how to stop brother from bypassing block
Okay, my brother is 13 years old and he is generally good with computers. His cousins taught him about computer hardware and such. I can't really mess with his computer because he needs for school and video editing.
So I have opendns blocked for adult sites, several games he plays a lot, and other sites.
Problem, he keeps bypassing these restrictions to keep playing his games. First off, he changed his DNS server. I blocked port 53 and that was it.
Then he edited his hosts tables. I password protected those files.
Then he cracked the router password. Don't ask me how. He kept his computer on all night. That sneaky little bastard re-opened port 53 and I didn't notice for 3 weeks. Changed password to some weird ass combination and wrote it down somewhere.
Now he is using a VPN. How did I know? All traffic was going through one IP address. I blacklisted a couple of IP's, but he always is using new VPN's and its getting hard to detect.
Is there any other tricks in the game? The VPN's are soon going to run out and will I finally have peace of mind?
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"I can't really mess with his computer because he needs for school and video editing."
He doesn't need an administrator account for school and video editing, so I suggest you provide him with a regular user account only. If something administrative needs to be rarely done, you had to do it.
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DNS does not block games if they already have the server IP resolved, correct? So time-based blocking using DNS doesn't work so well due to caching. Seems to me that a router manufacturer could implement better parental controls. Can someone recommend the best router for parents of teens? My son has figured out how to push the factory reset button on the router to get the factory admin password and/or turn off parental controls. I think they are off by default anyway. Maybe someone could make a nice lock box for their router so teens would not have physical access to the router. Would be best if a router manufacturer specified the dimensions and material so that it would not impede the performance of WiFi too much.
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We should provide a link here that links to customer support at NetGear, because I'm pretty convinced this is a NetGear issue not an OpenDNS issue. It is unlikely that OpenDNS would provide a physical lock box for a NetGear router, so that a teen could not get around NetGear Live Parental Controls by resetting the router to factory defaults.
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This thread is indirectly related to LPC because it asks for solutions to real problems that parents have and may not be able to solve with LPC alone. Teens tend to be "really determined" as Chris above notes above, so parents of teens need to know how to deal with really determined teens. Many products do what the spec their product manager writes says they should do, but that does not necessarily mean they solve the actual problem that the customer has. I'm very curious to know more about rotblitz because it seems like you are very intelligent, and your answers are technically correct, but sometimes I think you miss the point, as many very smart people often do, IMHO. That's not to be taken as an insult, just honest feedback meant to help you grow in your success.
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Maybe I am missing the point, actually! If you want to remove the things I said that might instruct a teen how to get around LPC, please feel free. But I would suggest that you at least leave the link to the NetGear support site so people can easily navigate to a good solution since LPC can't effectively do schedule-based blocking as you have clearly pointed out in your many posts here and elsewhere. I very much appreciate the good information you have provided, by the way.
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By the way, @rotblitz, do you know of any better routers than the R6100 made by NetGear or others that would be best for parents of teens to do time-based scheduling, and solve the issue of factory default reset buttons? Or maybe you have a good suggestion about how to provide physical security around a router in a home environment? You can logically argue the an adolescent psychologist appointment or parenting classes might also be in order, and I would agree with you, but that is not the question I am asking. There may still be good reasons to help a teen learn boundaries by using a good safe lock, then once the respect is established, a parent might be able to loosen the reins. You make a good point that this is probably a bigger problem than can be addressed here in this thread, because a teen might then simply go to his friend's house to play, where the friend's parents may or may not have the expertise to do schedule-based or any other blocking either and the parent ends up with even less control than he had when the teen was at least at home where the parent could carry on a conversation with him. Lots to think about, eh?
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"This thread is indirectly related to LPC because it asks for solutions to real problems that parents have and may not be able to solve with LPC alone."
Not only not alone. There is no and there should not be any technology which should replace parental measures. Education must never become a technical task...
This is also what you mention in your further explanation."do you know of any better routers than the R6100 made by NetGear or others that would be best for parents of teens to do time-based scheduling..."
I believe the Netgear routers are all similar regarding time scheduling. Look around at their product pages.
"...and solve the issue of factory default reset buttons?"
Is there an issue? I don't know any. If you reset a router to its factory defaults, it usually will lose also the credentials needed for internet access, so internet access is gone. I live in a European country, and it may be different in your country or with your ISP however. So it's not an issue with the router, but with your ISP allowing internet access even with a router reset to factory defaults.
"Or maybe you have a good suggestion about how to provide physical security around a router in a home environment?"
Well, all routers which are flashed with alternative firmware like Tomato, OpenWRT, DD-WRT, etc. are deemed to be most flexible with their configuration and most secure.
See an example here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Access_Restrictions
No need to mention that these firmwares are also ideal to configure OpenDNS on them, including DDNS updates.Further, the router's admin interface should be protected with a strong password, and the router could be locked away, so that no physical access is possible.
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Clearing up eveything people have said here. First of all, keep him OUT of the router. Excellent password protectection will be a good start. Second, secure his computer settings via administrator protection. Prevent him from changing settings. Plenty of websites will tell you how. You didnt say what router you had but if it has the ability block his mac address on wifi and allow only wired access for him. Most blanket block an individual mac address on both lan and wifi though. Or remove wifi ability on his computer and make it that he needs a lan cable to connect where you can see him! MONITOR whats being used and when on your router. Most half decent routers can display this info and you can use it to keep an eye on his computer usage statistics (or opendns stats as well). If he finds another workaround (like spoofing his mac address) lock up his computer when he's not using it for schoolwork openly where you can see it. Doesnt matter if its a desktop. Get him to move it out where he's visible when he's using it. If he finds another workaround after that, smash his computer (or at least threaten to). Sorry if i sound serious but I had the same problem big time. A kid too smart for his own boots. I got to, and am still at, him using the computer where we can see it being used and blocking entirely all his hardware after 8pm via router parental controls. (Asus ac68u) Now i monitor nearly every day just to be sure. All good for the last 12 months or so. Sorry mate but kids, and in your case, kid brothers are sent to test our patience. Shouldn't your parents really be taking point on controlling him?
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