StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I'm setting up my wife's old computer for our kids, 7 and 5, so they have their own place to play Disney Jr games and whatnot. I'll be formatting the whole thing (mostly to make sure there is no trace of all my wife's old banking stuff, passwords, etc) and reinstalling Win Vista and showing them how to bring up their favourite websites and throw in a few old games. I was wondering if there's anything you clever cookies think I should so as well; any settings to change or programs to install for a kids computer.

The computer is in the lounge room, in full sight of us, so they won't stray too far into the internet without us seeing, but any extra safety tips, etc are appreciated.

Make sure the kids users is not administrator. For most games this shouldn't matter and this provides an additional safety net.
Make sure that the browser parental filters (IE definitely has this) are configured, to prevent accidental browsing to large shock sites.

In addition to showing them how to use a browser, consider just setting up shortcuts on the desktop directly to the websites.

Ace Pace wrote:Make sure the kids users is not administrator. For most games this shouldn't matter and this provides an additional safety net.
Make sure that the browser parental filters (IE definitely has this) are configured, to prevent accidental browsing to large shock sites.

In addition to showing them how to use a browser, consider just setting up shortcuts on the desktop directly to the websites.

Thanks Ace, I tend to use Firefox, do you know if it has parental filters? I can't see them in the options.

I was going to set it up with all their standard websites on the bookmarks tool bar, so they could open Firefox and then just click what they want up the top.

Have Ghost or something like it ready to image the machine back to stock configuration when they eff it up.

Firefox does not have any filters. In addition, depending on what security software you use, some of them may have configurable website blocking filters that will affect all browsers. At least all the more common ones.

Many ISP's do it as well. I agree with the other comments as well.

Due to their young ages you may also want to add a remote viewer so you can keep an eye on what they are doing.

KlavoHunter wrote:Have Ghost or something like it ready to image the machine back to stock configuration when they eff it up.

This may be technically complicated for him to setup. Other options include making sure System Restore works (unless you're hit with malware and not just random corruption-by-kids), backing up your browser settings (pretty much the only important thing there?) and making sure they can't delete network files too easily.

Thanks all, setting it up tomorrow while they are at school.

Ace Pace wrote:

KlavoHunter wrote:Have Ghost or something like it ready to image the machine back to stock configuration when they eff it up.

This may be technically complicated for him to setup. Other options include making sure System Restore works (unless you're hit with malware and not just random corruption-by-kids), backing up your browser settings (pretty much the only important thing there?) and making sure they can't delete network files too easily.

Meh, I could do it, but there's not much point. As you say, browser settings and making sure they can't screw with the network. But we don't share stuff over our wifi network anyway, so they won't be able to do that. Will back up the browser settings, cheers.

Dr Roberts wrote:Due to their young ages you may also want to add a remote viewer so you can keep an eye on what they are doing.

Hmmm, will have to look into that one, wouldn't even know where to start. For now, I don't think they know how to browse beyond Disney Jr. But it may be useful as they start getting more inquisitive.

Edi wrote:Firefox does not have any filters. In addition, depending on what security software you use, some of them may have configurable website blocking filters that will affect all browsers. At least all the more common ones.

Thanks, using just MSE for now though. Will probably look at something stronger as they get older.

A little tips: Set your DNS settings to use OpenDNS. They have the option of parental control.
I haven't checked it out myself, since I don't have kids, but set it up on the computer, not on the router. That way, only that one computer will have parental control on DNS level.

For a comparison of how effective different AV software is, see http://www.av-test.org

I wouldn't recommend MSE to anyone, it has the lowest protection rating of the lot. It used to be higher, but its effectiveness has dropped and it only uses definitions based protection, no heuristics.

Of the free programs, Avast is the best. My own experiences with AVG (any version) have been uniformly negative from a maintenance point of view. And if the computer is for the kids to use, they will click on everything possible because they don't know any better, so just MSE is not going to cut it.

Edi wrote:For a comparison of how effective different AV software is, see http://www.av-test.org

Microsoft also has a response to AV-Test

I wouldn't recommend MSE to anyone, it has the lowest protection rating of the lot. It used to be higher, but its effectiveness has dropped and it only uses definitions based protection, no heuristics.

That's not true; MSE's heuristics engines have occasionally found false-positives in legit programs doing weird self-modification (which can only be done via heuristics). Frankly, it's probably good enough; antivirus engines in general are all but useless against real threats today.

I stand corrected then.