Protection against a porn addict

[corbett_1989]

Hey everyone,
I would like some advice here. Right now I'm trying to fix a pc that has a really nasty bug. I'm pretty sure I can handle it. The problem is that I have a porn addicted brother and he goes into the wild of the internet and basically doesn't care about what happens to the PC. Now normally I wouldn't care about the pc cause if he messed it up he should be the one who fixes it. The bigger problem is that my old man does his banking on that PC, and I don't want anything to happen to his personal information because of an addict. Is there anything I can do to protect the PC so I can rest a little bit easier. I tried to convince my brother to get his own pc but he said no he didn't want to spend the money. I have the standard equipment on the pc. anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, trying to keep the system up to date.. Their running XP on the system. I don't know anything else about the system right now sadly. Any advice to protect the pc would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

The bigger problem is that my old man does his banking on that PC, and I don't want anything to happen to his personal information because of an addict

Uh oh...now a question, would it be better to continually log on and check on his bank balance, or to log in as sparsely as possible? :haha:

I have the standard equipment on the pc

What kind of Anti-Virus and stuff? Techspot Malware helpers recommend Avira and AVG.

Is there anything I can do to protect the PC so I can rest a little bit easier.

Not much, monitor the bank balance on a clean computer? Porn sites have so many viruses, I don't know if it would be possible to stay clean, AND your PC may already be infected...maybe you can set up a limited account for your little addict, then password all administrator accounts? Continually change the bank account pass .

 

[corbett_1989]

Thanks for the quick advice. I don't understand your first question. you could be making fun of me which is fine and what not. It is running zone alarm with avg . Also has super-antispyware on it with windows defender i think. I was thinking about switching him to a limited account, but the damn pc is moving soo slow right now I can't do it as of right now.

 

[Route44]

And to add to what HK has said, no matter how good thesecurity software you have, internet habits can override them all.

Personally I'd tell dad and let him deal with it especially if you let him know how exposed the system is with all that garbage and the very real danger of how compromised his personal banking information can become.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

but the damn pc is moving soo slow right now I can't do it as of right now.

Yeah thats probably bad.

Uh oh...now a question, would it be better to continually log on and check on his bank balance, or to log in as sparsely as possible?

Thought that was kind of a funny prospective.

 

[waterproof]

Download this:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm


once you installed it and followed the instructions etc
then you can add the porn sites to the Host files when you open notepad, so when your brother tries to connect to that site, it will not connect at all...

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

As HK recommended, tell your dad not to use the PC at home for his banking and inform him of what may happen if he does.

waterproof's suggestion is also great.

It's entirely upto you which way to go for.

 

[DelJo63]

First, get control of the system by

1. changing the Admin password
2. then create new accounts for everyone
   • give each a unique password
   • and make each a Limited account

Once these are created, you login to each to actually create their private areas

Be sure to reboot into Safe Mode and login the Administrator Account and change that password too!!!

once completed bad-boy can fool around without exposing the system to C$&P from the prono sites and will not be able to access any user's data NOR to install anything.

This is an area where a great many people ignore the consequences of running day-to-day on an account with admin privileges
Only use that account to fetch MS Updates or to install new software and NEVER for browsing or reading email.

 

[caravel]

What he said^

Also once you've done that you can try using Firefox with the noscript add on. That should block any scripts that those sites try to run - greatly reducing the risk. There is still the chance he'll download something and run it of course, or turn off the script blocking altogether.

If all that doesn't help then you might be better off with a non MS operating system also with specific accounts per user and with his account heavily restricted to just browsing.

 

[DelJo63]

the advantage of a Limited Account(XP) or UAC(Vista) is that whatever is done in the
browser has no means to allow access to the system itself OR any other users data
Enabling scripting is possible but any attempt to modify \windows\* will fail :wave:

 

[hrlow2]

Or you could get him to enter a monastery and take the vows of abstinence.

 

[gguerra]

This will protect your PC.
http://www.sandboxie.com/
Make sure you run the Web Browser in the Sandboxie and you will be protected. When you are protected you will notice that the Title Bar is enclosed in [#]'s .. It will run everything inside of the sandbox so even with files you click to download you will have to manually allow (recover) them. I even went as far as to change the icon that it installs to the same icon as the browser (firefox) in my case.

 

[hrlow2]

to gguerra
It's his brother that goes there. I'm sure he's going to turn something like Sandboxie on whenever he wants his porn "fix".

 

[corbett_1989]

Wow I didn't think a lot of people would got involved. As of right now I'm still fixing the PC up. Though to answer some of the questions. I don't think I can switch the old man's account into a limited because he'll get pissed when he can't install his programs without logging into another account. I would like to use sandboxie, but my brothers porn addiction kinda consumed all of the hard drive space. Though as a side note the hard drive is only 70 Gigs. I have switched my brothers account into a limited account but I have to convince my folks they need to password protect their accounts so he doesn't just log into theirs and install whatever he wants. I wanted to reinstall the operating system but once again the old man doesn't want that either, and he knows the danger of getting his infomation stolen, but he seems convinced that it won't happen to him. Thanks for the info anymore will be great

 

[captaincranky]

Uh, I Just Don't Know How That Happened.........

Reformat the computer. That'll get your brother off it once and for all, after he loses all his files.
It's like they say f*** him if he can't take a joke. Jeez, that even fits in with the theme.

 

[corbett_1989]

Hell I would love to do that, but the old man won't let me reformat the hard drive.

 

[captaincranky]

Accidental Reformat.....

Well, if you're removing spyware, then you should do a repair reinstall of Windows. From there it's just one false click away to a destructive full reinstall.

If you think about it, how is it that your brother is being allowed to jeopordize the family's well being, finances, and equipment? For someone who is on the outside looking in, it seems like your brother is running the whole family, or somebody needs to grow a pair, and forcefully explain to him that he's not.

Believe it or not, there's plenty of FREE porn on the internet, that isn't toxic to computers. When you start downloading live content like video, giving credit card information, and start giving out email addresses, that's when the trouble starts.

I just don't get any of this. You claim it's not your brother's computer, yet somehow you're not even allowed to have free hard drive space, erstwhile you're sitting around humoring some fool that's telling you they don't feel like spending their money for a computer. This almost isn't a computer forum issue, rather more like family counseling or general mental health issues. A person that accommodates their own wishes and wants, without fear and with reckless disregard for the others around them is a borderline sociopath.

 

[fastco]

I think what captaincranky is suggesting is to format the computer and say you don't know what happened!! Wink Wink. That is a great idea.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

consumed all of the hard drive space

Wow, screw him, he doesn't need those videos (i'm assuming their video's).

Interesting thread, so many got involved.

 

[corbett_1989]

It's not video it's a massive amounts of pictures. I can't trick my folks into reformatting the pc even though it is the right thing to do. And captaincranky I agree with you, but I see him more of a parasite than someone who gets his way. There's a lot of work to get done with this pc due to the fact that anything i do to "harm" his account is someway of me hurting him (theres alot of bad blood between me and bro, but thats a different story for another day). Maybe this should have been a two part thread how to defeat a pron addict and how to convince a parent to let the techie install and limit certain accounts when he/she has that has limited knowledge of computers. ha christ it took me almost two month to install anti-spyware software cause my father thought it would slow down the pc.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

ha christ it took me almost two month to install anti-spyware software cause my father thought it would slow down the pc.

Parents can sometimes be incredibly arrogant...and its very frustrating and annoying when people just don't listen to you, or trust in you.

massive amounts of pictures

Delete...none will miss some pictures here or there...You could try compressing the pictures too.

Even with a reformat, you will still need to take other drastic measures, or else he will just start another gallery of pictures. Right back to square one.

Yes, tough scenario.

 

[hrlow2]

Even with a reformat, you will still need to take other drastic measures, or else he will just start another gallery of pictures. Right back to square one.

 

[captaincranky]

A Rose By Any Other Name.........Is Still a Sociopath

Well, we all have our crosses to bear, I suppose.

In which case I propose that you use Firefox, with the "No Script" add on. That way it's harder to get problems when you're redirected, Set FF to "clear private data" at closing, which unloads the cookies.

In forums such as this, we're regularly asked "how should I spend my money", at least with respect to buying parts to build a machine. So, it becomes second nature for me to suggest that you get your own box. That way when the machine that we're speaking gets infected with a password cracker or a botnet, you won't go down with the ship, so to speak. When somebody 4 states away opens a new credit card account, it won't be in your name, it'll probably be in your father's. I know all about money issues, but that is a sure fix, at least until "bro" starts using your name a a login alias.

If push comes to shove, you could always have dad join the forum. Maybe we could talk some sense into him. Children always have a credibility gap with their parents.

 

[hrlow2]

Maybe take Bro out back and "discuss" the errors of his ways.
Might "pound" some sense into him.

 

[Bobbye]

Well, no one mentioned this but I think it's obvious. Get you dad a simple, minimal, inexpensive computer for his banking!

Do you really think there's anyway to secure the system with brother's user habits?! I am in agreement with Route44> no matter what security is on the computer, the user is the first line of security. Those habits will determine what gets on the PC.

And I'm curious as to why you're even trying to clean up an addicts system! Chances are he's heavily involved in P2P programs, another source of malware. Get dad off and let addict handle the malware!