• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Security Settings

Sasheena

Sasheena

Imperfect
Joined
Jun 7, 2003
Messages
1,037
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Age
57
Location
Klamath Falls, OR
Okay, I have Windows XP and have decided that my daughter (after breaking a number of unstated but definate rules) should not be allowed onto my computer unless I give her permission...

BUT I can't seem to figure out how to configure my computer so that it is only password accessible. Can anyone tell me how to fix it? I was able to get the screen saver to have a password protection, but you click okay without entering a password and your back to the computer again.

Any tips would be helpful, t hank you!
 
You can password protect the account. Go to Control Panel...User Accounts and set up passwords.
 
Thanks... I set up accounts for hubby, myself, and daughter... but is there any way I can set it up so that she can't access the internet from her account? AT this point in time she can't do anything without the password, but it would be even better if I could set it up so that she could go on the computer but could not go online... or do I have to buy one of those parental control type programs?
 
Sasheena said:
Thanks... I set up accounts for hubby, myself, and daughter... but is there any way I can set it up so that she can't access the internet from her account? AT this point in time she can't do anything without the password, but it would be even better if I could set it up so that she could go on the computer but could not go online... or do I have to buy one of those parental control type programs?
Click to expand...

How about just removing the phone, ethernet or cable cord until the rules are followed?
 
some limited ideas (I don't use XP except at work or like XP) :

there are programs that will password protect other programs. Passwords have to entered when running web browser, email, etc.

Your firewall may be configurable to allow access at certain times or password protect programs that try to use the internet. I'm not sure how configurable XP's built in firewall is but I use ZoneAlarm in addition to a highly configurable firewall built into my router.

You can probably set up content restrictions by user. Only use XP at work and I'm restricted about changing system settings etc. so can't provide specifics. Try seeing if Internet activity by user can be adjusted.
 
I'd like to know how to figure that out too....as of now, I have the same set-up, the kids can't do anything unless I log them on to Windows with the password. They aren't allowed online at all unless an adult is home.....and since we got off dialup, (and XP, I don't like XP particularly either, but I guess ya gotta keep up with the times, right?) I can't figure out any way adjust the settings to let them use the computer without it being online.....
 
Disconnect the modem and lock it up. Then they are offline. If you need to, take it with you in the car when you leave the house.
 
My solution was to create password protection so that my stepdaughter can only get on my computer with permission from me, and I then type in her password. Of course since then she's become more unruly than ever, and this makes me glad of the "censorship at home".

I wish I could figure out a way to make it so that there was no internet access from her "account" however I haven't figured that out so she just has to ask if she needs the internet.

Since she's currently "Grounded for life" her life is pretty boring.

I'm afraid, however, that she's figured out a way past the password protection because when I logged into the computer today or yesterday I had to relog in to this site, and several of my favorite sites had all the links "dark blue" again ... like they'd been unvisited... so it makes me wonder if she figured out a way past the password protection and did something to the history or coookies in order to hide her tracks.
 
Change your password(s) and don't let her in the room when you are logging on in the future.
 
Yeah, but it's a big PITA to unplug and replug the modem.

At this point in time, however, she's not allowed to go anywhere.
 
I meant to say she's not allowed to go anywhere and we don't leave her home alone either.

I never understood that when the child is grounded, so is the parent!
 
Yeah, my daughter figured out our password once....and I wouldn't be surprised if she did it again. And I agree, I feel like I'm grounded when she's grounded too, lol....but THEY don't get that. :rolleyes:

I just keep thinking there's got to be a better way to keep them from getting online than ripping off the modem every time I'm done....and that would leave the ol man without it too, and that would make him crabby. Pftht.

Besides....wouldn't one think that in Bill Gates, in his ultimate wisdom, (*snort*) would have put SOME way in there to do it without dismantling the stupid thing every time ya leave?

Ah, but then again.....HE doesn't have evil sneaky teenage daughters. :rofl:
 
Last edited:
As far as I know XP doesn't have any "parental control' type features built in. My parents use Norton internet security since my little brother got in trouble using the computer. It allows you to have a default of No internet allowed. You can also allow logins and have them parental controlled so that you (with your password) can log on and have unrestricted internet, but you can filter your daughter by using categories (no chat sites, no downloads, no religous sites, ect). I got my parent's an OEM version for only $35, and it's fairly hackproof (more than some other software I've seen). It also logs all access (that's how my parents found out he was going places he shouldn't), so even when you're not home you can check it later.

Making your password something horrible to guess would help as well (take the first letter of a favorite saying works pretty well: for example you can remember the phrase "Don't fall before you're pushed." your password could be "Dfbyp". It's damn near impossible to guess (especially if you throw some numbers in there too) and it's still easy to remember.
 
Sorry to disappoint, but I just grabbed the phrase from a random quote-of-the-day type generator. So no password for you! HA! I'd laught more but then it might give webslave a reason to go and look it up in his database... lol
 
My parents use Norton internet security since my little brother got in trouble using the computer. It allows you to have a default of No internet allowed.
Click to expand...

WOW, now THAT is incredibly helpful! :)

SO.... now that I have that program (just bought it the other day... coincidentally)... HOW do I get it to work?

:) Cool beans. I would love to give her back access to her email, but I don't want her going on the internet without explicit permission!
 
I'm back. :) Went into the program and wandered around, and now I've given my stepdaughter computer access again. She can check her email, but she can't go on the internet.

It's funny too, because the computer I have came with Norton Internet Security (or something like that) but it was a limited three month subscription, so when it ran out I decided to renew and after looking at the options, I chose that program over something else. Hubby's comments were "They sucked you in, didn't they?" But when he found I could pay for it via PayPal instead of "real" money, he was mollified. Still felt I was getting ripped off. (He has no idea how diligent I am in the internet security. He just does his thing on the computer once or twice a month, and doesn't realize the work that goes into it!). But now he will be happy that I can give my stepdaughter her access back, she can customize her own little account on the communal computer, and she can check email whenever she wants.

Very pleasant! Thank you SO MUCH :crazy03: :wavey:
 
Glad to hear you got it working. My parents call me "The Family Network Administrator" for a reason I guess, and a private engineering school helps quite a bit. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any problems with getting it set up or setting certain options.

And I know completely what you mean about the trial! We got sucked in too. The built in antivirus keeps us paying for it. Since my mom also uses that computer for work, she has to keep a lot of her files protected, so she didn't really have a choice. Oh well I guess it's worth it for the ease of controlling the whole PC.
 
Well the problem I have is that now she can't get on the internet, (I went to her account and tried) and that's good... but when I went back to my own setting, well there are sites that I go to that are prohibited by the parental controls. I saw that they allowed different settings for different users, and tried to make it so that every site in the universe was okay for the Administrator, but for whatever reason, it appears to not want me to go to sites even if I've checked them as being okay. What I ahve to do is restart and see if that is what it takes for those settings to be in effect, however I didn't restart and the other settings seemed okay.... ?

In any case, what I have done is turn off "Parental control" when I want to surf, and now I have to remember to turn it off when I get done. Bleah!
 
Back
Top