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Home Network and Chatting Children

Rob Lister

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Apr 1, 2004
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You guys were so helpful to me with my Adobe problem (very fixed, works great) I thought I'd pose yet another question.

I have a home network with broadband. I have the serving computer in my home office and each of my kids have their own computer, networked through mine, in their rooms.

The problem is that their unrestricted use of the internet is getting to be a bit of a problem. Last night, for example, the wife happened to catch our Middle Boy, whom I shall call Damit!, chatting with friends after midnight (computer-curfew is at ten). Needless to say, DamnIt! is grounded for said infraction (the time of which has yet to be determined). I've had like difficulties with the other two boys, WhatInTheHell! and AreYouInsane!, from time to time as well.

Question: I want to control their [internet] their via my computer, but I want to do it individually. I'd also like to set automatic time controls for when there is access access (individually) such that one might shut off at 9pm and the other 11pm.

Any ideas? Is my intent clear enough?

Thanks for your consideration.
 
Rob Lister said:
You guys were so helpful to me with my Adobe problem (very fixed, works great) I thought I'd pose yet another question.

I have a home network with broadband. I have the serving computer in my home office and each of my kids have their own computer, networked through mine, in their rooms.
Click to expand...
Buy a configurable 4 port router. I use a Netgear WGT624 which will let me block specific machines on my network from accessing specific services (such as http, ftp etc) during specific times during specific days, configurable on a per-machine basis. That's the type of thing you're after isn't it?
 
Re: Re: Home Network and Chatting Children

Iconoclast said:
Buy a configurable 4 port router. I use a Netgear WGT624 which will let me block specific machines on my network from accessing specific services (such as http, ftp etc) during specific times during specific days, configurable on a per-machine basis. That's the type of thing you're after isn't it?
Click to expand...

er...I think that's what I'm after. I'm using a...[looks under desk/way back behind some junk/sneezes/wipes away dust from what is believed to be the router/notes model/bumbs head getting back out of the deep-desk-back/returns to keyboard]...5 port Linksys Workstation Switch Model EZXS55W. Will that work? If I have to buy new hardware then I'll also have to clean out under the desk. That's a bad thing. I may not be back for months.
 
Re: Re: Re: Home Network and Chatting Children

Rob Lister said:
I'm using a (...) 5 port Linksys Workstation Switch Model EZXS55W. Will that work?
Click to expand...
Ummmmm, I have to admit I know bugger-all about the differences between routers, switches, and hubs, hopefully a network guy will come along and provide some info.

I had a look at your switch on the LinkSys site and it didn't mention anything about it having any smarts, so perhaps you'll need to replace it with a router. If you don't have a hardware firewall then that might be reason enough to for you buy a router with a firewall and stateful packet inspection. But don't do anything until someone who actually knows what the hell he's talking about chimes in.
 
You could get a timed power cutoff thingy that turns off the kids computers at a certain time. That'd be funny.

More seriously, while I (like Iconoclast) have no real experience, wouldn't it be possible and possibly cheaper to have some program that tells you if the kids are online? Then you get the added fun of shouting at them.

Actually, I've juts realised that you may be one of those wired people that don't spend their whole life in front of their computer, in which case this wouldn't help you much.

So, not a very helpful post, all in all.

:D
 
Re: hubs, switches, and routers. A hub is just a dumb device in your network that takes input and outputs it to everything else connected. A switch is actually a switched hub. It is just a hub that outputs only to the relevant destination. A router connects networks together.

In the context of a home network, there's little between a hub and a switch (but little in price, either, so you may as well get a switch). The router connects to the internet and translates addresses between subnets. Your router really acts as a combined gateway and hub.

Clear?

Cheers,
Rat.
 
Rat said:
Re: hubs, switches, and routers. A hub is just a dumb device in your network that takes input and outputs it to everything else connected. A switch is actually a switched hub. It is just a hub that outputs only to the relevant destination. A router connects networks together.

In the context of a home network, there's little between a hub and a switch (but little in price, either, so you may as well get a switch). The router connects to the internet and translates addresses between subnets. Your router really acts as a combined gateway and hub.

Clear?

Cheers,
Rat.
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks Rat. But have you any opinion on available software to solve my delimma? If I want it I know there's a market. If there's a market then it's probably out there, somewhere. If not then I see a market nitch.

Surely it's possible because my operating system serves as the gateway but, search as I might, I haven't found anything. Admittedly I may not have known it if I saw it.
 
Rob Lister said:
Yes, thanks Rat. But have you any opinion on available software to solve my delimma? If I want it I know there's a market. If there's a market then it's probably out there, somewhere. If not then I see a market nitch.
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If you want to do it with software, you can use a product like Net Nanny, it apparently has time access functions. But you know what kids are like these days, they'll probably hack their way around it in thirty minutes.
 
What OS are you using? Windows? Mac? If Windows, what version, for both you and your kids? Windows 9.x (includes 95, 98, ME), Windows 2000? Windows XP (home or professional). If Windows 2000 and XP do you have Internet connection sharing on?

To clarify your setup we'd also need a little more information. What kind of internet connection do you have? Dial-up or broadband (either cable or DSL) If broadband, do you have the cable/dsl modem plugged directly into your PC, and then have a seperate network card that plugs into the hub? If so then you are in fact acting as a gateway or proxy to the internet for your son's PC's.

While you could dive in and attempt to setup internet connection sharing, if you haven't already I really don't think it gives you any ability to restrict access on a schedule at all, plus it would likely require you to make some protocol changes on your PC's. Your machine would need a static TCP/IP address and the other PC's would need to be assigned dynamic TCP/IP address'.

I'd do as mentioned earlier, spent about $50-60 (canadian dollars there) on a D-Link or Linksys Internet router. You can plug your modem into it, all the PC's and keep the admin password for the router to yourself. You can then based on the ports of the router decide when those parts can be active. Plus it gives you some added security at home.
 
voidx said:
What OS are you using? Windows? Mac? If Windows, what version, for both you and your kids? Windows 9.x (includes 95, 98, ME), Windows 2000? Windows XP (home or professional). If Windows 2000 and XP do you have Internet connection sharing on?

To clarify your setup we'd also need a little more information. What kind of internet connection do you have? Dial-up or broadband (either cable or DSL) If broadband, do you have the cable/dsl modem plugged directly into your PC, and then have a seperate network card that plugs into the hub? If so then you are in fact acting as a gateway or proxy to the internet for your son's PC's.

While you could dive in and attempt to setup internet connection sharing, if you haven't already I really don't think it gives you any ability to restrict access on a schedule at all, plus it would likely require you to make some protocol changes on your PC's. Your machine would need a static TCP/IP address and the other PC's would need to be assigned dynamic TCP/IP address'.

I'd do as mentioned earlier, spent about $50-60 (canadian dollars there) on a D-Link or Linksys Internet router. You can plug your modem into it, all the PC's and keep the admin password for the router to yourself. You can then based on the ports of the router decide when those parts can be active. Plus it gives you some added security at home.
Click to expand...

To clarify, I'm using XPhome. I have cable internet that attaches to a cablemodem. The cable modem attaches to the PC via a usb port. The PC attaches to the switch via a network card and cat5 cable. The other three computers attach to the swich via their network cards and cat5 cable. The other platforms are (from memory)
1) Win me
2) win 98
3) win 98

I think I ran the XP homenetwork connection wizard but I seem to remember it 'just working' the last time I hooked stuff up after a total reformat/reload.
 
Not being the computer guru... things I have done when kids have gone beyond their computer bounds and computer nerd husband is not at home (by the way, only one is in child's bedroom... middle chlld uses his laptop in living room, youngest uses desktop in den):

1) Turned off the modem --- then Comcast switched to one without an off button - but you can pull the power cord out (used to reset the modem)

2) Pulled PCI card from child's laptop (PCI card is the wireless network access)

3) Removed power cord from desktop in oldest child's room

4) Unplugged the router from power outlet (also done just to reset the network after dealing with modem outages).

5) Pulled network cable from the router,
 
Rob, easiest way to solve your problem would be to buy a router. We have a D-Link which allows us to set up everything from "banned" sites to access hours. Also you can add security by only allowing certain MAC adresses to access the internet.

Over here a D-Link costs about $50.

As for software I haven't heard of anything that'd let you do the things you want to do. A router would be perfect for those intentions. Depends how much your time is worth I guess, you can look and look for software, and in the end either find the software for free, or for more than a router's cost, and then you'd get the router anyway, having wasted your time. ;)

But no harm in asking. I still suggest a router.

Then again, from personal experience, even without the internet I'd be on the computer, playing games or whatnot. So I doubt that your kids will obey the computer curfew even if you cut off their 'net access. But that's another problem.
 
Hydrogen Cyanide said:
He has a router. It is buried under the desk.

You also pointed out why I took the power cord away.
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No, he has a switch. Not a router. two different things.

yeah, just wait 'til the kids go and buy power cords themselves, or borrow from friends. then they'll be on their computers at night when you're asleep.
 
Oops... my mistake. edit: well I admit I am not computer type, that is spouse.

I know, it turned out there was a spare power cord in a drawer. Then we found different ways to disable the machine... hubby pulled a board out, though it is just as easy to pull the CD drive out of the desktop. Control of his machine will go back to him when his grades go up. (he is also not a kid willing to go and buy a power cord). Also, when it is working there is a brute force version of an Internet "Nanny" (all websites must be approved).

Laptops with wireless access with PCI cards are the easiest to control, even though taking the power cord has little effect with a full battery. Hide the PCI card... or just physically take the whole machine away. Since I have full control over his bank account... since he is a spendthrift, he has not quite gathered enough spare change to get another laptop. But this child gets good grades, and our only worry is the amount of time he spends playing Warcraft.

Their teachers have remarked that they have never seen a pair of brothers that are so different from each other.
 
Still Hydrogen Cyanide, easiest way to control their online time would be with a router. If it's computer time you want to limit, either a power switch timer, or taking the computer away. Pulling a card out and putting it in once or twice a day will increase the risk of damage, and in the end it'll wear down anyway, easier if you just leave the card in, and spend $50 on a router.

As for computer time, well keep the computer in a "public" room so you can monitor the kids. Or even your bedroom so they can't be on it during the night.

[edit: forgot to add that this was to Rob]
Rob, I'm curious though, is it a computer curfew, or a bedtime curfew? and if it's just a computer curfew, why?
 
Hurm

Router is the best way to go. If you can't plug the Cable modem directly into it, then you should be able to still place it where the switch is in the network.

As stated above Software is easily bypassed ESPECIALLY on a Win98 machine. They have no "user" security.

If you go the router route ;) make sure to change the default password Immediatly. The internet is a great source of default passwords...

I'd also recommend installing a keylogging program, or Sub7 hee hee. Nothing like making the CD tray go in and out constantly (remotly) to flip someone out :D

SSR
 
Hydrogen Cyanide said:
#3 child is the one we've caught reading a book at midnight.
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Out of curiosity, how old are your children? And how long do you reckon you'll keep controlling their lives? 'til they turn 18? or 'til they move away from home?
 
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