Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can give me info on some of the parental control software that is out there. I've been looking around but cant find one that will prevent downloads. I cleaned up my kids computer yesterday and they had 23 trojans/viruses. I was not happy. They swear they are not downloading anything, but they will have new screensavers and stuff that pop up. Any suggestions?
thanks

Well, instead of parental controls, you will probably want an Anti Virus Program (such as Norton Anti Virus) and a Anti Spyware Program (such as Spybot Search and Destroy). You also need to make sure they are updated every day.

I put an anti virus on there and I put spybot on some time ago, but spyware still showed up. My kids said that the only thing they had been downloading was emoticons for aim, and I heard that a lot of spyware was coming with those. I had also told them to make sure that they were doing the windows updates but they had not. I was just hoping there was some kind of program that I could install that would prevent all downloads. I tried to make an administrator account on the computer (thinking maybe that would stop it) but it kept conflicting with the wireless network.

Note: The following information assumes you are using a recent consumer version of Microsoft Windows (e.g. XP Home). If not, it's time to upgrade. Microsoft is no longer issuing regular updates/patches for their legacy products. Windows 2000 is still fine, but not aimed at the home market.

The problem isn't necessarily the kids downloading stuff they shouldn't. The problem is more likely that Internet Explorer in its default mode is highly insecure and allows evil things like spyware, adware, home page redirects, trojans, viruses, etc. to be automatically downloaded just by visiting a Web site. Similar warnings go for Outlook Express, where these things can happen just by opening or even previewing an email message -- it's no longer required to actually open an attachment.

What can you do? Well, first you need to clean up the mess. You'll need one each from the following categories. My personal recommendations follow the each list item.
Firewall/Intrusion Protection (http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=firewall&tg=dl-2001&part=opera&subj=windows&tag=search) -- BlackICE PC Protection (http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main?SP=1&PN=10&sid=26412)
Antivirus (http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=antivirus&tg=dl-20&search.x=0&search.y=0) -- McAfee VirusScan (http://us.mcafee.com/root/package.asp?pkgid=100)
Spyware/Adware eradicator (http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=spyware+adware&tg=dl-20&search.x=0&search.y=0) -- LavaSoft AdAware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/)
Note that for each category, there are multiple competing products and each has their evangelists and detractors; I'm just stating what's worked well for me. Also, in the interests of disclosure, I worked until recently on the BlackICE product.

Once you've made your selections, install each. The firewall should probably come first, as it will keep out the baddies while you're doing the rest. Each product will have an update mechanism, either through the installer or within the product itself, once installed. Execute these updates until you are informed that your product is fully up-to-date.

Now that the firewall/Intrusion Protection product is installed and working silently to keep the bad folks out, and the antivirus product has scanned your system and removed any infected files (both of which are usually automatic upon the completion of their respective installations), it's time to run that spyware/adware eradicator.

Finally, you need to make a choice about your Web browser and email client. If you choose to stick with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, there are a couple of things you can do to help safeguard yourself. The other option is to lose IE and OE entirely in favor of better, more secure, easier-to-use third-party alternatives.

If you stay with IE, check the following:
Tools - Internet Options - Security - "Internet" zone: Select "Default Level"
Tools - Internet Options - Security - "Local intranet" zone: Select "Default Level"
Tools - Internet Options - Security - "Trusted sites" zone: Select "Default Level", then click "Sites" and verify that nothing unexpected appears in the "Web sites" field and that the "Require server verification" checkbox is selected.
Tools - Internet Options - Security - "Restricted sites" zone: Select "Default Level"
Tools - Internet Options - Privacy - Settings - "Advanced": Select "Override automatic cookie handling", "Accept" under First-party Cookies, and "Block" under Third-party Cookies. Leave "Always allow session cookies" at its current setting.
Tools - Internet Options - Privacy - Web Sites - "Edit": Make sure nothing unexpected appears in the "Managed Web sites" field.
Tools - Internet Options - Connections - "LAN Settings" - Proxy server: If "Use a proxy server" is selected, make sure the data in "Address" and "Port" correspond with the configuration instructions provided by your ISP.


If you stay with Outlook Express, check the following:
Tools - Options - Read: Select "Read all messages in plain text". Note that this will disable all HTML/rich text content in OE messages, so if you get many of these you may want to seriously consider another option.
Tools - Options - Receipts: Select "Never send a read receipt".
Tools - Options - Security - Virus Protection: Select "Restricted sites zone", "Warn me when other applications try to send mail as me", and "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus".
Tools - Options - Connection: Select "Ask before switching dial-up connections".


Does it sound somehow unbelievable that the most popular (at least, most widely-used) Web browser and email clients ship in such insecure states that you need to perform all the steps I listed above just to make them somewhat safe? You would not be alone in thinking this. If you're ready for a change, there are many alternatives to Internet Explorer and even more to Outlook Express.

Probably the best right now are coming from the open-source Mozilla project: the Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/) browser and the Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) email client. Both are very easy to use, with Thunderbird in particular having a very similar user interface to OE. Both are free for download, though you can order a CD if you don't want to deal with downloading them. Note that Thunderbird is included with Mozilla, so if you decided to switch both Web browser and email client you don't need to download both. If you want to stick with OE but switch to Mozilla for your Web browser, you don't have to use Thunderbird.

Another option for Web browser/email client, and my personal choice, is Opera (http://www.opera.com/). I can highly recommend Opera, but it's not for beginners.

I hope all of this is useful to you. Feel free to ask any questions here in the Tech Room forum and we'll try to help you out.

Also remember that, to be effective, you always have to keep your products updated. Get that McAfee subscription and set it to automatically download and install updates every couple of hours. (I've seen three or four new DAT files released in the same day.) Set Windows Update to download and install automatically. Make sure that the firewall and spyware checker both download and run automatically.

Andrew, thank you so much for your response. I did everything you suggested and will also look into the firewall program, for the moment I did activate the firewall that comes with XP, and I also have virus protection activated. I have one more question. For some reason we have always had a problem with the wireless connection on this computer but as long as we did not turn the computer off the connection stayed. I have had to reboot several times and now there is a second connection showing up under the wireless profile, I have no idea who or what this is and at times the signal strenght is 60%. The problem is my connection will not hold, I refresh it and it will connect but only for a short time. Could my connection and this other one be in conflict? Is this someone trying to tap into my connection? Would moving the computer to a different place in the room help? We have three computers on this connection and this one is the only one that shows this second connection. Thank you again for your help!