| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Nick |
Banning sites.How can I prevent my PC being used to visit a certain site?I can argue and discuss, and be open and tolerant with my kids, but I'd actually just like to black list bebo for them. Suggestions, please? |
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| RichardW |
You need a cyber sitter / net nanny type program unless you have a router than is configurable to block sites. You can also go to explorer, tools, internet options, security, restricted sites, sites. Add site.
Or a cattle prod. Justme |
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| Penny |
Or just accept it?
Kids of today hey 
|
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| jema |
edit the HOSTS.TXT file and direct www.bebo.com to 192.168.0.1 | ||||
| Bebo |
Re: Banning sites.
What have I done? |
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| JB |
c:/windows/system/drivers/etc/hosts in windows boxes (might be win32, might be system32, varies slightly according to version of OS) |
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| Rob R |
Yeah but look at the parent 
He must not want them to find his Bebo profile. Seriously, good idea, there's some odd folk on there. |
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| cab |
Re: Banning sites.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is bebo? |
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| Nick |
Not with a 9 year old, naw. Sometimes I'm just not going to be a liberal parent. |
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| Fee |
Re: Banning sites.
Like Facebook, but mostly kids using it...that and old men pretending to be young men/boys. Perhaps just read them the riot act about not adding anyone they don't actually know, and make yourselves their friends on there so you can check
I discovered my younger sisters (aged 11 and 13) were on there, so I joined too, just so I can keep an eye on them! |
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| Nick |
Re: Banning sites.
A social networking site. Live chat and a place to share information and so on. At least locally, there's quite a lot of unpleasant and undesirable kids use it, sometimes for bullying. I'm worried my smaller lad has been handing out, in all innocence, too much personal information and answering the wrong kind of surveys/questions. Thanks for the assistance. |
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| cab |
Re: Banning sites.
Got you. I see the problem! So many of these around; will it be necessary to stop your kids going on to another similar site, Nick, or will banning this one be enough? |
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| Nick |
Currently, tis a local problem with Bebo. They also use MSN for instant chat, and other similar sites. Bebo just seems to be slightly...edgier, for want of a better word. We've had the chat, and we've explained the potential issues. The PC is in the lounge so we can see it mostly, but not 100%. But, with Bebo, I'm seeing windows being shut down before I can check them, as if stuff is being hidden. So, hopefully, just a 'fault' at Bebo will make him move along and forget it. Attention span of a butterfly. | ||||
| Fee |
Sounds like a good plan in that case. | ||||
| Shane |
What does that do, out of interest? |
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| Nick |
Would this redirect all bebo links, too? |
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| jema |
yep. | ||||
| Barefoot Andrew |
Website "addresses" like www.bebo.com are purely names for humans to remember. Computers themselves use numeric addresses to identify each other, like 192.168.0.1. Normally when you visit a website your PC will go and "look up" the website's numeric address that corresponds to the human-friendly name. This process happens automatically in the background. The hosts.txt file is a way of bypassing this looking-up mechanism such that your PC always has its own permanent record of what numeric address corresponds to a particular name. These days it's not hugely useful, except for little tricks like this. 192.168.0.1. is a "fake" address and doesn't lead anywhere. Because it's in hosts.txt, the computer will always use this fake address and will never look up the real address for Bebo, and so Bebo is effectively blocked. A. |
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| Nick |
OK, done. Very simple, thanks. bebo.com now just times out. I assume the IP you gave me is something where that should happen? | ||||
| Barefoot Andrew |
Tis indeed. Your PC will be attempting to connect to an address 192.168.0.1 on your home network. There won't be such an address, so the thing times out.
Addresses that begin with 192.168 are for "internal" use. Anyone can set up a network that uses 192.168.x.x addresses and it will be completely private, and completely independent from anyone else who has done the same. In other words, any attempt by your PC to contact a 192.168.x.x address will never make it to the outside world. A. |
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| Jonnyboy |
In some cases will 192.168.0.1 connect you to your actual router? | ||||
| Barefoot Andrew |
Could do - although they tend to come as 192.168.1.1. Either way, stick in other random numbers, e.g. edit hosts.txt and direct Bebo to 192.168.12.5 A. |
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| Shane |
Cheers - always good to learn stuff like that! |
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| JB |
Or use 127.0.0.1 which is the local loopback (or in non tech speak your own PC). I suspect the only real risk with using 192.168.0.1 is that it might be a real address and might be your own router which might be unprotected for local traffic. |
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| Nick |
Bump. Need this page for when I get home. | ||||
| Chez |
Have they found another site to use, then? | ||||
| Hairyloon |
As an alternate strategy, is there an easy way of logging the chat? | ||||
| colour it green |
theres sposed to be a regular parent avoidance technique of having a 'parent friendly' profile say on FB, and and undercover one their parents dont know about that they really use.... | ||||
| Jonnyboy |
just checked my router and you can block sites on it, either through the site address or by keyword | ||||
| Gervase |
You certainly do get some very odd people on Bebo. Apparently even I'm on it - thanks to the BNP setting up a fake page in my name! | ||||
| Jonnyboy |
I didn't know they took proud gay men. |