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General discussion

getting rid of porn

Nov 22, 2003 12:11AM PST

my teenage son put porn on my computer, is there any free way to make sure it`s gone

Discussion is locked

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Re:getting rid of porn
Nov 22, 2003 2:00AM PST

There are so many varieties of things people can put on a computer and so many places to do so that, in general, it's nearly impossible to say that there isn't anything left.

It can be pictures or movies, of course (cleaning the Temporary Internet files might help to remove them), or the Internet history or the recent document list (both can be cleaned also). You would have to search his documents for things looking like porn (files like teenage_girl.jpg), buf if he's smart he has renamed them to something like "exam.xls", or "school.doc" or "britney.mp3", and you'll never find them. And don't forget to check his favorites in IE. Although porn is so easy to find on the Internet that you really don't need your favorites. For the sake of research I searched for f**k on google, giving 55 million hits, and "porn" gives twice as much. Most of that pages you wouldn't find suitable for your son, I think.

You might feel inclined to research into the possibilities of 'parental control' software, especially if your son is in the lower range of teenage years.


Kees

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Browser hijacking, popups and more.
Nov 22, 2003 3:16AM PST
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Re:Browser hijacking, popups and more.
Nov 22, 2003 9:41PM PST

Porn (contents) and parasites (programs) that may have come with it are different things, although some of the parasites might be linked to unwanted content. Some of those porn sites, especially if they invite you to install an exe-file, are rather persistent.

Luckily, the programs can be automatically checked. It would be interesting to hear the symptoms Connie has. Some lost picture in some folder isn't quite as serious as some of the parasites.

Kees

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Re:getting rid of porn
Nov 22, 2003 5:11AM PST

Ahh yes, the teenage years, all those hormones, all that hair that was still on my head.

Is there something that makes you suspect that a piece of this stuff is still on the machine?

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Re:Re:getting rid of porn
Nov 22, 2003 10:12PM PST

Hormones or no hormones, hair or no hair, porn on Internet isn't meant for the too young (the law here in Holland says 18+). It easily gives them a distorted view of the reality of the relationships between men and women. You and I might know it's mostly phantasy and a way of making money, a first time user might think it's the normal way of doing.

So there is every reason for precaution, in my opinion.

Kees

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Re:Re:Re:getting rid of porn
Nov 22, 2003 11:24PM PST

Kees,

I agree with what your saying but I doubt that porn is going to go away. (too much demand+too much money)

I was simply asking if the user was seeing something that might be a "clue" that a piece of this stuff was still on the machine.

If there is a clue then it might make it easier to rid the machine of such.