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General discussion

are there softwares out there that prevents file downloads?

Jun 13, 2005 3:20PM PDT

i have a 9 year old son using our home pc, and i am wondering if there are software/s out there for windows that can prevent my son from downloading any programs from the net to the harddrive? sort of a lock feature that will not download any files to the harddrive. any help/links would be greatly appreciated. im using windows98se and i would prefer shareware/freeware. thank you very much.

Discussion is locked

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9 year olds
Jun 13, 2005 3:31PM PDT

need to be watched carefully while on the net, no matter what you use. Try a google search. there are lots of programs.

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thanks will try it
Jun 13, 2005 9:11PM PDT

thanks for your concern. ive been trying to search for it in google but i was hoping you guys would help me out in finding the best software for it. thanks

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I don't know if this is specific to IE
Jun 13, 2005 7:38PM PDT

and any version windows or just exclusive to XP...but look in Internet Options/Security then click Custom Level and scroll down to File Downloads. There are check boxes to disable it there.......for free.

TONI

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thanks for the info
Jun 13, 2005 9:13PM PDT

your suggestion is very helpful. i just hope my kid does not find a way to enable downloads (he is way smarter than me when it comes to computers). thanks

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preventing changes to 'security' settings
Jun 14, 2005 8:14AM PDT

You can take off the ''security'' tab from the ''internet properties''. If you are interested post it here again, and i let you know how.

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im interested
Jun 14, 2005 12:18PM PDT

thanks for your support. i am interested in your suggestion. pls tell me how. thank you

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Word of caution
Jun 14, 2005 8:44PM PDT

Since you are going to be disabling the ability to download, keep track of any changes you make so you can 'undo' them temporarily once in a while in order to get to the Windows Update Center and keep that system up to date with patches, etc. If there are spyware and antivirus programs installed, those normally try to update themselves on a regular basis, too, so make sure you look in their configuration areas to see if you can schedule them for certain times and dates for those updates, and when you do the Windows Update Center thing, do those other updates manually if necessary during the same time period in order to keep things up to date and protected.

TONI

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Also....
Jun 14, 2005 8:48PM PDT

If AIM or MS Messenger or something similar for live-chats is installed, go into those configurations as well to block file sharing as disabling file downloads won't affect those programs and he can still pull in files from other sources. He might figure that change out pretty quickly though and just turn it back on. Those programs use a peer to peer file sharing ability and I don't believe that the normal windows file download ability/inability affects them.

TONI

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thanks for the tip!!!
Jun 14, 2005 11:46PM PDT

i disabled downloads in ie but my anti-virus software still updates regularly as well as my anti-spy software (im glad it does). now i got to look at my ms messenger configuration. thanks for the tip!

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how do we take off the security tab in ie?
Jun 14, 2005 11:47PM PDT

need your help pls. thanks