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Signs of Trouble
The second step is to take a hard look at your current situation. Are there signs of trouble?
There are two steps you need to do, however the order of the steps is debatable. It will likely depend on your family relationship and/or your existing level of knowledge regarding computers. These steps do not need to be done in this order (Perhaps have the Teen do them in your presence):
Go to the computer your child/teen uses check the following:
- View the Surfing History - Open Internet Explorer or any other web browser (Opera, Mozilla FireFox). Most will have a down arrow to the right of the address box. Click on it. It will show the web sites that have been typed into the address box.
You can also delete the contents of the address bar and start typing a letter or offensive word. If that computer ever visited a site with that word in it, is will appear
below. You can scroll down and see what
is there.
What if the history is blank? Then you have one of three possibilities.
1. Your teen is practicing safe surfing by deleting the history files. They should be deleted at least 6 times per year. They can get rather large and bloated taking up valuable space.
2. You have already installed privacy software that automatically deletes the history. Your history can be accessed and the information harvested for unscrupulous marketers.
3. Your teen is hiding something.
Unless you have option one or two active, there should be SOMETHING in the history folders.
- Do a picture search – On most Windows computers you can:
Click the Start button >> then click on Search or Find >> Select search pictures.
Read your choices carefully. Select ALL hard drives. In the box where it asks for search words, type *.jpg and the computer will start displaying every image with a ending “.jpg”. If it does not show the thumbnails (small pictures of the picture),
you may be able to select it from the View menu
(Select View >> Thumbnails). Scroll through the pictures to see if any are offensive.
If the thumbnail option is not available, then just look at the picture titles. Click on any that sound suspicious. You may get a warning, say OK.
- Do a word search – Follow the same procedure above, but enter an offensive word. Scroll through the results and see if there are any offensive files.
- Do a Registry Search – Only choose this option of you have serious suspicions or want to be completely sure your computer is very clean. If you do not know how to do this, call someone who does.
The Windows Registry is a giant database file that tells your computer what and where everything is. This article will not tell you how access the Registry. Should you perform a search and accidentally or purposely delete anything
in the Registry can cause a major failure
in your Windows software.
The advantage to doing this kind of search is that the vast majority of the people out there have no clue (including the teens) that the registry is there recording where you go. They do not think to clean the registry of incriminating information. All the other steps above can be doctored by the very savvy surfer. The registry is often overlooked.
Talk with your Children. Notice the word “with”. You should have a conversation, not a lecture.
- Ask your child/teen if they have gone to any dangerous sites. Such sites would include adult entertainment, occult, hacker/cracker, gambling, hate, drug related, or foreign sites (Some content filters miss foreign language sites. Pictures say a thousand words)
- Ask your teen to show you their e-mail. Check the deleted folder.
- Ask your teen to show you how the instant messaging works and where the chat rooms are. Go to one of the public chat rooms. This will show you (and them) how to get to them. It will also show you how objectionable it is. It will show your teen you intend to monitor them.
This does not necessarily apply to private chat sessions between known friends. You need to be invited to a private chat session, so
strangers will not randomly enter like a public
chat area. However, the public chat rooms may be linked to in the chat window.
- Watch your child/teen’s body language. Listen to their answers. Do they seem nervous or hesitant to answer? Do they verbally attack or lash out? Do they have poor explanations for anything you found?
- Make a covenant or agreement with your Child/Teen. The agreement should include (but not limited to):
- Never give out any personal information such as your real name, parents name, address, home/work/cell phone numbers, school name/location.
- Agree to tell your parents if you find yourself in a situation that is uncomfortable. Especially accidental access to adult and other sites. Often time’s Adult sites take over innocent sounding web addresses.
- Never agree to meet in real life someone met on line without the permission and presence your parents. A true friend will not mind and a child predator will not show up.
- Never send your picture to anyone without your parent’s permission.
- Do not respond to any messages or solicitations that make you uncomfortable.
- Agree to Internet surfing times and duration. The Internet can be very addictive. Make sure balance is maintained between the Internet and other activities.
- Know your teen’s passwords to e-mail and instant messenger programs.
- Do not download anything advertised as free, cute or your computer has been compromised. These offers usually have Spyware or viruses attached.
With a little time and effort you can determine whether there is any concern for your child well being. The biggest deterrent to your child doing something dangerous is for them to know you are watching.
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