Windows 7: how to stop parent control being bypassed?

norris1 · 01 Mar 2014

I have an old Dell XPS430 desktop running Windows 7 and my teenage son uses to play online games. Lately, I notice that he's been doing it excessively, sometimes staying up well past midnight which caused him missing school lesssons in the morning. To limite his time on the computer, I set up 'parent control' which restricts him to use the computer on certain hours. However, I found that he somehow still managed to bypass the parent control. He could access the computer in the hours which were supposedly to disallow him to login.

Can someone please tell me how this could happen and how do I stop this?

Regards,

Ian

Lady Fitzgerald · 01 Mar 2014

Either the kid is a born hacker or you used a weak password. If changing the password doesn't work, tell him either he quits hacking the TV or you will get rid of the computer (and do so if he does it again; you can always hide it at a friend's house).

fghssc · 01 Mar 2014

This fall under parents discipline. If he keep bypassing it, at least he learning computers better than other children is. So just keep trying to make it harder each time, perhaps he get a hobby or education from it.

Other than that there is little you can do beside supervision, taking it away or lock down everything; making it so he can only use Notepad.exe for writing his 'homework'.

scr · 01 Mar 2014

If the computer is in his bedroom move it to a open visible area where you can see it.

norris1 · 01 Mar 2014

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, my son doesn't live with me. He lives with his mom and we are separated. That's why I am looking for a technical way to restrict his computer use.

Golden · 01 Mar 2014

You need to ensure that his user account has no administrative privileges - and that the administrator account/s have strong secure passwords. You may have to edit these accounts to achieve that.

Use this guide to help you:
Parental Controls - Setup and Use

scr · 01 Mar 2014

norris1 said:

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, my son doesn't live with me. He lives with his mom and we are separated. That's why I am looking for a technical way to restrict his computer use.

I didn't know the circumstances and suggested the brute force approach rather then technical as it worked for my son when dealing with a similar issue with his child. Good luck

Lady Fitzgerald · 01 Mar 2014

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Either the kid is a born hacker or you used a weak password. If changing the password doesn't work, tell him either he quits hacking the TV or you will get rid of the computer (and do so if he does it again; you can always hide it at a friend's house).

Since the kid is living with his mother, you will need to enlist her aid/cooperation with this (assuming that is possible).

Jacee · 02 Mar 2014

You may have to pay for a program .... Parental Time Control Software Review 2014 - TopTenREVIEWS

Time Control Effectiveness
To test the time control effectiveness, we set up several test accounts then rebooted our computer. We attempted to use the computer during restricted times and were blocked successfully. We then logged in as the administrator and changed some of the settings, and found that these adjusted restrictions were also upheld accurately.
"But wait a minute," you say "my kid is too smart to be blocked by parental control software." KidsWatch is well aware of technically savvy kids. To prevent little geniuses from tampering with your settings, the product lets you block access to the Control Panel tools such as Add and Remove Programs or the Taskbar and Start Menu options. You can also place the Command Prompt off limits. And you can block access to the Run command. You can even block a child from loading a disk that might have software that changes settings on the computer

Lady Fitzgerald · 02 Mar 2014

Jacee said:

You may have to pay for a program .... Parental Time Control Software Review 2014 - TopTenREVIEWS

Time Control Effectiveness
To test the time control effectiveness, we set up several test accounts then rebooted our computer. We attempted to use the computer during restricted times and were blocked successfully. We then logged in as the administrator and changed some of the settings, and found that these adjusted restrictions were also upheld accurately.
"But wait a minute," you say "my kid is too smart to be blocked by parental control software." KidsWatch is well aware of technically savvy kids. To prevent little geniuses from tampering with your settings, the product lets you block access to the Control Panel tools such as Add and Remove Programs or the Taskbar and Start Menu options. You can also place the Command Prompt off limits. And you can block access to the Run command. You can even block a child from loading a disk that might have software that changes settings on the computer

Although I feel the kid should learn the consequences of breaking rules, in the OP's case, that may be his only option.