guthmund

A friend of my mother's asked me to find a program for her to password protect "the internet."

I remember there used to be an absolutely free program called Internet Lock, if I remember correctly, that would password protect ie.exe, so everytime one clicked on the IE icon a password box would pop up.

Does anyone know of any good, FREE third party software to do this? Or maybe a way to do it without having to install anything at all? Some way to do it from inside Windows XP Home, maybe?

She's not particularly computer saavy, so the less complicated the better. I mean, I'll be setting it up, but I kind of want to avoid the endless phone calls spent trying to explain it once I've left.

Any and all help appreciated....

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ShaniFaye

I know this will be a retarded question.....but why not just make it where the computer cant log on to the internet at all without a password?

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guthmund

^ Sure.

Got any ideas? It all sorts out the same, right? I mean, password IE...password the connection.

I've just never really dealt with something like this before. I've never had to password protect...well, anything really.

I'm pretty computer literate, which means I can think of a dozen different ways to shut off access to the internet all of which are waaaay too complicated for me to walk this woman through.

For instance, I could just tell her to disable her network connection. Simple and for all intents and purposes it works. However, her kids are pretty capable and would probably be able to figure that out. Not to mention, unless she wrote it down, (what's the point then?) she'd never be able to remember it.

And please...no seperate user account suggestions. The few times, I've delved into that arena...well, it never quite worked out right.

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ShaniFaye

how does she sign on to her isp? Dont most ISP's ask for a password? I use bellsouth dsl and I have it set to ask for a password that isnt stored when I log in...AOL asks for a password...dont most of them?

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guthmund

Yes, they do. However, the box they send (it's just a cheap ass router with proprietary presets) asks for a password and then stores it. The option to not store it isn't available (I'm violating all kinds of English rules there....) That means everytime she wanted to log on, she'd have to go to 192.168.1.1, (the cheap ass router) enter her stuff and when she's done with the internet, she'd have to go back and erase the information.

Thanks. It was a good idea and normally would work like a charm, just won't in this case.

Edit: I found a generic screenshot. Stupid thing...I had to save it and upload it, so I hope it works...




When you clear the information, it just comes back once you exit. The only way to clear it out completely is to soft reset the device, which wipes out everything and restores the default settings.

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zen_tom

What version of Windows does she have? She might be able to set up a user profile for herself, and one for someone else. She could restrict what the someone else could do on their login, while leaving her own one nice and open.

zen_tom

Oh, just read that she's got XP Home - so she should be able to set up some users - why does she want to do this? It could be a lot of bother for not much results.

phukraut

You could try downloading a software firewall. They come with password protection so that they can't be arbitrarily shut down (unless you are very clever). She sets the firewall to "Block all traffic" and then sets the password. When she needs access she enters the password and unchecks "Block all traffic".

guthmund

Well, her it's her granddaughter. She's a bit of a wild child and until recently was in a state institution. I don't really know why. The woman has got a bunch of guidelines she's supposed to follow and again, I don't know the particulars, but apparently there are some guidelines that she has to follow because the girl was let out early. So, she's supposed to be watching this girl like a hawk (as I understand it, the girl once tried hitch-hiked to Oklahoma when she was 14). She's not supposed to let her have free access to a car, has to have a case worker and a family therapist in like twice a month, so on and so on. The woman is worried that if the girl has unfettered access to the internet (apparently chat rooms, IM-ing and the like are a big piece of the girl's history) that she'll fall into the same hole she's been trying to climb out of.

She uses the internet all the time and her other granddaughter, who she also has custody of, uses it for school work and such, so, shutting it completely off isn't really an option.

Even if she did set up seperate user accounts, I don't really know how that would restrict access to the internet. I mean, I know you can keep people from installing shit and the like, but I didn't think you could shut down the network specifically.

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guthmund

Sorry for the double post, I just seen this and since the last post was kind of long...

I know she's got a software firewall right now because I set it up. I can't remember off the top of my head which one it is, but I believe it's Sygate. I don't know if you can password protect it (I use Kerio myself and I'm pretty sure you can't slap a password on it unless you buy the program.)

That's a good idea though....Does anyone know of a good free firewall that you can password protect?

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tres

Wow, I'm superised that you have a log on. Here in the Northeast, we don't have to log on with a password for cable modem or dsl. As long as the connection is set up, youronline as soon as you log into windows.....

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zen_tom

Well you can - or at least you can disable the tools (on a user-by user basis) by going into Properties, Security and editing the object's access rights. You could do this for IE Firefox, or whatever browsers are running on that machine. If you also stopped new installations, then you have a machine that is able to run internet for one user, and not for another. It's not exactly what you want, but it's free, and you already have the software to do it (or at least I think so, I've got XP Professional here, so I'm unsure as to whether the full user control thing extends to XP Home or whatever)

Still, worth a try?

guthmund

Yeah, it's worth a try. I don't think XP Home is going to cut it. I mean, XP Home is just fine for a single user just looking to get it working, but once you start getting into multiple users, passwords, restrictions, rights and such, Pro is sooo much better.

I'm sitting at an XP Pro machine right now, so, I'll have to get back to you.

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Janey

same here, just double click IE and you are connected without a password. I have a router on my home network, so I am able to block ports, but then I always have to unblock them to get access on that particular pc. this is too klugey , I would love to know how to just password protect the IE program itself...

sashime76

If this is her kids' PC and if she just doesn't want her kids to have any access to the Internet, just yank the plug or cable. Now, all they can use it for is homework and some PC games. If anyone gets caught plugging the cable back then take the PC away.

MikeSty

Y'know, password protected internet connections are generally connection-specific.

If you have cable, you usually don't need a password.
If you have PPPoE DSL need a login because you're "dialing in"
If you have "dial-up", you need a login because you are "dialing in"

Anyone see a correlation here?

guthmund

Well, it's everyone's PC. Yanking the cable and such has been tried and didn't work. The woman has attempted to lay down some rules, but the girl just doesn't listen. She gets up at odd hours to get online usually when the rest of the family is sleeping. And while it's true she could just unplug it and take the cord with her, it's not fair to the rest of the family. Her husband has to get on it for work, she gets on it for the news and her other granddaughter, who behaves herself, gets on it for school stuff.


Edit: Missed MikeSty's post... It's DSL so she does dial in, but it doesn't ask for a username/password at all unless it's been reset. Like I said, the modem is really a cheap ass router and stores the information unless you reset it and let it default.

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MikeSty

Might be time for a

bendsley

MikeSty: you love using that picture huh. HAHAHA

Why not just use group policies on the machine? Windows XP Home can support group policies. Switching to XP Pro is not going to help you out anymore then where you're at now.

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Cuatela

Hate to suggest this, but my dad put a filter on the family computer, called Content Protect. It stops most Internet connections until the user has logged in. Separate profiles are used to track usage and attempts to access blocked material. I hate it, but if you deselected categories to block, it would be a glorified password protection. As far as I know, it is free.

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Rlyss

guthmund - If your mum's friend happens to speak German she can check out <a href="http://english.p30world.com/archives/001417.php">Exe Password 2004</a>. I don't understand German so I can't do much with it, and I can't find an English version anywhere.

But you might be better off with <a href="http://sac-ftp.externet.hu/security10.html">Protect Exe</a> (number 484 in the list). I just tested it and it works as it should. You select the .exe, type in a password and click the 'Crypt exe' button. It changes IE's icon though so she'll have to change the icon back. But I thought the IE desktop icons were just shortcuts to the real .exe somewhere else in Windows so I'm not sure how well it'll really protect 'the internet'. And finally, if the kids are smart they'll just delete the .exe and restore it, thereby losing the password protection.

Try it out and see for yourself but I'm not too convinced the kids will really be put off by this. User profiles or a better internet connection password would be the way to go.

f6twister

I haven't tried this but it may be worth looking into. I found a program called Parental Lock Guard 1.2 on cnet's www.downloads.com website. It states that it is a free program which will shut down the computer if something unwanted is done. The program is controlled by a system administrator's password. If you want to check it out, you can link directly to the program here.

Again, I don't know if this will do what you need it to but at least it's another resource to check out.

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guthmund

Bendsley
I don't mess around XP Home all that often, I had it for a while and switched to Pro. So, I wasn't aware that Home supported group policies, I'll check into it.

Raptor
I hate filters as well, but if it's what has to be done...well, so be it.

Rlyss
No, she doesn't speak German...that I know of.
Good suggestion. I don't think she's saavy enough to find a way around it. I'll dicker around with over the weekend. 476 & 487 look good as well.

f6twister
Hmm....I went to download.com (along with about a dozen other such sites) and didn't run across this. Thanks for the direct link.

Thanks again, for all the help and suggestions. I have a lot of solid leads to follow up over the weekend.

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Hardknock

phukraut

Hardknock, did you even read guthmund's post? Even if firefox was used, IE would still be around.

LewisCouch

Have you considered upgrading the router to a more capable unit? I use a fairly inexpensive router that allows access restrictions to be configured. You can block access to specific URL's, utilize keyword blocking, exclude specific services (FTP, HTTP, POP3, etc) and setup specific time frames for access. Any of these methods can be applied to specific IP's within the network, or by MAC address. Up to ten of these "policies" can be configured.

As an example, I disallow all internet activity between 23:00 and 06:00. This would end the odd hours access; however, unless you can physically secure the hard wire access, this could be easily circumvented.

Personally, I would physically secure the router and cable modem behind a locked door and add another computer to the network. Then I would configure access restrictions by MAC address for that computer.

Good luck.

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MexicanOnABike

get someone with programing skills to make you an interface that prevents login in to IE. i did it with my family cuz it was before xp and someone was dumb enough to download viruses at random every single day. not cool.

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