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Need Some Help!

G

ghm007_2000

n00b
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Messages
47
Hey guys,

before I ask what it I need help in, I figure I should give you all a little background... so bear with me.

We have DSL, and I've split the connection between my laptop, and my parent's desktop with a router. Now, the problem is my sister. She has been downloading a LOT of junk (essentially, porn porn and more porn) which also comes with a LOT of viruses (I've got norton and everything running, but to no avail... she downloads and just runs the "installer" and the hard drive is, within minutes, dead). Now, I HAVE talked to her about this, but she's nothing but a brat, and the more I fix the comp, the worse SHE gets. She leaves the downloaded porn on the desktop, etc... my parents get pissed and they take it out on ME (because apparently I'm the computer guy, and I should be watching what she does, etc etc). Today, it's been the 6th time I'm reformatting (the poor hard drive...) this MONTH, and frankly, I'm getting REAL tired.

So, my plea to you is this: Help me teach her a lesson. What I would like to know is how can I slow her internet connection down to a crawl when it comes to downloading stuff? Because all my parents do is word processing/web surfing, and that can be accomplished with the minimal amount of kbps. I need to be able to disable some ports, but how do I do it? It can't be a program that I can just left-click and turn off (because that's probably what she would do if she saw something running in the taskbar). How can I just disable some ports on her comp? Please keep in mind that I dont' have advanced networking/programming skills... step by step instructions would be VERY welcome!

Don't get me wrong...I've tried to be understanding... but this has just gotten too far.

Thank you all in advance.

- ghm007
 
What OS is this. If it is XP then she should not have administrative access. Your not going to be able to block the ports she uses to download stuff from websites unless you intend to restrict her browsing completely. Which frankly isn't a bad idea. I would say your parents need to simply restrict her access completely. If this is 2kPro or XP then setup a standard User account for her. You can import her profile setting and data to make it an easier transition. You can then restrict data via NTFS permissions but as only a user she shouldn't be able to install software or make system changes.
 
From experience, this isn't a technical issue, it's an administrative one. No, she shouldn't have administrative rights (revoke her user down to just 'User' status). But your parents need to understand that this isn't something you can control, it's something she needs to stop on her own.

There's any number of ways to approach this, and you know your parents best. Things like not having the time to babysit your sister /and/ do schoolwork might work.
 
Well yeah, you can control it. Can't control her will I suppose but you can control her PC usage and what she is allowed to do. The question is, do you want to manage that problem? Frankly if it were my daughter and this problem was a legitimate one, not made up, she wouldn't have internet access unless she could manage it herself. Clearly she cannot.
 
Depending on the P2P program she is using to download will depend on if you can block the ports. Some p2p run on 80, so if you block that, she won't be able to browse the web.

Find out what program she is using to DL, find what ports it uses, then block the port from your firewall.
 
Many P2P apps hop ports. Getting into that game is really just a waste of time. You'd be better off to rate-limit a port (which may be beyond the knowledge of the OP) than to outright block it.

Is it something you can control? Well, to a certain extent, yes. You /can/ limit her rights on the computer. You /can/ install a content filtering proxy. You /can/ set disk quotas and such. But there's almost always going to be a way around whatever limits you put in -- she might find out your parents' logins, or find a way around the proxy. Again, this isn't a game you want to get involved in: technical one-upmanship is never fun and always frustrating.

It's much easier to make sure your parents actually understand the problem. If they don't, the solution can be as simple as: fine, she gets no computer access. That's the easiest way to manage it.
 
bleb said:
Many P2P apps hop ports. Getting into that game is really just a waste of time. You'd be better off to rate-limit a port (which may be beyond the knowledge of the OP) than to outright block it.

Is it something you can control? Well, to a certain extent, yes. You /can/ limit her rights on the computer. You /can/ install a content filtering proxy. You /can/ set disk quotas and such. But there's almost always going to be a way around whatever limits you put in -- she might find out your parents' logins, or find a way around the proxy. Again, this isn't a game you want to get involved in: technical one-upmanship is never fun and always frustrating.

It's much easier to make sure your parents actually understand the problem. If they don't, the solution can be as simple as: fine, she gets no computer access. That's the easiest way to manage it.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I can't believe your parents would stand for their daugher downloading pr0n. I'd just cut her off completely and force your parents to be parents.
 
Wow... thank you guys SO much for the quick replies!! I really appreciate your concern!

Yes, I would LOVE to just cut her off (would serve her right and probably be the fix)... but I'm afraid it gets a bit more complicated than that. She's the youngest, and my parents having a more traditional Asian background tend to be a LOT more favorable to her actions (youngest gets the most leeway blah blah blah... "She's the youngest... she'll grow out of it" etc...) Hopefully that paints a good picture of the dynamics between my parents and her. Because I'm the oldest, I am responsible for what happens to HER. Now I know, this is pretty irrational with regards to my parents, and I definitely do not agree with the way they're handling the situation, but seriously: EVERY TIME I try to remedy this, it comes down to ME. So my rationale is: if it IS ultimately my responsibility, and me trying to shut down her internet makes her hide behind my parents while they shout at me for not letting her surf the net, THEREFORE I need to figure out a way other than pulling out the heatsink and let the processor die slowly...

Sorry for the long explanation, but that's what the situation is at the moment; I mulled over the whole set her up as a user-only account with no administrator rights, but that would only lead to more screaming and me eventually giving back the admin rights to her. Yeah, I know, it's stupid. So that's why I thought if I can somehow slow the downlink into her comp to a crawl, it might get her SO frustrated that she would stop. I seriously dont' want to play this kind of a game with her (it can only get ME more frustrated IF she figures it out, and then I have to find something else...), but this is the only venue I forsee that can be somewhat effective.

It's an AMD athlon 1800+ with Xp Pro installed (sorry... I should have given the specs earlier)... How can I set up a data quota, or a proxy? The data quota might be more effective, because she generally uses P2P clients such as Limewire, Ares, and bit-torrent...

Thanks again for your help with this!! Feels great knowing someone else understands!!

- ghm007
 
To set up a quota or proxy, just check Google. But beware, if she has administrative rights, she can easily just un-do her quota, or turn off the proxy.

It sounds to me like the problem is nigh impossible to solve. You have Action A, which is a problem for you. To fix this problem, you have to make modifications so that Action A can no longer be performed in the same manner. But if any modifications are made that inhibits your sister from performing Action A, you get into trouble.

This is a screwed if you do, screwed if you don't type situation. I would honestly start by setting a quota and revoke her to User access, and go from there. When your parents complain, say that it's the only way to curb the behaviour without affecting everyone else on the computer (which is, for the most part, true). If they demand you give her access back, you'll have to work from there.

There is only one free content-filtering proxy that I'm aware of (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), and I'm pretty sure it runs on Unix-ish systems only. (This might be a good time for you to pick up Linux/BSD, anyhow, as it would give you the ability to do any number of things that might help in this case) Setting that up will affect everyone on the computer, period.

I'd honestly shoot for the ultimatum. Either revoke all access, keep her at User level, or give her complete unfettered access to whatever she wants, but tell your parents that you're not responsible for that computer.

One angle we're not looking at is talking to your sister. I'm sure she knows you're the one getting into trouble, and is partially doing it for that reason. If going through your parents doesn't work, try killing the problem at the source. Start replacing her porn with really disgusting things (!!!!!!, anyone?), etc. -- just make her want to /not/ do it anymore.

I'll restate what I said before: this is an education issue. Your parents want you to fix something that you cannot fix. Until they understand that, you're completely SOL.
 
Well, I can think of sort of a workaround for this. Get your parents to get her a computer of her own. Something older and slower would be ok. Then put linux on it. I am not a huge proponet of linux yet, as I have only been using it briefly, but most of the shit that she is downloading probably wouldn't infect linux. Setting up a linux desktop anymore is really easy, especially with certain distro's. I recently installed fedora core 3 on my 2nd machine, and it was as simple or even more so than XP, especially considering you can have it install most of the apps you may want during the install process.
She can then surf porn to her hearts content, and shouldnt be able to do much damage to the system.
 
Next time it happens, tell your parents that you can't fix it...whatever she did killed it. You need to buy a new one. Once dollars are on the line, watch how quickly tolerance runs out.
 
But if she complains that she can't run programs that she downloads, that might cause problems. Only the OP can comment on this, but it sounds like having her run Linux isn't going to cut it for longer than a few days, until she discovers that she can't do what she wants to do.
 
Yeah... I've tried talking to her, but to no avail. She just screams, whines, bitches... just won't listen. She's developed this mentality that she is always right, and even when proven wrong, she's right. Can't wait till she's out in the real world!!

I never thought of trying Linux... I think I'll hold on to that plan, cause for now, I've set her up as a user with minimal rights (can't install, etc...) and hope it'll work with minimum fallout (she's already screaming about how she now has to log in with a password... geez...)

Anyway... thanks, you guys! I hope this works!!

- ghm007

edit: Darkstar, I'm 20. And yes, I am moving out soon... hopefully, if all goes by plan, near mid-spring semester...
 
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