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User profile for user: Tim Kern
Tim Kern Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Looking for parental control software for Snow Leopard Mac

Greetings,


Until now I have never needed parental controls on the family's Mac. Our family Mac is parked in the living room and I can watch as my children use it.


Recently, my daughter has been spending alot of time with a game application (Minecraft). I looked at the built-in controls, and they will work, but I'd like controls that have greater flexibility.


Is there software out there that I can purchase/download that allows me finer control than the built in Mac OS Parental Controls?


Specifically, I'd like to allow access to certain programs, but on a timed basis. Ideally, the software could be configured to allow a certain amount of game time on a specific application, then gracefully "save and quit", with no loss of game data. Additionally, it would be ideal if the access could be configured in such a way that after a set amount of time the (game) application could be accessed again. (For example, allowing 1 hour of game time for every 24 hour time period.)


I would like this to operate independent to the built in "Parental Controls" if possible.


Does anyone have any suggestions?


Thank you,


T. Kern

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Jan 16, 2013 12:12 PM

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User profile for user: sanjampet
sanjampet
User level: Level 5
7,982 points

Posted on Jan 16, 2013 1:18 PM

Go to systems preferences>accounts, click the + key and add a new account for your daughter. The page will come up for you to create your daughters acct. create the acct. as a standard acct. She can have her own password(make sure it is not the admin password) Click enable parental controls. click open parental controls. Once in parental controls you can click on the different tabs to set up her acct. What sites she can't go to http://xxxxxxxxxx.com under web., what Apps she has access to, time limits and times she be on line. SHe will need to have admin password to change anything. Feel free to contact me with any questions, as I went thru this with my son, who now has limited access to certain site, apps,times...etc. Also be sure to set safari as not available that way she has to ask you to put in the admin pwsd for access. Then be sure to lock her acct, this way she needs to ask for access for site, times, apps, contacts. While you are in parental controls, look around at each tab so you know what controls what. Kids are fun, huh? But we had a serious problem with our son, who developed an internet addiction, and developed relationships with some BAD predators. Fortunatly I know a little about computers, and was able to detect this and contact te FBI/Police. So having dealt with this, my wife and I have a REAL understanding of it, and wish this upon no parent...it put us thru 6 months of ****. If I can help, I will be more than happy to help someone have to go thru what we did. All the best.


This was done on 10.6.8, we also have Lion 10.7.5. so we can also help in this OSX. You should update to 10.7.5 as it is more secure.


Peace


http://support.apple.com/kb/VI28


Sorry, I should have included this link.

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User profile for user: sanjampet
sanjampet
User level: Level 5
7,982 points

Jan 16, 2013 1:18 PM in response to Tim Kern

Go to systems preferences>accounts, click the + key and add a new account for your daughter. The page will come up for you to create your daughters acct. create the acct. as a standard acct. She can have her own password(make sure it is not the admin password) Click enable parental controls. click open parental controls. Once in parental controls you can click on the different tabs to set up her acct. What sites she can't go to http://xxxxxxxxxx.com under web., what Apps she has access to, time limits and times she be on line. SHe will need to have admin password to change anything. Feel free to contact me with any questions, as I went thru this with my son, who now has limited access to certain site, apps,times...etc. Also be sure to set safari as not available that way she has to ask you to put in the admin pwsd for access. Then be sure to lock her acct, this way she needs to ask for access for site, times, apps, contacts. While you are in parental controls, look around at each tab so you know what controls what. Kids are fun, huh? But we had a serious problem with our son, who developed an internet addiction, and developed relationships with some BAD predators. Fortunatly I know a little about computers, and was able to detect this and contact te FBI/Police. So having dealt with this, my wife and I have a REAL understanding of it, and wish this upon no parent...it put us thru 6 months of ****. If I can help, I will be more than happy to help someone have to go thru what we did. All the best.


This was done on 10.6.8, we also have Lion 10.7.5. so we can also help in this OSX. You should update to 10.7.5 as it is more secure.


Peace


http://support.apple.com/kb/VI28


Sorry, I should have included this link.

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User profile for user: Tim Kern
Tim Kern Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Jan 16, 2013 2:05 PM in response to sanjampet

Thank you Sanjampet,


I will review the settings I have now enabled in Parental Controls. I am sorry to hear of your troubles, far more serious than mine.


I would update to Lion (for that computer) if I could, but it is an older Mac mini and I don't think the installed RAM will be enough (but I'll check to make sure).


Interesting you used the word "addiction", because that is exactly what it appears to be with my daughter's use of Minecraft (we actually call it "Mindcrack" because she spends so much time at it.)


I was unable to find any way to set a "time clock" for the program's use, only a temporary 1 time suspension of the locked use ot the application. Is there a way to do that that I am missing?


To give you a little notion of my concern...

I found that this game, Minecraft, is a multi user online game. (No problem there, but a little concerning.) The user has a choice to direct the application to go to a number of different server hosts each host is essentially a different "world". She went to one host that was multinational in nature.


The day after she did this I noticed unusual activity on my router/firewall logs. There were a number of DoS attacks and the times the first attack started coincided with when she was using this server. Well, I locked down the IP addresses and services immediatly, then continued to monitor the router. (I also told her to not go to that server again, and explained the problem. She complied.) Over the course of a few days the DoS attacksdiminished. Since then I have had few attacks, but am systematically locking down ports and services.


Thank you for your help. If you ever do hear of any additional products for parental control, please feel free to mention it in the community forums.


Tim Kern

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User profile for user: sanjampet
sanjampet
User level: Level 5
7,982 points

Jan 16, 2013 2:54 PM in response to Tim Kern

Tim, I will be more than willing to help if needed, it seems you have you now have a handle on this. I am glad for you. The word I used was "addiction" was a different word for predator, which pose as children and try to "groomed" for is the worst for child abuse. I am glad to make you aware of this insidious behavior, as it is becoming more insidious. PLEASE keep an eye on your daughter, as this is a more problematic thing than the news will ever let you know. I did a ISP chase for the Police and the FBI. as they don't have the resources for this. They wanted to know how I tracked these criminals down, all I told them is because I know how to use ISP/finger/find/whois/whereis/and a few other things. If you have any of these problems, feel free contacy me , and I will be more than willing to help these peopl who don't know how to use computers help catch these criminals. The "sox puppets" are in their 40's-60's....SICK! I'm glad I could help you. ATB

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User profile for user: Timmy tree
Timmy tree
User level: Level 1
13 points

Oct 10, 2014 1:08 AM in response to Tim Kern

Hi, Tim, I have the same problem with you now. I think it's difficult for me to teach my teens how to use the computer. My son spends so much time on his Mac and sometimes he didn't let us know what he did. I really feel tired about this. The built-in parental control on Mac doesn't work well. My friends recommend me use Aobo Keylogger for Mac to watch what he is doing online, yes, it works well, but it can't block the behaviors online, I'm still seeking some software that can really both monitor and control.

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Looking for parental control software for Snow Leopard Mac

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