I actually am not a father, but have run BBSs where kids surf way back and participated in forums with kids present, as a tech who does it professionally, so here are some tips:
If you have to actually control where the kids go, the better routers have IP blocking. To a degree you can then block domains like those that hold goatsex and the worst of the junk from even displaying-- the kids cannot get there as the home router is blocking them.
However, if your kids more and more go elsewhere to surf (which you will know by them being gone and not surfing from home), you then know the rules are more strict than they will accept, especially if the friend's houses they go to are houses where the kids or parents have computers with internet access.
If you must enforce heavy handed rules, there are several routes to use:
1. Parental content control software that filters out the obvious porn, which will get about 75% of the utter trash as far as seeing it. Many public libraries also log where folks go, and use IP control rules to disallow the obvious junk sites, and also content block.
2. Least likely to be disturbed is hardware based control or a funneling box(computer that acts as content prefilterer and surfing logger and blocker) that has a hardened O\S (say BSD or Astaro Linux) AND has email filtering and acts like a home email server while killing viruses. THAT machine needs to be off-limits to the kids AND local password login protected. Then the parents get to program it so things best not discovered by an 11 year old by accident but allowable for a 15 year old can be blocked by the machine IP of the party trying to surf. This box could be a 1 GHz CPU with two network cards, one to cable modem and one to a switch that the other boxes are hooked to, IF it mostly does traffic and email processing and some limited IP filtering.
But basicly, kids will get tired of the same old junk after a while, it will take varying amounts of time and each kid's\youth's saturation point will vary. But the younger ones need more protection than the 15 and up crowd which WILL get exposed to what is out there elsewhere if you control too heavily and filter email too aggressively.
Ror the younger crowd, I am 50 almost and am an older guy, take what I say with an ounce or two of salt if you want, but for parents that is why things are in hardware for that kind of control to get the most customized and personbalized to family values results. Precanned such boxes are not cheap, though Symantec does sell a box series that does most of this (not software, hardware that is a 1U rack mountable or which can be put on a shelf in a decently ventilated and cooled area). They are of the class Security Appliances. Some parts of this can be done by better firewall routers.
John.
Actually, Antec makes thermally protected PSUs for that reason-- if the PSU even starts to overheat massively, it shuts down, and this is even true of their PS\2 types(the old style ones that run pre-ATX boards). That is one reason I use Antecs.
So, if you need an old box up for a long time while absent put two things on it-- A thermal shutdown capable PSU adn a UPS with a serial talkback port so the UPS software can shut down your machine right if the battery gets low in a power outage. OIf not, keep it off and take an air can to it outside every six months max (3 if you SMOKE near it, and a plastic putty knife for the outside of the fan vents in that case also, to get the brownish-tobacco-vapor-glued-on-dust-bunnies off (done a few like that)).
John.
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Is Linux Dead?
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Actually, KDE 3+ has come of age. I am an ex-Windows user who got tired of the way the VM kept bombing and longed for multiple desktops without multiple monitors, VM segmented ones mind you, and decided to try Linux. I am now using two linuxes, a purchased StarOffice 6.0(I like OOo and wanted better function helps and was willing to pay for that learning curve accelerator), Netscape 6.2.3 (which recently appeared) for Linux i686 (It is a P4 box), and many more mundane things like Evolution. I like KDE better than Gnome because of the way Sun Java 2 runs on it (which is a whole heap better than it runs on Windows), the way I can run 8 GUI desktops with 768 MB RAM without any conflicts while having access to 5 simultaneous TTY sessions(try CTRL-ALT-F2, CTRL-ALT-F3, and on through CTRL-ALT-F6, then use CTRL-ALT-F7 to go back to X from any of them and hop back and forth and resume low-level core tasks). Yes, it is a geeky thing, but VERY POWERFUL!
As for Windows not needing the command line, what is the most common answer to a complex conflict from tedch support??? "Reinstall (whatever)." And when that doesn't work??? "Do a full format recovery." Three hours later you have your generic installed desktop back. To FIX it, you could have given Windows what it wanted with an Extract run from either the CD or Windows itself FROM THE COMMAND LINE after a floppy boot if need be-- NO CLI???????!!! Windows sysadmins are familiar with the CLI in Windows (called DOS, though fancier titles are used). In many cases you need a DOS session and not a DOS prompt because Moicrosoft made the pathing very complex in the DOS PRompt and because the DOS layer will let you do things that the GUI will not (like extract, if you do this in Me with Me in Windows mode, ME will not accept the change.)
Query me this, your Me locks when you try to run the Java Debugger-- what do you do??? You boot from a Windows 98 or Me boot disk with CD-ROM support enabled if you do not have the data on a DOS-accessible HD, run Extract from a floppy boot, and put back the jdbgmgr file(s) that a virus hoax email told you to take off!!!
What do you do when your ME let you delete the VMM and then won't start after a restart???? You put it back with Extract. Extract/? after finding it in DOS, or in soem Windows Ext instead of Extract. (what can I say, someone thought Morpheus adn Kazaa were more important than the Virtual Memory MAnager).
With a layered approach, I can fix from a HD boot or CD or floppy boot about 90% of the things that go wrong-- Windows just hid its layering.
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I actually am not a father, but have run BBSs where kids surf way back and participated in forums with kids present, as a tech who does it professionally, so here are some tips: If you have to actually control where the kids go, the better routers have IP blocking. To a degree you can then block domains like those that hold goatsex and the worst of the junk from even displaying-- the kids cannot get there as the home router is blocking them. However, if your kids more and more go elsewhere to surf (which you will know by them being gone and not surfing from home), you then know the rules are more strict than they will accept, especially if the friend's houses they go to are houses where the kids or parents have computers with internet access. If you must enforce heavy handed rules, there are several routes to use: 1. Parental content control software that filters out the obvious porn, which will get about 75% of the utter trash as far as seeing it. Many public libraries also log where folks go, and use IP control rules to disallow the obvious junk sites, and also content block. 2. Least likely to be disturbed is hardware based control or a funneling box(computer that acts as content prefilterer and surfing logger and blocker) that has a hardened O\S (say BSD or Astaro Linux) AND has email filtering and acts like a home email server while killing viruses. THAT machine needs to be off-limits to the kids AND local password login protected. Then the parents get to program it so things best not discovered by an 11 year old by accident but allowable for a 15 year old can be blocked by the machine IP of the party trying to surf. This box could be a 1 GHz CPU with two network cards, one to cable modem and one to a switch that the other boxes are hooked to, IF it mostly does traffic and email processing and some limited IP filtering. But basicly, kids will get tired of the same old junk after a while, it will take varying amounts of time and each kid's\youth's saturation point will vary. But the younger ones need more protection than the 15 and up crowd which WILL get exposed to what is out there elsewhere if you control too heavily and filter email too aggressively. Ror the younger crowd, I am 50 almost and am an older guy, take what I say with an ounce or two of salt if you want, but for parents that is why things are in hardware for that kind of control to get the most customized and personbalized to family values results. Precanned such boxes are not cheap, though Symantec does sell a box series that does most of this (not software, hardware that is a 1U rack mountable or which can be put on a shelf in a decently ventilated and cooled area). They are of the class Security Appliances. Some parts of this can be done by better firewall routers. John.
Actually, Antec makes thermally protected PSUs for that reason-- if the PSU even starts to overheat massively, it shuts down, and this is even true of their PS\2 types(the old style ones that run pre-ATX boards). That is one reason I use Antecs.
So, if you need an old box up for a long time while absent put two things on it-- A thermal shutdown capable PSU adn a UPS with a serial talkback port so the UPS software can shut down your machine right if the battery gets low in a power outage. OIf not, keep it off and take an air can to it outside every six months max (3 if you SMOKE near it, and a plastic putty knife for the outside of the fan vents in that case also, to get the brownish-tobacco-vapor-glued-on-dust-bunnies off (done a few like that)).
John.
Actually, KDE 3+ has come of age. I am an ex-Windows user who got tired of the way the VM kept bombing and longed for multiple desktops without multiple monitors, VM segmented ones mind you, and decided to try Linux. I am now using two linuxes, a purchased StarOffice 6.0(I like OOo and wanted better function helps and was willing to pay for that learning curve accelerator), Netscape 6.2.3 (which recently appeared) for Linux i686 (It is a P4 box), and many more mundane things like Evolution. I like KDE better than Gnome because of the way Sun Java 2 runs on it (which is a whole heap better than it runs on Windows), the way I can run 8 GUI desktops with 768 MB RAM without any conflicts while having access to 5 simultaneous TTY sessions(try CTRL-ALT-F2, CTRL-ALT-F3, and on through CTRL-ALT-F6, then use CTRL-ALT-F7 to go back to X from any of them and hop back and forth and resume low-level core tasks). Yes, it is a geeky thing, but VERY POWERFUL!
/? after finding it in DOS, or in soem Windows Ext instead of Extract. (what can I say, someone thought Morpheus adn Kazaa were more important than the Virtual Memory MAnager).
As for Windows not needing the command line, what is the most common answer to a complex conflict from tedch support??? "Reinstall (whatever)." And when that doesn't work??? "Do a full format recovery." Three hours later you have your generic installed desktop back. To FIX it, you could have given Windows what it wanted with an Extract run from either the CD or Windows itself FROM THE COMMAND LINE after a floppy boot if need be-- NO CLI???????!!! Windows sysadmins are familiar with the CLI in Windows (called DOS, though fancier titles are used). In many cases you need a DOS session and not a DOS prompt because Moicrosoft made the pathing very complex in the DOS PRompt and because the DOS layer will let you do things that the GUI will not (like extract, if you do this in Me with Me in Windows mode, ME will not accept the change.)
Query me this, your Me locks when you try to run the Java Debugger-- what do you do??? You boot from a Windows 98 or Me boot disk with CD-ROM support enabled if you do not have the data on a DOS-accessible HD, run Extract from a floppy boot, and put back the jdbgmgr file(s) that a virus hoax email told you to take off!!!
What do you do when your ME let you delete the VMM and then won't start after a restart???? You put it back with Extract. Extract
With a layered approach, I can fix from a HD boot or CD or floppy boot about 90% of the things that go wrong-- Windows just hid its layering.
John.
Actually, I am considering about 1500 watts of UPS, but I only need 10-15 min of failure power.
The article was nice, and informative.