How to block a laptop from the internet/modem.

[michel1980]

Dear members/experts

I have a serious issue, i got a 12 year old daughter i love her to the day i die. But she has a serious addiction problem, mainly she is 24/7 behind her computer on the internet. Camming, You-tubing (is that even a word) what not.

We as parents, have a very hard time getting her to do simple tasks, even cleaning her room is a near screaming frenzy to get her to do it. There is always that "My friends are online i will do it later" excuse, and naturally it never happens.

I tried everything, i tried to punish her, i tried to reason with her. Telling her it's important to do just those simple tasks. I took the laptop for a day, seemed to have worked out just fine. We even made a (agreed upon) schedule, and that seemed to go fine. Until i found out, she still manages to get her hands on her laptop en simply ignore what we say.

Now i am 32 years old, if i did that i would been kicked under the ass.

My solution, is as follow, i know there routers that can block certain ports/her ip maybe not sure how that works. So she cannot use the internet, i want something like that.

NO IT's NOT CRUEL people, it is a means to teach her a lesson that her potty mouth is not tolerated every time we ask her to do something.

I would like to have some advise on a good router, in a normal budget (if possible) or a solution to cut her of the internet. Without taking her entire computer gear. This way we can cut her of whenever say my wife and me go to bed what not. Without affecting the other computers in the house (3 pc's)

Sorry for my bad grammar, as i am not English. But i do hope someone knows what i can get to do this.

(PS no parenting advise, i am a young parent, and she is well fed and bred)

Thank you.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would look into Parental Control software. See following link for some options and reviews.

http/parental-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

NetNanny seems to be highly rated and also inexpensive. You can use such software to control when and how long your child can go online. These programs also have filtering features which can actively block children from visiting either specific website or types of website.

The only real downside of NetNanny is that it is not compatible with Windows 8 so if you have Win 8 installed then you need to consider a different program.

 

[jaguarskx]

Not sure if any of those parental control programs actually limits when your child can use the laptop which is different from limited internet access. If none of those programs give you the ability to limit when you daughter can actually use the laptop, then consider looking into Access Boss. It is free to try before you actually need to buy it.

http/fspro.net/access-boss/

For example, while you can use Net Nanny to only allow your daughter to go online between 5pm and 7pm, it does not seem to restrict when your daughter can log into the laptop and use it. For example, Access Boss can be used to prevent the possibility of your daughter logging into her laptop to play games that are installed on the laptop during in appropriate hours like 10pm (when she should probably be sleeping) until maybe like 5pm so that she can do her homework when she gets home from school. Of course, if she needs to use her laptop to do her homework, then it should be set to before 5pm.

 

[neodymium]

Put a new password on the wireless router so that she can't connect to it without asking for the password. Simple as that. You would have to check the internet on how to set up the WPA2 thing; I'm not in the mood to type the complete instructions after having written a speech today.

 

[assasin32]

1)
I know every router I have owned I have been able to add restrictions to what computers can access the internet and at what times. The only exceptions I have seen to this are some of the wireless routers which come from your internet provider which are severely restricted in what you can do.

With my old Linksys WRT-100 I believe it is off hand it's under "access restrictions" other routers I have had, had it under different settings.

2)
You might be able to go into the BIOs and disable the built in wireless card and ethernet port there, if not you can surely do that with in windows with the drivers. (Right click properties on "Computer" and "Device Manager" will bring you to where you want) And this will work as long as she is not too tech savy. In fact I do this next time you confiscate the computer.

3)
Other option is to buy a cheap $20 safe and confiscate her laptop battery if it's removeable and power cord. She can look at her laptop all she wants but it's useless. I know when I caught my little nephew playing his nintendo wii late one night when everyone was asleep I sent him off to bed, I knew he was going to do it again so I acted like I went to sleep and walked out again 5min latter and busted him again. I sent him off to bed again, left the nintendo wii there with it still turned on and everything but took the AVI cables so it won't display picture or sound to the TV, and took the cable to the cable box so he can look at the TV/Wii with the lights and everything but nothing is displayed (yes I am evil, and gave him false hope).

4)
I can tell you if you install chrome remote desktop you can also see if the computer is online and remotely access the computer if it is. It will tell you if the computer is online, not that it is actively being used, she could just be downloading something well she is sleeping. Though if you were going to go this route I just use it to bust her to make her thing twice before being on late at night to make her suspicious that you know everything that is going on, and just not tell her you put it on her computer.

Or you can be evil and do what I would do and use a different remote access program that won't give the person in front of the computer a button to click to log them and use that to remote access it when she is online and just take over the mouse/keyboard and start closing down windows, opening programs, etc. Stuff to make her think she has been hacked/virus/etc. But that only if your evil. (That is what I personally do, than have the router disable her computer internet access after certain times or somehow have the router setup to do something wierd and mess with her internet connection when she isn't suppose to be online. As having the internet taken away is bad, but having the false impression your getting away with it while your being messed with to the point where you give up on using the internet is annoying on another level. And I already feel sorry for my future children if they try to pull this on me, thanks to this thread.)

TIP:
Keep an eye on the other computers if she has access to them if you do this. Beyond that expect a bit fit when you do this. Though personally I go the wireless router route if you can, especially if the router is located in your room or someplace she won't have access to. If it is somewhere she has access to and no other computers than disable her ethernet port so she can't bypass the wireless and just plug right in.

EDITED IN:
Just googled parental controls turns out it's built into Windows 7. You can turn on times when she is allowed to log in, access to what programs, etc. I knew it sounded familar, chances are she can bypass it if she is a bit tech savy, never heard of anyone using this. I am a bit too old for that to be used on anyone I know. Worst I heard of was some parental control setup on 2 of my friends computers in high school, all they did was learn to use a few words in spanish to bypass it but that was about 10yr ago.

http/windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/parental-controls

 

[michel1980]

Update:

I remembered something, a 4 years ago i owned a i-net cafe in Thailand, i used a program there to run about 8 computers.
So i did some digging and this is the result..

http/www.cybercafepro.com/

ITS FREE!! And yes it does work flawless! I can even send her messages as she uses the computer. Not to mention i can click here downstairs and lock her system without a fuss.

I can recommend this for anyone that has the problem i have with there kids. This works!