kids vs security

omilord, someone save my children from me. this past month i used wilder's virus and trojan removal instructions and got my computer clean again. i banished kids from online game sites as i believe that is the source of security breeches despite having the same free security i have seen that everyone else seems to be using. i also plan to get them xbox for christmas to get them off my computer completely except for educational stuff.

int he meantime, son insists that platform games are somehow different than online games but before i can check in with wilders forum to see if this is so, he takes matters into his own young hands and plays something called flashtrek.

today hotmail acting funny and then i get a blue screen that ends with something about "physical dump of memory".

going to follow removal instructions again and then will check back here:

is there a difference between regular online games and platform games or is that a child's wishful thinking?

could hotmail be the problem? i only seem to really need it for ebay when it notifies me of auctions that i am waiting for.

i have firefox and only use ie for hotmail (ebay messages). i know a lot of you also use firefox but what do you do with ie, ignore it dump it? is dumping it an option? i've heard that mr. gates kind of made it a necessary evil.

ps, i have windows xp/free zone alarm/ewido/avg/spyware guard/spysweeper/the one with "teatimer"(forget what it's called)/spyware blaster/cc cleaner

thanks, misskitty

 

what do u mean by online games and platform games?

u can use XPlite to remove IE from an existing installation or u can use nlite to remove IE from an XP cd.

i keep IE for activex but i mostly ignore it. i have no IE shortcuts and when i do need it, i just use IEtab instead.

 

Just use IE for Windows Updates or those very few sites that won't work with FireFox.

 

ds11 says: online games are games played on the internet which installs stuff on your computer. platform games you go to internet to site, start up and then you play offline.

one example is flashtrek broken mirror2.

 

that's what i've been doing so i guess i'll stick with that.

 

i still dont understand but for computer u can either find games online (they use flash or java) or u can download/buy games like Half-Life 2 and FEAR.

obviously games like half-life 2 are more complex (graphics and colors) and do require a faster computer.

 

Misskitty,
Have you looked into Host Intrusion Prevention Systems (HIPS)? There are several threads going on these security programs, and they have the ability to help greatly with controlling what kids can do on a PC. System Safety Monitor is especially good for controlling users behavior. In a nutshell, HIPS gives you the ability what programs a user is allowed to run and what these programs are allowed to do, all defined in rulesets that can be tailored for each user account or profile. If you don't want a particular user running Internet Explorer, just block it in the ruleset. All the user will see when they click on the icon is "Access Denied." Only the programs you specify are allowed to run. Everything else is blocked, which includes downloadable games, installers, and most malware. It also has a filtering module that will close any window or application containing any words in the title that you specify. If you filter the terms "Sex" and "XXX", any webpage with those in its title will be automatically closed.
HIPS software wasn't primarily intended as a parental control, but they can help with this in ways that nothing else can. HIPS software is more accurately described as "State of the Art" security-ware.
System Safety Monitor has a free version that works on all versions of Windows from Win98 up, not including Vista. There is some disagreement as to whether HIPS software is suitable for the average user, but its effectiveness is not in question. They have Screenshots of the different components on their site. Give them a look and see what you think. Some users find HIPS software intimidating. Some have no trouble with it. Even if the idea of making rules for applications is more than you want to try, the window filters will work even with the application rules disabled. You can use just the filter module if you want. I added Microsoft Internet Explorer to the filter for a test, and System Safety Monitor immediately closed it every time I tried to start it.
Rick