Oh yes, I'm wigged the hell out

[fredericks]

My two youngest brothers are at that age where puberty has taken full hold. And sex is on the forefront of their minds. How do I know this? because, Lord knows, my brothers don't talk to *me* about that stuff? Web browser address bar. I don't think those kids realize that any page they enter in is *saved*. And...it's wigging the hell out of me. And fucking up my computer (not that I get much time on it, anyway *snort*).

Whatever the hell they're downloading (and then deleting; they're not the sharpest crayons in the box) is clogging the thing that makes my PC go, well, "go". IE has this annoying pop-up maker embedded in it now that goes into affect intermittently, and the pop-ups have no border, so they're impossible to "x" away; you have to refresh the page to make them disappear. Ad-aware has yet to do anything about that fun piece of work, although it has caught oodles and oodles of other nasty bugs in my registry lately.

I mention the out there-ness of the page names I'm finding in the browsers and the constant need to clean out my system to the oldest brother (because he, at least, would have enough common sense to cover his tracks and not download anything) and he goes "Yeah, you should see some of the freaky stuff they look at". And I just gape at him. "Wait...you *see* them doing this and do nothing??" Lots of stammering from his side of the room.

I mean, I'm not going to say what they're doing is wrong. When I was their age I spent a good amount of time sneaking down to my folk's illegal box and watching soft porn when they weren't looking. It's a curiousity thing. As natural as, well, something natural. But the stuff you can find on Skinemax Cinemax and...whatever the hell the name of that other channel was, doesn't compare to the cornucopia of perversion available to them on the web. And so I find myself possibly having to invest in some Nanny webware, because if my folks knew that they were viewing they'd freak out (yeah, the parental units are completely computer naive), *and*, worst of all, I'm going to have to formally sit them down and talk to them about what's out there on the web.

Heh. Most of my annoyance stems from the fact that they're using *my* computer and messing it up royally. I now know why they needed me to pull out my PC in the first place - they fucked theirs up by doing the same thing they're doing now. And the fact that I have to talk to them at all. I think, when I was around their age and we finally had web access, I never really thought about the online porn angle. I think it was the Catholic guilt acting up. That and the fact that we had dial-up at the time, d/ling took forever and a half, and you paid AOL per the hour. The modern generation and the Internet. It's having all sorts of effects on them that could not possibly have been forseen. Makes me want to write another paper on the subject.

Comments

[enigmaticjess.livejournal.com]

Don't say a word ot them. Just set up user accounts, then give their account NO access to anything. They'll get the hint.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Well, I would. But my PC's running ME, not XP.

And I just feel wrong about blocking all access. *sigh* I'm trying to think of them as functioning adults and I keep forgetting that they're kids. And in a different place than I was when I was their age. Or not. I'm trying to figure out what I would do in their place, if I had the resources. Probably about the same.

No access it is.

[enigmaticjess.livejournal.com]

Here's me bein' Kinney like. Its not a matter of whether they're adults or not. It boils down to respect. Its YOUR PC. YOURS. If they don't have the respect enough to NOT do stupid shit on there, then they suffer the consequences, which is that they don't get to use it at all. And the in this day and age stuff doesn't matter, either. If they wanna fuck off and screw up your system, then they should have to suffer the consequences of finding the shit through alternate methods., Make them hunt for it, like we all did. Make them have to keep playboys under their beds and live in fear that Mother is going to find it.

Oh, and I'm so shutting up right now. I'm still lvid at my sister. SO I'm projecting a bit, sorry.

Read your post

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

And I would have responded, except I make it a habit not to reply to self-proclaimed rants unless the writer explicitly asks (venting being close to my own heart). I do feel for you, though. I'll shoot an e-mail your way when I get in later.

And, on your comments - they make total sense. I'm planning on upgrading to XP Home and then restricting them. And then I'm going to tell them not to use Kazaa to d/l anything. And that I *know* what they're d/ling. Without being specific. Put the fear of Kinney God in them. *grin*

Your icon fit very well, btw. lol

[aniseastra.livejournal.com]

Mmm...I'd sit them down in front of the computer and show them how to clear your browser's web cache and history, without saying anything about why you're showing them this. They should be able to take the hint, and this way, you're not forbidding them anything.

[gorzo.livejournal.com]

It's kinda late, so please overlook my lack of fancy HTML formatting.

First of all, go to www.grisoft.com and download the Free edition of AVG Anti-Virus.

Next, go to http://www.safer-networking.org/ and get Spybot S&D. It'll kill most spyware, adware, malware, and whatthehellelseeverware on your system, and shield it against future "installations." I use it and Ad-Aware in tandem, and they complement each other well.

Finally, consider switching to a third-party browser like Firefox www.mozilla.org that is less likely to be targeted by the crapware.

The user account idea that Witchylass had is a good one- they have their own PC, and they killed it. They don't have the right to fuck yours too (pun possibly intended- I've not yet decided). I seem to remember seeing somewhere a program that would let you add 2k/xp type user accounts of win 98/me- I'll see if I can find it. (upon further review, what Witchylass said.)

Finally, try Shareaza (www.shareaza.com) instead of Kazaa- it has no adware, less virii, and is more stable.

And for God's sake, don't let them discover newsgroups.