araym

Q: Parental Controls bug in Mountain Lion 10.8.2

For years I've used Parental Controls, not to restrict my daughter's web content, but to limit her time on the computer.  But tonight I upgraded Mountain Lion from 10.8.1 to 10.8.2 and something broke.

 

Suddenly every secure web page she tries to access (to include google, gmail, amazon, etc.) fails.  It says "Parental controls restricts access to secure websites".

 

A little hunting around turned up the following Apple Knowledge Base article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2900 that says "https note: For websites that use SSL encryption (the URL will usually begin with https), the Internet content filter is unable to examine the encrypted content of the page. For this reason, encrypted websites must be explicitly allowed using the Always Allow list. Encrypted websites that are not on the Always Allow list will be blocked by the automatic Internet content filter."

 

I understand that logic however that should NOT apply to me since I'm not trying to automatically restrict her adult web content or create allowed/blocked site lists, etc.  She has *unrestricted* web site access, so the Internet content filter shouldn't even be in play here.

 

Just to get this up and running, I did type the Admin account and password in at the prompt to let her gain access to the web pages.  However that did not work.  Even though it said it would now allow access - it did not.

 

I also tried going into Parental Controls, turning ON web site filtering, going into Custom, and adding in approved secure web sites (google, etc.)  Even *that* did not work.

 

Everything was great until 10.8.2 came along but now her account is for all intents and purposes unusable.

 

Help?  And thanks.

MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iPod touch 2nd gen 16GB, iPad 1st gen 3G 16GB

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 11:37 PM

Close

Q: Parental Controls bug in Mountain Lion 10.8.2

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 8 of 13 last Next
  • by Giovanna F.,

    Giovanna F. Giovanna F. Sep 29, 2012 6:43 AM in response to angus_stirling
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2012 6:43 AM in response to angus_stirling

    Did you tried accessing google (takes a while, as you have to do it one letter at a time, clicking ok on the warning window after each letter) from your child's web browser? If you can manage to do that, you can then add google to his/her favourites bar. He/she can then access google from the toolbar and then, from google, all other websites. Time limits thus remain. Far from ideal but as a temporary fix... worked on my daughter's MacBook anyway (for now, at least)

  • by Omniver,

    Omniver Omniver Sep 29, 2012 6:52 AM in response to angus_stirling
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 29, 2012 6:52 AM in response to angus_stirling

    Please everyone, if you are experiencing this issue, the absolute minimum you should do is provide feedback to Apple, the more who report the more likely this will get resolved quicker. 

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

     

    Even better would be to provide feedback and call support and get this logged as a case. 

     

    I teach free classes to parents who want to understand parental controls, Apple's has never been great - but it's been 'good enough' for a lot of people and I know first hand it has been the deciding factor for many in buying Macs. 

     

    Apple, if you do read this, please know that this not fixing this will cost you sales.  I have no idea how this got out of QA in such a broken state.  If you don't want to hire someone to test it, I'm sure there are many of us out here who depend on this working properly to assist in testing for you if asked.

  • by eHealth,

    eHealth eHealth Sep 29, 2012 10:09 AM in response to Omniver
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2012 10:09 AM in response to Omniver

    I am so glad I found this thread, it's been driving me up the wall. I could not work out what I was doing wrong. This is an appalling bug for Apple and I'm really disappointed. This bug makes parental controls meaningless. I've provided feedback as suggested above.

  • by Király,

    Király Király Sep 29, 2012 5:15 PM in response to araym
    Level 6 (9,824 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2012 5:15 PM in response to araym

    I'm having the exact same problem. But I've been running 10.8.2 for a long time, and this just started for me today. I found out that if I disable parental controls it works fine, but as soon as I re-enable it, problem returns, even though I have Allow unrestricted access to websites selected. Most annoying.

     

    Am disabling parental controls completely for now. Will use the oven timer to keep track of the kids' computer time.

     

    I will be filing a bug report at http://bugreport.apple.com. I encourage all of you to do the same. Reports filed there will receive a tracking number that you can followup on, unlike reports filed at the Feedback page, that just disappear into the ether.

  • by Király,

    Király Király Sep 29, 2012 5:17 PM in response to cinehaus
    Level 6 (9,824 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2012 5:17 PM in response to cinehaus

    cinehaus wrote:

    Only solution was to give our hotel guests full access to the computer. We hate that! All that damage that can be done. They could wipe everythings, install nasty stuff, change preferences and other settings ...

    MUCH more dangerous than a few SSL sites could ever be.

    cinehaus,

     

    Just give them a non-admin account to use, without parental controls enabled. There's nothing a non-admin user can do to screw up the computer. All he can do is screw up his own user account. If that happens it just takes a few seconds to delete the account and make a new one.

  • by W.J. Britt,

    W.J. Britt W.J. Britt Sep 30, 2012 6:17 AM in response to araym
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2012 6:17 AM in response to araym

    Haveing so many problems with the parental controls for the account I set up for my daughter that I'm going to have to turn them off entirely. Please fix this Apple! I was excited to learn about the new features only to be disappointed when I tried to use them.

  • by sarahandjames,

    sarahandjames sarahandjames Oct 1, 2012 5:45 AM in response to araym
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2012 5:45 AM in response to araym

    I went to the Apple Store three weeks ago with this problem (enabling parental controls on ML 10.8 to limit time on computer - with no other restictions on web access -  blocks YouTube, Yahoo, Tumblr....and seemingly any other websites my teenagers use daily).  I spent an hour with one of their staff.  They had no idea this was a problem. I went back a week later and they told me they were "elevating" the issue by raising it with the engineers.  That was over two weeks ago! 

     

    This is a MAJOR PROBLEM - and it can't be that hard to fix! 

     

    Does anyone at Apple have children????  I bought two MacBook Pros on September 1st and now I'm seriously thinking about returning them! 

  • by Weborican,

    Weborican Weborican Oct 1, 2012 6:35 AM in response to sarahandjames
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 1, 2012 6:35 AM in response to sarahandjames

    There is no fix for this under 10.8.2, so I would stop trying at this point.

     

    The solution is to simply re-install 10.8.1, which for me meant installing 10.8 and running the 10.8.1 updater. Once you are on 10.8.1 do not update until after 10.8.3 comes out and we are sure this problem has been fixed.

  • by kathyfrompinewood,

    kathyfrompinewood kathyfrompinewood Oct 1, 2012 9:10 PM in response to araym
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2012 9:10 PM in response to araym

    I have turned off Parental Controls for all users AND **** down Safari and Firefox and those blasted messages STILL keep popping up! All I had open on my laptop was Keynote and still had those annoying pop-ups...even after restarting! I finally gave up and shut my laptop down. This should not be such a tough fix...we seem to get updates often enough for odd other things...hopefully this one will come soon.

     

    Is there any other possible workaround to get rid of the pop-ups. It is like they are on a LOOP.

     

    Argghhh...I have a trip coming up and need my laptop to be workable...

  • by Rembert Oldenboom,

    Rembert Oldenboom Rembert Oldenboom Oct 2, 2012 12:35 AM in response to kathyfrompinewood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 2, 2012 12:35 AM in response to kathyfrompinewood

    First, calm down.

     

    I've had similar problems. Then turned off PC for all users. Problems only disappeared after a full reboot. Your laptop users will then be able to install software, change settings unless you've locked all those administrative panels with the tiny lock at the bottom right.

     

    If the messages keep popping up, you will have to verify you really turned PC entirely off for the user (by clicking the icon BELOW the userlist, not in the properties). That's the only workaround I have found sofar. Haven't heared any complaints since.

     

    I'm sure Apple knows about the issue but will only acknowledge it as soon as they have a fix or a clear explanation. I think it's time for Apple to revamp the PC all together: to (optionally!) enforce it to all your Apple hardware via iCloud. It would be great if I could limit the volume on the kids iPods, could disallow them access to all Apple hardware after say 10 PM (as they now secretly watch tv on the iPod Touch while they are meant to be asleep - ah well, when we were young, we secretly read books with a small flashlite didn't we).

  • by Richard Outerbridge,

    Richard Outerbridge Richard Outerbridge Oct 2, 2012 3:04 AM in response to araym
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 3:04 AM in response to araym

    Possible work-arounds? Hey all. Take a look at this article by CNET MacFixit guru Topher Kessler,

    and let us know if any of his suggestions worked for you:

     

    < http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57523360-263/fixing-parental-controls-probl em-in-os-x-10.8.2/ >

  • by Big-Pines,

    Big-Pines Big-Pines Oct 2, 2012 5:23 AM in response to Richard Outerbridge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 5:23 AM in response to Richard Outerbridge

    I'm not sure the article is accurate. First, I tried their #3 suggestion before I restored back to 10.8.1 and it didn't work. Second, they say the problems are not universal but I have yet to hear of a single person that Parental Controls actually works for since 10.8.2. I have a new MacBook Pro coming in at work today so I may try the other two suggestions if I get the time but I am suspicious that they will atually resolve the issue. I think we are just going to have to wait for a fix.

     

    As a software engineer myself, I happen to know Apple is messing up quite a bit of stuff these days. They are getting sloppy with their testing for sure. 10.8.2 isn't their finest moment.

     

    Mike

  • by Richardi99,

    Richardi99 Richardi99 Oct 2, 2012 5:28 AM in response to Big-Pines
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 5:28 AM in response to Big-Pines

    I blew my mac away and reinstalled, creating the profiles afresh.  Enabled PC and instantly had the same issue, so agree - doesn't just affect "old" profiles.

  • by Big-Pines,

    Big-Pines Big-Pines Oct 2, 2012 5:35 AM in response to Richardi99
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 5:35 AM in response to Richardi99

    Yeah, you'd think they would actually try their own SUGGESTIONS before posting them as SOLUTIONS in an article.

     

    Mike

  • by AdeleS,

    AdeleS AdeleS Oct 2, 2012 10:37 AM in response to araym
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2012 10:37 AM in response to araym

    Just upgraded to Mountain Lion today and have this problem.  It is so annoying, I cannot do anything without these messages popping up.  The only reason I have parental controls is to stop my kids viewing my Mail account, it is the only application I have ever disallowed yet these messages are popping up all the time even when Mail is closed.

     

    I am not interested in any work arounds, this upgrade should not be behaving like this.  Please Apple, get your act together and put us out of our misery.

first Previous Page 8 of 13 last Next