Teenagers! Bah! Humbug!

Yeah, I might be going back to that. The only downside I see is that it's a bit more bloated and has too much menu fluff that can't be re-organized. 1/4 of the screen is covered with tool bars. If I could shuffle some items around I could turn off at least two.

The best browser I ever had was Mosaic. Them good old days...

I just want to be a nice sweet Opa who will play dumb when MySpace doesn't work ;-)

...Jim Thompson

oops! Fat fingered that one

HTM, HTML, MFP and URL

Try going to

Typing about:config in the address bar shows the Firefox config settings.

You can change the setting of "keyword.URL" From the default:"

This causes a keyword to be entered into a standard google search.

Or, change "keyword.enabled" to false. This causes Firefox to act like Mozilla when an invalid URL is entered such as ti. They try appending ".com" and/or prepending "www." to try to get a valid address.

You could also just type "

If they are as smart as it sounds they will then figure out how to use proxy circumventers and not tell Opa until he catches them in the act. Read the text half way down this link but do not show this to your granddaughters:

You can tell SeaMonkey exactly what you want to include on the screen.

Some of the items can be handled using edit->preferences, others can be dragged around, or dismissed, and still others can be changed by editing the various XML "Chrome" templates for the style you have chosen.

It is totally configurable.

-Chuck

That's what someone in the Firefox forum suggested and I'll try that. Wish it was in teh setups instead but as long as it gets rid of that "lucky link" it's fine.

I just hate software making choices for me. The other thing it did was when I downloaded a software from Cypress it dumped it onto the desktop. All 60MB of it and without asking. That's nuts IMHO.

Yes, but I want to cut it off from this Google habit.

I bought Bratinella a nice Dell pc for home, and she downloaded and installed so much crap that it just died. So she moved into Mo's office and trashed her PC, too. Not wanting to bother with reinstalling Windows and all that, I donated the PCs to work and got Mo a Mac, which is beautiful. The Brat is off at Cornell now and uses a laptop, and I assume she has geeky boyfriends who are willing to keep it alive for her. She knows it's as much as her life is worth to touch *my* pc!

My new Alienware machine (ordered 7 weeks ago) is due to arrive this week! Has front-accessable hot-swap RAID drives.

John

Can't you password protect Admin logins? As a non-admin, you're supposed to not be able to install anything.

John

I have a "Downloads" folder, with lettered and numbered sub folders to save anything I download. It is in the My Documents folder, with another copy in the Shared Documents folder where they are sorted and ready to burn a CDROm from, when I need them on a non networked computer. I currently have almost two full CDROMS of files set up, this way.

I agree: When they arrive, the desk's keyboard, monitor and internet access are connected to a different "throw-away" computer, outside your internet firewall. After they leave you can erase and reinstall that computer's hard drive for the next time, and restore your network.

That is such a stupid statement that I have to larf in your general direction.

It all lives on your hard drive...... Since you are such an expurt then if the program was worth having you should be able to move it elsewhere and create a shortcut in your taskbar and then dick about with its registry entries and all the extra s*it.

Is the program worth having?

You know my next question will be......

'Can you write one?' AND 'Deal with the s*it required to place it exactly where end of life users such as yourself think it should be hidden?'

DNA

Martin Riddle wrote: :HOSTS file : Yeah. That's one way to block sites

--unless (as Jim has said) the kids are a tiny bit savvy and THEY also know how to use a text editor. . Tom Del Rosso wrote: |hardware firewall appliance | Yup.

#Chuck Harris wrote: #go to the Start/Programs menu, and drag IE to the trash can # !Joerg wrote: !just deleting the desktop icon for IE !and making sure it is not the [default] browser should do. ! Those are OK--but they don't go to the heart of the problem.

Lord Garth wrote (without the slightest bit of attribution or context): ~Go into 'file types' and associate ~HTM, HTML, MFP and URL with Firefox. ~ Again, doesn't get to the heart of the problem. First, that's more work than is necessary to do the job ...and if you scroll completely thru that list, you will find a BUNCH of other stuff associated with the Blue E.

ISTM the smart thing to do is to find IEXPLORE.EXE (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE) and rename it; just putting a hyphen at the start (-IEXPLORE.EXE) would do it

--but again, savvy kids. I say rename it to something outlandish (e.g., XYZZY.ZZZ) then MOVE IT to another directory. This leaves you an option (depending on your memory) 8-) if you ever do want to see how something looks in IE. . . A dedicated kids' computer is really the only way to address this. If you are going to stick with Windoze, do as Larkin's guys do: Image the drive after installing everything--and before using it-- then just re-image the drive when it does get borked.

Of course, you could have them use a computer that is a lot less likely to get munged:

Rich Grise wrote: $Set up individual user accounts $ - don't let _anybody_ log in with administrator priveleges, $not even yourself. $Go to the properties pane, for each, $and make [everybody] a "restricted user". $ Yup. Do NOT have the adults' boxes are set up as root.

--and never walk away from a box without LOGGING OFF ...and don't give the kids the passwords.

Disable it, even if you have to use a quick'n'dirty method like renaming the .exe file.

I recently upgraded from 1.5.something to 2.0.0.1. Haven't seen any "improvements" - they must all be under the bonnet (aka hood in yank-speak) - but some aspects have taken a step backwards IMHO.

As well as blocking sites at the router, you can also block them in the local windows hosts file. Blocking at the router and/or hosts file will at least force them to use a proxy server to look at what they want (make 'em learn a little).

Take a look at:

for a well-maintained hosts file that blocks most ad sites. Even has an installer for windows.

Wikipedia has a good explanation of how host files work.

Marvelous! Thanks! Those links explain what I supposed, but was unsure of... you trick a wrong IP to URL match ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Hey Jim,

Being a former teenager myself I know how easy it is to access stuff that people don't want you to access.

Have you tried using shareware/software that allows you to password protect applications, files and folders (ie Internet Explorer), such as Program Protector or Password Door. There should be heaps of free software out there on the net, just do a google search.

To block specific websites on Internet Explorer, go to Internet Options

user to enter a password to access a website.

My number one suggestion is to have your computer in a room where you can see what your granddaughters are up to, and to keep your antivirus/internet security software up-to-date.

Rossco.

Jim Thomps> Is there any way to password protect Internet Explorer so it can't be

That one IS in the setups.

Tools > Options > Main > tick next to "Always ask me where to save files"

snip

-- Regards Malcolm Remove sharp objects to get a valid e-mail address

Just add a few lines to the HOSTS file. Map