BleepingComputer.com: Yahoo Im

Hey guys, I just had a small question that I am curious about. Last night I walked in on my soon to be step son sitting at the computer chatting on yahoo instant messenger. I kind of peeked over his shoulder and saw what was being typed to him. When he went to bed I got on and checked his logs and, wow, I just. . . wow. I was wondering if there were some kind of programs or tools or something that I could do to block yahoo instant messenger on my home pc but still allow him to get on the internet and check his stuff and what not? As of right now he has lost his privledge to get on Yahoo, but everyone knows how kids are. As soon as his mom and I are gone and he gets home from school he will be right back on it. I need something that is an insurance policy to ensure that he doesn't get back on for a while because he really needs to cool his jets.

Thanks!

Well, I know the feeling! Assuming that you are on Windows XP, I'd reccomend setting up 2 different accounts, and password protecting yours. Make your account the "Administrative" account, and have his be the "restricted" account, but no password. When his account is restricted, Windows will allow him to download anything he wants, but won't let him install it, telling him that he needs to be logged in as on an administrative account to be able to install anything. You might have to uninstall the Yahoo messanger first...there's no point in restricting an account so he can't install and use something if it's already there.

All of this can be done through the control panel, and is extremely simple to do so. Just start with "user accounts" and click "create account". There's a box "restricted" or maybe it's "limited" account, check that one for his account. Click done. Now, click on your account (the one with administrative permissions), and click (I believe it's) change password or password protect. Choose a password that he won't guess, something alpha numeric and random, like 6E56E&Wfm& for example (no, that's not a password to anything I have either, just a random example). NOTE that passwords are case sensitive, so remember it. Now, click "change how users log on", and ensure that the box is checked that requires a login at startup, this will prevent him from getting on your account easily by just restarting the computer.

Hope all this helps