scjayounger wrote:As far as filters go, I've had pretty good luck with K9 (bluecoat), but although it works for me, it has some quirks that some people find irritating.
It would be really good if you can give us some examples so the rest of us can cater for that too when advicing people?
scjayounger wrote: If you have a problem in your home, and it just isn't practical (really?) to supervise, install a filter, restructure your bios so it doesn't boot to CD, and review your logs.
In families with several children requiring a computer to do their homework and church assignments as well as having some fun it is not always practical with just one PC in a main room where others are too (to allow for supervision) so that is where logs and filters come in to help a great deal as PC's are likely to be in bedrooms.
Good point about not allowing boot to CD which also brings up the point of passwording the bios.
If you have the ability of logs on your router then you could also save much of the above hassle by using another service like OpenDNS.com instead of installing the filter on the PC directly.
This has previous been discussed in the forum and anybody who havent seen that discussion might find it useful. You can find it HERE. One point I made here was to also beware of virtual images.
scjayounger wrote: I'm not speaking at the fireside, but I think a collaborative effort at putting together an educational piece is a great idea. A little "groupthink" is a good way to catch the flaws in a plan.
Maybe you can ask the person at the fireside for any slides or material they have prepared and share it with us. Having two firesides in a month must obviously have created a great deal of preparation work and no doubt more people could benefit from it.
scjayounger wrote: And while my first visit is free - my second is not.
- Stephen
I dont think I could get myself to charge members in need like that but I do think individuals must do their own work (based on the advice given) after visit no 1 as we dont all have unlimited time to give.
In similar situations I have found tools like logmein.com and mikogo.com to be invaluable to me as I help other people with their PC's. First one is great for regular login to same place and the other is great for the one off situations as well as other things.
I think it is important for us to remember that others will not have the knowledge and experience we have about computers and so these situations are great opportunities for us to share and help them which is why threads like this are great.