Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Computing/2006 October 1

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[edit] setting limits on family computer

I just bought a new family computer and need help on setting limits on the kids user accounts.

the goal is to not let the kids download harmful programs or get access to porn sites.

how do I do this?

I was sucessful at setting up an administrator and guest account but cant find how to restrict the guest accounts authority to download or go anywhere the web leads.

oed

Dear Oxford English Dictionary,
Maybe you could teach and trust your kids not to be susceptable to downloading harmful programs? In this time period, odds are, your kids know a lot more about the computer than you. For internet pornography, if you have got boys, they are going to see/read/watch porn and you aren't going to stop them. Girls? If it is not a very sheltered environment, they are just as interested. The best thing you can do is just physically keep an eye on their computer use, but usually the girls aren't as computer-spiffy as the guys. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)08:48, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I don't agree with that advice. The amount of responsibility given kids should be age-appropriate. So, you shouldn't give a 10 year old total access to using a computer any more than you should give them access to guns, drugs, and alcohol. StuRat 11:26, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Some ISPs, like AOL, provide a suite of controls to set the limits on kids usage. The best advice, though, is to keep the computer in a common area, not the kid's room. Some computers can also be turned off with a key, giving you control of when they use it. If yours doesn't have this feature, take some vital component (like the keyboard) away and lock it up when you are gone. StuRat 11:26, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

The only way you'll keep them from installing malware is to not let them install anything at all. That or use linux. Also I highly advise you not to filter internet access. It's (in most cases) easy to bypass, it's inconvenient and annoying, and it often results in frustrating false alarms. --frothT C 16:35, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree that I would not want my kids to download spyware, its just such a hassle to deal with, not to mention the fact that it can facilitate Identity Theft. Use Firefox, or Opera_(Internet_suite) and that will help quite a bit. A better solution that doesn't involve software is to teach kids some internet basics. AI STRONGLY disagree with the idea of getting filtering software for your kids. Any kid can just use a CGI-proxy that will bypass most filters, or various other methods. Keep the computer in a public place in your house and talk to them about internet usage. Better than being an internet fascist. If the idea of your kids having unrestricted access to the worlds knowledge is too much for you: Just google around for software such as Net Nanny. --AmitDeshwar 23:46, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
  • Run a virtualisation system like VMware or Microsoft Virtual PC, and only let the kids use the virtualised systems. Every so often delete their VM and copy a new one for them. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:59, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
For avoiding malware, use a good browser (suggestions above) and make sure you have a running and up-to-date firewall and antivirus software running. For internet filtering your best bet is some commercial software (such as AmitDeshwar's suggestion). Ask your ISP, they often provide a filtering service (often for an additional fee), similar to one that large corporations use who want to restrict their employees' internet access. However, all filters can be bypassed, so note that there is no 100% foolproof technical solution. As others have noted, the only 'real' way is through education, talking with your kids, putting the computer in a public place and so on. Good luck! — QuantumEleven 13:07, 2 October 2006 (UTC)


Thank you all for your suggestions. Taking some of the advise, I had a talk with the middle boy and he showed me that I could set parental limits through the Norton software. I guess I'm over parenting.

OED

Another suggestion:
Sit down with your kids and give them some Internet safety tips:
  • Don't ever give out their address online. At most give the name of the nearest major city.
  • Don't ever give out their last name online. First name is OK, unless they happen to have a unique first name.
  • Don't give out credit card info online.
  • Don't give out birthdates online. Astrological sign is OK.
  • Don't give out age online. This is a tough one, as kids will want to know each other's ages.
  • Don't give out passwords online.
  • Official looking emails that ask for personal info are called "phishing" and are a scam. If they get anything like that they should contact you.
  • No downloading without your permission.
StuRat 23:32, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
The name goes too far.. I've mostly used my name as my username (not to mention my email address) since I started using the internet in elementary school. It just doesn't pose a legitimate risk. --frothT C 17:16, 8 October 2006 (UTC)


Haven't you ever been to www.zabasearch.com? In most cases, all you need is someone's name to get their address...

[edit] Shutdown command

How does the computer hardware(motherboard)distinguish between restart and shutdown command?

Please don't ask your question more than once. What you are probably trying to ask is "how does the computer hardware differenciate between a restart and a shutdown command, and how does a computer turn itself back on when it is told to restart". If you had asked the question clearly in the first place, you might have been able to get a better answer.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  09:19, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

How does the computer know to turn itself back on during a restart? --frothT C 16:55, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmmmm... That is a good question. I will work on finding that out! --Zach 00:10, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

When you reboot, it doesn't turn off. It just goes back to the BIOS bootup sequence. That is why it is sometimes necessary to shut down (completely), wait, and then turn the computer back on. --Kainaw (talk) 17:00, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missing posts

Has anyone else noticed posts going missing on these pages? Like you click on an item in your watch list by UserXXXX, and it aint there? Im posting this msg on all ref desks.--Light current 11:28, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

One way this can happen is if somebody deletes a section while you are viewing the page. Then, when you go to read the last section, say section 99, the software says "what are you talking about, there isn't any section 99, here's a blank section instead". (I hope you enjoyed my anthropomorphitization.) StuRat 12:06, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Now restored. See Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk#Archive_dump. --hydnjo talk 14:13, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ping

Hi,

I was just wondering when I connect to an online game server, which is best. A high, or low ping value? Sorry i dont understand too much about computers, and knowing what is right might help me from lagging a bit.

Thanks for your time, Chris

A ping value represents how long it takes for a signal to get from your computer to the destination computer. So the lower the value, the less time it took for the signal, and the less lag you'll experience. --Maelwys 13:40, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Also you'll get different ping ranges for different games based on the efficiency of the protocol. For example, I rarely get pings of under 80ms in Halo, but my ping is regularly 4 or 5ms in counter-strike source --frothT C 16:33, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Umm... First of all, "Ping" really refers to a user tool to generate ICMP packets, not a protocol in itself. The term has gained common parlance as a method of determining the amount of time it takes for a TCP/IP packet to get from your computer to another computer on the Internet because Ping is the command that you execute from a command line to make your Operating System specifically send these packets to a target host. Ping uses its own special packets, ICMP Echo Request and ICMP Echo Reply to determine the amount of time it takes to send packets to a remote host. Since ICMP is its own protocol, it is completley independent of what other services the target host is running. So the "efficiency" of another protocol, counter-strike vs. Halo, for example, has nothing to do with "ping times." In fact, if you were to install the Halo server program on the same host that is running the counter-strike server software, the ping times would be identical. Livitup 03:48, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Obscure Ancient Viking Computer Game Nostalgia

This recent BBC Viking Quest edutainment web game is, I believe, inspired by a 1980s edutainment computer game (possibly for the BBC Micro or similar machine found in 1980s UK primary schools) about Vikings raiding the British Isles. If you did really well at raiding English/Scottish monastries and sailing back to Scandanavia, you could get a Norse saga written about you. I remember wanting to play it at school when I was like 8 or whatever but some other kids kept hogging it and when they were done, I didn't know how to load it. It looked and played much better than the current BBC web version from my recollections. Does anyone know what the name of 1980s game is? Or even if its available online today? thanks!!!! Bwithh 14:04, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

There was an adventure game called "Viking Quest" for the Apple II, though I never played it so can't say more than that. However, if you saw it at school in the UK then it's much more likely to have been for the Beeb. One possibility might be "The Saga of Erik the Viking", which according to The House of Games (who give it an awful review!) was released for BBC, Spectrum and Commodore machines, though it was more pure game than edutainment. In terms of where BBC games might be available these days, your best bet is probably Stairway to Hell. Loganberry (Talk) 13:27, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks very much for the links. The game I remember was a text-based viking raid simulation game (e.g. how many warriors do you recruit for the raid, which route do you take across the north sea, which monastry do you want to rape and pillage etc.) rather than an adventure game like the Apple II game and Erik game you mention. I'll check out the stairway to hell site... Bwithh 14:33, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Embedding Flash movies and players like YouTube

Is there any easy way to create a Flash-emedded movie-with-player the way that clips on YouTube are embedded? I like the simplicity and relative reliability of the YouTube method (clinking to streaming WMV or MOV files often produces awful studdering effects depending on the setup of the home computer; the YouTube players are quick and have never given me trouble) but I'm not sure how to go about quickly doing that. This is a one-time operation so a quick hack or an inelegant solution is just fine. --Fastfission 16:00, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

If it's just a one time operation, and you don't mind if the video you're using is seen by anyone else, you can actually use the YouTube player and imbed it into an HTML page.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  16:03, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I'd rather not host the video on YouTube, if that is what you are suggesting. --Fastfission 00:12, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
If you import a video into Flash (not flash player) there will be a wizard that lets you choose options like streaming or download-at-once, what you want the play controls to look like, what kind of compression you want, where you want to store the flv file and the flv player swf, etc. But you do need flash --frothT C 16:25, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
I'll give it a shot. I have Flash 2004 but I haven't used it much. --Fastfission 00:12, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Free Office

Are there any MS-Office type programs (i.e. Word, excel and PowerPoint) that are free and 100% compatible with MS- Office.

Even MS-Office isn't 100% compatible with MS-Office (inter version compatibility isn't so hot). Try OpenOffice.org. Middenface 23:27, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
You can get Microsoft Office Viewers, which let you view MS PowerPoint, Word, and Excel docs for free. You can download it from here: Word 2003 Viewer
Excel 2003 Viewer
PowerPoint 2003 Viewer

These viewers allow you to view and print documents of the respective file types, but you cannot edit them. Hope this helps! Keesh001 16:15, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Have a look at Open Office[1]: this will open and save files in MS-Office formats and works quite similarily too.--Bjwebb (talk) 15:26, 15 October 2006 (UTC)