I am thrilled with the advice I have received regarding protecting our children from internet evil - and that is exactly what it is! My friend Kris, from Nebraska, recommends K9 - it is free. My friends The Wests, from Mount Vernon, recommend B-Safe - I believe they said it is $50 a year.My cousin, Chad Keller, from Seattle, who works for Microsoft gave some great information and he agreed to be my "guest speaker" today.
Here is what Chad has to say:
I like to keep it simple. Windows Vista has some standard tools that I really like in this regard. When we started getting pre-teen and teen foster kids, we really needed a plan for internet usage. With our kids growing so fast, and learning how to use google to find things, I had to act fast as well. Ticking time bomb...
So first, I created ... 3 separate accounts: Kids, Teens, Parents. The teens have a password that the parents know. The kids have no password. The parents have a password that only we know....
Second, use the schedule tool that allows you to turn off their account based on day of week and time of day. So no more argueing about "I just need 10 more minutes!" and then having that same discussion all the time (10 turns into 30 pretty fast!). They are booted off their account at 9pm or whatever we set it to...
Next, what do we feel is safe for them? We all know a 'safe' site can have links that take kids to non-safe sites - just a click away.
Most filtering is not effective: too many workarounds and accidents....
So again, keep it simple. With windows vista, you can lock down their internet access 100%. I start there. Then I ask them for a list of sites they want. If I approve, I add them to their account. I add others I know are safe as well. So the kids have about 20 sites, and the teens 30ish. No google. No myspace. No youtube. If they don't like it, they don't have to use our computer....
We do allow email on the teen account. But there is no risk of clicking a link and ending up at a bad site or downloading a virus or spyware...
Also, while not looking good to the eye, we've found that many ads on the safe sites are avoided. Ads that are generated from a non-approved site don't work.
Anyway, if you want more info on how to set this up, let me know.
-Chad
My (Heidi) first question is: What if we do not have Vista, but XP?
Chad says:
For XP, try these links for some info. Not as straight forward as Vista, but I think you can still lock it down pretty good.
http://www.windows-help-ce
http://www.microsoft.com/p
http://www.microsoft.com/p
Many thanks go to Chad!! He and Rebecca are an incredible Christian couple who love kids and have made it their ministry to foster kids and teens. Wow - they are amazing! It is very exciting to see and hear about God working in their lives and in the lives of their children and foster children.
Thanks for the kind words Heidi!
ReplyDeleteA few updates as I read through that again...
(dislcaimer, i'm not posting this with any official Microsoft hat on - just a cousin of Heidi's who has recently dealt with some of these issues...)
1) With Vista, you can manage what programs each user has access to. For example, if you use TurboTax or MS Word, you can lock those down so the kids don't have access. For safe online reasons, blocking "remote access" features is important if you have a computer savvy child - as they can get around most any filter and settings I've noted with that and a few other tricks...
2) Another potential issue... Phones and other gadgets with internet access... Yikes, another can of worms. A topic for another time maybe...?
3) for school projects and other times they need more 'freedom' for researching things on the web, we allow them to use our account while we are in the room. Our computer is located in the 'great room' so we can be cooking, doing dishes, etc and be around while they are on our account.
4) Be sure the 'parent' account has a good password and change it from time to time...
5) Be sure your screen saver is set to about 10 mins or so and require a password to get back in. That way if you have to run out, it logs you off after a few minutes, and they can't get back in without your password (they can switch to their own account just fine though).
6) Thinking of running out and upgrading to Vista? Might want to wait. I'm hearing some great things about the next version of Windows that deals with a lot of the problems people had with Vista. I personally like Vista, but know others who don't. I'm not sure about parental controls in the next one, but being that they were a big selling point for Vista, i'll be surprised if they don't keep them and even improve them...)
Oh, and here is a plug for our blog (mainly Becca's, but I contribute now and then...):
http://mountainsandmeadows.blogspot.com/
Take care,
Chad
Thanks again, Chad, one of the greatest blessings I am experiencing on the internet is re-connections with family and friends! This may sound silly, but I am so proud of you. You and Becca are an inspiration and a testimony of God's amazing grace!
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