The Problem With Vista's Parental Controls

[Ronel 0]

I can't believe that thing cost too much trouble!This are certain "too much parenting" in Vista. (Mosty problems are in web browsing)1) It doesn't want me to see the logo or the site of ImageFilez.2) What does "image.google.com" have something that is worthy to be banned?3) It has problems with google! When I entered into their search engine(I typed Table Settings), it was fine. The next thing I knew was it restricted me into every seach result!4) That control should change its conditions for web browsing!Anyone listening....Just too much control!Anyone know why?

[Sten 0]

oh god, sounds shoddy.ive never used vista before so i wouldnt no wot to do. although cant you just turn the parental control off or on a lower setting?with the google images and google stuff, maybe they had an update which tries to let you only use the live search? it seems like something microsoft would do really.also, is there an approved list thing? just add imagefilez to that if there is one.

[Unregistered 0111405241546 0]

I don't see the point of parental controls on computers, if they don't want their kids doing bad stuff on the computer, stop being lazy, and just stand right behind them the whole time. With parental controls there are always ways to turn it off. My parents put full parenteral controls on my desktop computer, I just popped in a few things in google, and in a few minutes I disabled all the hidden programs and junk. Theres no way of stopping me of doing things unless they're standing right behind me, it's fool proof. Lmao

[ethergeek 0]

Google images and imagefilez are probably blocked because there's no control or ratings on the images. You can pull pornographic images on either and there isn't any other means to regulate it but block the whole site. Well, they could probably do something with safesearch, but I'm sure live search already has such an integration anyway, so it would be in microsoft's best interests to not waste time with google.

[FirefoxRocks 0]

I haven't tried Windows Vista yet, but as for its parental controls, I've read some books and stuff about it.

The only thing I would use is the Time Limiting thing, and a blacklist if it includes one.

 

I don't know if it is disable-able via Task Manager, but usually 3rd party programs are. Because this is integrated into the operating system, it should be fairly secure, but nothing replaces parental monitoring.

[patronus4000 0]

Hmm, I still use XP, so I wouldn't know how to get past your problems. As others said, try turning off Parental Controls. Or maybe try a proxy. Just make sure that proxies don't get blocked (as they eventually did at my school).

 

I hate parental controls. They're useless. They let us see everything we shouldn't see, and block everything that isn't the least bit harmful to kids. Let's take AOL as an example. About four years ago, my AOL account was set to "Mature Teen". Generally, I could surf pretty well, but it was still annoying because it kept blocking stuff. The funny thing was that it even blocked the Rice Krispies site. o.O Rice Krispies! They're a cereal, for crying out loud! I got my dad to switch me to the "General" setting soon after that.

 

Although if I was as knowledgeable about computers as I am now, I probably could've gotten past that by using another browser (i.e. Firefox, Opera). xD

 

Good luck with Vista, Ronel.

 

Serena

[jimmy89 0]

Firstly, Parental Control can be turned off through Control Panel (Something like, Parental Control > User Control). This will stop the computer trying to block website depending on the control setting. As for your browsing, this should be turned off at the same time, if not, dont use IE, use firefox or opera. The only reason you are being blocked is because you are using IE (and vista and IE are best friends! ) Using another browser should fix that problem right away!It is the same thing with UAC (user account control), they have just taken away too much of the freedoms of using the computer. I noticed when using vista for a brief while, that before installing updates UAC was a bit more lenient on what programs were allowed to run, once the update was installed - there was much stricter guidelines. So windows are clamping down on programs allowed to run! (Bit off topic i know )

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

I would imagine the parental controls have varying levels you can set them to and in your case your parents must have ramped them up pretty high :| Image hosting places are actually commonly blocked in places and I've seen google images also blocked in some places... and by places I mean corporate firewalls that block their users from reaching certain sites. These places are known for easy access to adult images and sites without actually going to these sites so there IS some logic behind blocking them out. That said, it sucks to have them blocked especially on a home rig so frankly if your parents don't actually watch over you whilst you surf just fire into the control panel and see if you can disable them.If the people at M$ were thinking at all it'll require a password since most kids out-learn their parents in the computer arena pretty quickly. Google can probably lead you to a way to disable it without the password I'd be willing to bet haha.Regardless good luck with that, windows is enough of a system nazis without having parental controls pumped to such a high level. And hell, if that doesn't work just partition off a bit of space, install linux, and dual boot the system and tell your parents you cant look at porn in linux

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

My parents know that putting parental controls into my desktop or laptop is futile because a can do one of few things:- crash the house network (since I created it, I can take it down with ease as I control the network)- bypass the system with ease- reformat the system if neededSo, you see it's useless for them to put restrictions like that on me.As for parental controls, you need an administrator account to turn off the settings.As for UAC, I think it's just Microsoft's answer to a 30 year old design that has been proven over and over again but since it's Microsoft, it's annoying. I don't mind entering my administrator's password to make system changes. However, I will start flipping out when it warns me everytime I download something and run it. Else, I would care less since I'm used to it on UNIX and now on MacOS X.xboxrulz

[FirefoxRocks 0]

As stated above, I don't use Windows Vista yet. Is there some parental controls thing that is available for Firefox (Gecko based) and/or Opera browsers as I didn't even think that parental controls would only work for Internet Explorer.And by that, I mean one that actually works good, not just a blacklist one as I can configure a blacklist via the HOSTS file and through other means.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I never used the Parental Controls on Vista, and don't plan to. It should only work on IE if I'm correct.xboxrulz

[HellFire121 0]

Yeah i don't have vista but i think no parental control system will be perfect. There are too many changing factors to keep up to date with, if one does come out i'm guessing it will need quite a few guys constantly working on the next update. It probably will need updates every few days if not every day.Building it in to the operating system is a good idea but it will need alot of maintanence to be effective, at least have a wide range of controls for it so you can whitelist/blacklist etc and pick what types of sites and stuff like that.If it only works in IE then you can almost say that over half of the users have no option to turn this on anyways since i'm guessing about half or so don't use IE. Best way to control this type of stuff is to just watch the kids on the computer or check the history/firewall logs etc, just simply being in the room is more than effective in my opinion.-HellFire

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Doesn't really matter since Microsoft already releases an update almost daily, so it won't be a problem for them to update the firewall and the parental controls at all.xboxrulz

[Chesso 0]

So are these parentals controls a strictish from the get go of Vista, or has someone ramped them up and stuffed around with them, maybe they should have a password too lol.

[Ronel 0]

What kind does this windows have....I really think that Parental Controls is futile, since it will not prove anything or the like, but it will just pop out, and ruin a kids life, so I don't think setting this thing is a good idea.