Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

My son still has internet in his room! GRRRR

brobson

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
512
6
Dallas
I just found out my son has the Parallesis program, I have no idea what that is,
Anyone know?

Is that how he's getting the internet? Or is it through his xbox?

He isn't supposed to have internet in his room. And he knows it.

I password protected his computer and limited his capabilities, I removed the airport card and even cut off his install abilities.

I think he bypasses it with scandisk applications on someone elses machine, I dunno. Maybe he tricked me when he asked for my password or I was just not paying attention one day. (If only he'd put this energy into his school work! He'd be Valedictorian!)

So how do I keep internet outta his room!

He has the wireless router in his room because thats where the cable person installed it so I cannot just turn it off.

I don't want to fight about it anymore so I guess we'll just end internet at our house but that punishes everyone.
 
parallels means he can use windows on his mac, so even though you restricted his settings in Mac OSX he can create a whole new account in windows and be admin and pretty much do whatever he wants. it's almost like having a seperate computer.
 
He has a mac mini and I have admin capabilities. I have shut down installation capabilities, internet, etc. He has xbox.

So how can even parallalis get "reception" for lack of a better word if I removed the airport card?
 
i think the best thing to do would be to lock down the wireless router by mac address.

Setup a mac address access list for machines you ALLOW access to the internet (the family machine downstairs) and then any other devices wont be able to connect to the router.
 
kids, they can be resourceful. Especially when they want to be sneaky. My mother failed every time she tried to punish me by "taking something away". If anything, it spurred innovation so I could find ways around it. It didn't help that most of her punishments were irrational, erratic, and fueled by an underlying psychiatric dysfunction, but nevermind.

You have several options:

1. Remove the computer and xBox from this room. Solved.
2. Remove the computer, leave the xBox.
3. You can move the router, get an extension cable.
4. Delete Parallels and lock down the Mac's OSX partition.
5. Concede.

Option five doesn't sound very good, but then again, I am not and never will be a parent.
 
rorton said:
i think the best thing to do would be to lock down the wireless router by mac address.

Setup a mac address access list for machines you ALLOW access to the internet (the family machine downstairs) and then any other devices wont be able to connect to the router.
Click to expand...

this is exactly what i would do. its the best route in order to keep only the machines you want connected.
 
brobson said:
I don't want to fight about it anymore so I guess we'll just end internet at our house but that punishes everyone.
Click to expand...

I don't want to tell you how to parent... but just as a suggestion, why as you say, punish everyone? If your son cannot comply with your rules, can't you just remove all the electronics from his room, not the internet from the house. (Can you and your husband even survive without internet at home? ;) ). Put the XBox somewhere else. Really tick him off by hogging it with your husband in the evening. ;)

It sounds like what he might be doing is (a) either exploiting the fact that having had Parallels already installed allows him to run a Windows installation that you didn't tighten down or (b) he's got software on a USB stick and he's running things off it.

It's fairly difficult to stop (b). I don't even know how to do it on a Mac. One thing you can do for (b) is use encryption on your network (so you need a password) -- Since he won't have the password, he won't be able to put it on the USB stick, and he won't be able to get on the net with it. Assuming a wireless network (which I think is the case?).

But I personally would not engage him in this manner by fighting his specific tactics. If he doesn't have a computer in the room, your problem is solved, and he can focus on thinking about how to solve his problem and not create more problems for you, right? :)
 
Don't forget that you can usually connect to a wireless router with an ethernet cable as well as wirelessly.
 
spanking.jpg
 
Lau said:
Don't forget that you can usually connect to a wireless router with an ethernet cable as well as wirelessly.
Click to expand...

And you can often reset a router's configuration without its password if you have a physical connection to it. So you absolutely don't want to invite him to have access to the router.
 
I don't know how to do the router password. I thought I had done it.

Also, there are some good content filtering ips out there but only for windows. If I were to sign up for one of those, and keep the admin password, etc for the mac, would that solve my problem? I guess not since the machine is mac even though the program is windows. It would at least help with the new windows laptop thats coming but he could always just transfer whatever he wanted to the laptop from his mini.

Yes parenting is complicated but I still recommend it!

Sky Blue said:
Use the parental controls to stop access to Safari/Firefox/Parallels etc.
Click to expand...

Did that first, he bypassed it.
 
Last edited:
Move the computer and X-box!

I am a parent of two children who are 5 and 7, so old enough to work the computer, but young enough to not be computer savvy. They have their own computer in a common room in the house. We will not let them have computers (or TVs) in their bedrooms, because we cannot as easily monitor their activities.

I am not naive enough to think they won't try to circumvent our restrictions in the future, but we can certainly put up roadblocks where we can. That's our job! Sometimes being a parent means not being a child's best friend (in their eyes).

Move the computer, X-box, and TV out of the bedroom!

Oh, and the cable guy was lazy. See if you can relocate the modem and/or router closer to your computer.

**edited**
New posts before I could post my own!

Stepping up router security may be your only hope. I have nephews with ADHD, so I understand your situation.
 
Sounds like he's holding you hostage with this fragility.

Frankly, I'd leave his internetz alone. If he can't follow rules at this point "grounding" him from the internet will just fixate him on the loss of the internet , not the behavior that led to it.
 
K9 web protection

Well if it's filtered, I really don't have a huge problem with it being in his room since the laptop is coming anyway.

I just found k9 web protection for macs. I hadn't heard of it before.
Will it be enough? Of course that might be niave of me and techies out there, help me if you can.
 
The first step would be to remove the router from his room so that he doesn't have physical access to it. While he does, it's impossible to control access since he can, as mentioned, simply press the "reset" button on the back and everything is wide open again. He can also connect directly via an ethernet cable, so cutting out the airport card doesn't help. Assuming, of course, he didn't just go buy a different wireless card.

The one thing that puzzles me is that you haven't really mentioned why you don't want "the internet" in his room. I'm assuming he's been visiting sites he shouldn't, or that he's spending time doing things like gaming or whatnot instead of studying.

Speaking as a parent, although not at the age of your son yet, I'd think there might be some other potential alternatives. For example, use of the internet can be limited, via the router, to certain times of the day. He likely needs to have some access to research for school or to work on music-related stuff. Completely cutting it off may be excessive, although we don't know the complete details.

Controls can be put in place that prevent him from visiting certain sites or from using certain tools/applications that would allow him to bypass the security features as well. These should also be considered.

Ultimately, though, I get the feeling you'd like to be able to trust him to do what's right. You mentioned letting the rope out a bit, and perhaps by being open about expectations and limitations he might be more inclined to work things out.

But again, I don't know your son nor your situation as you do. I'll commend you for trying to take steps to make this work. It's not easy being a parent, especially with all the distractions available to kids these days (man, I sound old ;)). I can't wait until mine get a little older and I start dealing with these similar issues.

I guess that's what duct tape is for :p
 
Have you hidden the install disks? Does he have the install disks?!! If so, that is how he's getting admin access. He just has to boot into the install disk and remove password.

Also, do you have other macs in the house? He could be using Bonjour so that he connects through another computer in the house wirelessly... Or, if you have windows pcs, check for "Bonjour" program. Let me know if it works.
 
Also:

On the website I have 2 choices:
Do I download it for Windows xp/2000 for his laptop and
Windows Visa for his mac mini? He doesn't have vista or is that what parallesis is?
 
brobson said:
Will it be enough? Of course that might be niave of me and techies out there, help me if you can.
Click to expand...

Your son sounds fairly resourceful. Not to be rude, again, but this is far from the first thread you've made in this saga. Every time, you come back a few weeks later and your son has controverted your safeguards. I'm not criticizing you for that -- look at how fast people hack the iPhone. The point I'm trying to make is that you are in a realm of diminishing gains. You've tried several times to use these kinds of guards already and they haven't worked. I wouldn't be overly confident that they will work in the future for you either.

That's why I suggested a different strategy. Why can't your son do music and other things in a shared room under loose observation/supervision? Or what other options are there that exist outside of the continuum of fighting him more fervently using the same weapons you've been using unsuccessfully?
 
brobson said:
So how can even parallalis get "reception" for lack of a better word if I removed the airport card?
Click to expand...
Back in the good old days when we actually used cables and wires to transfer information ;)

Basically he has an ethernet cable running from the mini to the router.
 
Parallels (not parallelis) is a virtualization environment that lets you run windows or linux while you are running OS X.

It basically routes everything through the mac. So if the mac doesn't have a net connection it won't either. The only thing this would let him bypass would be to let him get around any blacklists when it comes to visiting sites or installing software (which would have to be windows or linux software as this doesn't let you run a version of OS X on top of OS X).

If he isn't supposed to have internet on his computer at all, Parallels isn't the problem. He either got a new wireless card or he is hooked up to the router with an ethernet cable.
 
force never works, try a peaceful way and discuss the limit with him.
 
Many years ago I was a kid and what best motivated me to do something was someone telling what I can't do.

Even if you remove everything from his room, and he only access the internet "under supervision" he will do nice things in front of you, unless he wants to annoy you.

Anyway, whatever he wants to do, he will do them later on somewhere else, at a friend's home, or somewhere else out there: panera, etc...
________
volcano digital vaporizer
 
Last edited:
Yes I have hidden the install disks.
He would never attempt to reinstall an airport card, I was sweating bullets to do it and never told him I did, he's not that saavy yet.


MacBooksRock said:
Have you hidden the install disks? Does he have the install disks?!! If so, that is how he's getting admin access. He just has to boot into the install disk and remove password.

Also, do you have other macs in the house? He could be using Bonjour so that he connects through another computer in the house wirelessly... Or, if you have windows pcs, check for "Bonjour" program. Let me know if it works.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back