not listed as a service in router config (like
AIM, for instance), so I would have to configure it manually. My hope is
that someone here in this group has successfully done that...
 
Rick said:
Correct on all counts, Malke: This is not a Windows issue (but the people
in the microsoft forums are usually the most well-informed, so I went here
first), there is Mac software that would address this, and the router has
a Block Services page in its config. My daughter could easily defeat any
software running on her system, hence my interest in doing this at the
router level. But iChat is not listed as a service in router config (like
AIM, for instance), so I would have to configure it manually. My hope is
that someone here in this group has successfully done that...
Click to expand...

No, iChat wouldn't be listed as a service. But if you wanted to block it
find out what ports it uses and block those. And that would be a question
for the iChat folks.

Good luck,

Malke
 
Rick said:
I have a Netgear RangeMax WPN824 and would like to know if I can
specifically control iChat. My daughter has an iBook that she uses for
homework. She also uses iChat, sometimes more than she should. We would
like to block iChat during homework time -- can this be done? I know how
to set up a schedule; I just don't know how to designate that iChat should
be the service disallowed.
Click to expand...

iChat is a client, and not a particular protocol. You would need to find
out what messenger protocols she uses. If she uses Google Talk/Livejournal
Talk/Jabber/XMPP, there is no effective way to block this without a squid
proxy blocking http requests to XMPP polling URLs.
 
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