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Get Parental Control off my PC

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I use MS Office 2007 on XP, with IE 8.

Following a recent “update” I now find that I have a Nanny sitting on my PC that refuses to allow me access to certain websites – not all of them “naughty” – it even blocked me downloading an update of Adobe Reader, so I can’t even access my PDF files.

I looked around for some help; went into IE Internet Options, opened Content Advisor and had to fill out a password to enable me to set all the sliders to “push off, Nanny” – with no effect at all.

I emailed Microsoft, and actually got a response. However, they said, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, then click on Parental Control. I could do the first two, but the third doesn’t appear as an option. I emailed them to tell them this, and their response is to tell me to post a question in the Microsoft Answers Forum – they obviously find my question too difficult for their tiny little minds.

Just to set the record straight: I’m 60 years old, there are no children in my life, much less on my PC – I think I’m old enough to be able to decide for myself where I want to go and what I want to see (that’s what the little x in the top forner is for) and I strongly object to being controlled by *someone else’s* idea of what I may or may not be allowed to do!

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Clarifications

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Clarifications

Request for Clarification

In reply to Clarifications

Thanks, Peeps. I did try going in as Administrator (the only way I know how to do that is to restart in Safe Mode) and set all “permission” bars to the rdightmost edge, “unrestricted”. No go. I tried disengaging the function. No go.

I’ve just been in as Administrator and tried both options again. Zilch. Came back in as me and still zilch.

Gjot a couple of pages up when I went for one site: first one said s”problem with site’s security certificates” – I clicked “go ahead” anyway,. and got another which said: “blocked on this network, see your Network Administrator”

I AM my network administrarot, wtf is happening? or not happening?

Thinking of chucking IE altogether and trying another browser.

What would people suggest as an alternative?

couple of points: I’m severely visually impaired, and have the screen resolution set at its lowest, and still need font 24 – Firefox uses the default font setting, which is annoying, as the box overflows the screen and there’s not scroll bar to get at it – also, when I do click on one of the menus I can see, all I get is the first two or three letters of the first word, which is very helpful!

Is there a way to adjust Firefox’s font size (that I can get at with half the box offscreen)? there’s no point me changing the resolution to get all the box onscreen as I then won’t be able to read anything!

Request for Clarification

In reply to Clarifications

9th March update: I found a “contact us” on the OpenDNS site, and used it. Apparently I hadn’t registered a network, though I had: but I hadn’t downloaded and installed the Windows software that was on the same page.

Done that. Apparently things are working ok now: I can get to Fetlife, and I ddeliberately did’nt put it in “never block”. I’ve been trying to find the tattoo site that it previously blocked because of “sexuality”, but I’ve been to several other sites with no problems.

Since then, when I open the PC, I get an OpenDNS box asking do I want to update or … I usually x it off; I don’t want to get into this any deeper than I have to to regain control of my PC.

So it seems that the problem is solved (she said with her fingers crossed!). But I’ll keep this page in my favourites in case of future glitches.

I’d like to thank everyone for their time and patience – you’re brilliant, all of you!

Are you logged in as an administrator?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Or as a lesser privileged user? You’ll need to login as a system admin to change
Parental Control from Control Panel/Add-Remove.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Are you logged in as an administrator?

I can’t find Parental Control anywhere on my Control Panel! the MS email said got to Control Panel, User Accounts, then Parental Control, but it’s not there either.

wish i cuold post some screenshots!

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Are you logged in as an administrator?

PS even as Adminstrator, no Parental Control option anywhere

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Are you logged in as an administrator?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080730062736AAHIIe0

but I didn’t send you…

So did you try turning Content Adviser off?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

I know that I don’t have it enabled on this system and simply do not have an issue with it at all but as stated above you need to be logged in as the Administrator to make changes.

However as you are a Youngster I can fully understand why it is required to control what it is you attempt to do. After all you may try using products not supplied by Microsoft and that just wouldn’t be [b]Cricket[/b] would it? :^0

Col

Reponse To Answer

In reply to So did you try turning Content Adviser off?

not so much cricket, more b***s to Microsoft!

Considering another browser; aslo cosnidering trying OpenOffice rather than MS Office .

90% of my PC time is spent in writing, and in MS I can add my own toolbar and menus and have stacks of keyboard shortcuts – not sure if I could do that in OO

And is also reason why I’m still on Office 2003 – tried Office 2007 for about two days, most of which was spent trying to customise the display, which I can do in Control Panel with XP

And that damn “ribbon” in Word! took up third of my screen, glaring colour did my eyes in, and I still couldnt’ find ANY of the options I most use.

shee, are people getting so stupid that they can’t click on “view toolbar” and pick the one they want??

Might go the whole hog and give up Windows as well! but not sure how my visually-impaired software would operate with Linux.

Damn Microsoft – take your money then spit in your face

Reponse To Answer

In reply to So did you try turning Content Adviser off?

When I go into Internet Options, Content Advisor, it says “enable”, which I take to mean that it’s currently disabled. Just went in to check, it still says same, but still blocks .

Reponse To Answer

In reply to So did you try turning Content Adviser off?

Well then try this.

In IE left click on Tools and from the Drop Down List highlight Smart Screen Filter. A Sub Menu appears and you need to left click on Turn Off Smart Screen Filter and follow the prompts.

I seem to remember Smart Screen Filter was a Add On to IE a while ago so it may have been a update to that recently which is what your problem currently is. I don’t think it’s in any way related to Parental Controls but I could be wrong.

Col 😉

Reponse To Answer

In reply to So did you try turning Content Adviser off?

I went to Smart Screen Filter as you said, but the sub-menu says “turn on SmartScreen Filter” which seems to suggest that it’s not on at the moment.

XP homeless is it?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

there is no “run as administrator” in XP homeless and stand alone or workgroup XP-Pro systems doesn’t require it if the user is in the administrators group

in XP homeless you can access “The Default Administrator” account only in safe mode
other users in the administrators group still don’t have full access to do administrative tasks
eg. security tab on NTFS files / folders properties dialog only appears in “The Administrator” account in safe mode

here’s a thought:

some malware infections set these types of restrictions
including but not limited to:
– parental controls
– disabling windows update
– blocking access to certain anti-virus / anti-malware etc. sites
– blocking downloads
– etc.

make sure your system is 100% clean

Reponse To Answer

In reply to XP homeless is it?

I have XP Pro, and am the only user. I went into Safe, then Control Panel, Administration – couldn’t see anything that I recognised as being relevant, and didn’t want to fiddle aimlessly, in case I couldn’t undo it!

Just tried it again, as me: found Amin Tools, under Securtiy Settings there’s Policies for: Accounts, Local, Public Key, Software Restriction and IP Security on Local Computers, but when I clidk on each, none has anything that I can see might be relevant

The Internet Options Content Advisor says “enable”, which i take to mean that it’s not currently set, but it’s still blocking.

Specific message

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Could you possibly intentionally visit a naughty site and let us know the specific message you are receiving? It could be something simple such as your router being set to use a service such as open dns. I’ve seen these on a couple of occasions where others have added the ‘public ip’ to their open dns account and blocked inappropriate content. They then loose the ip address at the end of its lease, it gets re-assigned to the ip pool and is assigned to someone else later on but open dns still enforces the parental controls as it is still attached to someone elses account.
This of course may not be the scenario at all but a specific error message would help us here to help you.
Rgds,

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Specific message

Sorry, this is going to be a long answer, but has to be to get all the data in.

I have been trying to visit a specific

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Specific message

As a faint chance, I tried “Contact your network administraror”, filled in name, email and message, cliked Send and got “error sending message” – maybe it knows it’s daft to send an email to myself asking why I’m blocking access to my chosen website!
maybe someone else cold follow that link and “contact network administrator” see if I get an email!

Have you tried disabling Content Advisor?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

While logged in as Administrator, open Control Panel, then Internet Options. Click on
the Content tab at top, then click the Disable button under Content Advisor.
Rather than highlight each little area of “concern” and move the slider.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Have you tried disabling Content Advisor?

it IS off, apparently – the tab says “enable” which seems to suggest that it’s not currently abled (if that’s a word) still blocks

Just in case you don’t notice this one above Frani

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Then try this.

In IE left click on Tools and from the Drop Down List highlight Smart Screen Filter. A Sub Menu appears and you need to left click on Turn Off Smart Screen Filter and follow the prompts.

I seem to remember Smart Screen Filter was a Add On to IE a while ago so it may have been a update to that recently which is what your problem currently is. I don’t think it’s in any way related to Parental Controls but I could be wrong.

Col 😉

IE security issue

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Go to the IE Security settings and add the site to your trusted sites in the security tab. If that doesn’t work turn Content Advisor off in the content tab.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to IE security issue

I had thought of doing that, but I really object to having to go ever-so-‘umbly to beg Nanny’s gracious permission to do as I damn well please in my own time on my own PC in my own home!

Besdies, I’d have to do that with every site it blocks – and it even stopped me going to an Adobe page to download Adobe Reader, so I can’t access my PDF files.

There’s no knowing what Nanny will object to, so the best thing would be to get the old b*tch out complteely

As I suspected, OpenDNS

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

If you look at the bottom of the blocked-website.com you’ll see that it is one of their pages.
There are a few of routes you can take from here.
Method A would be to create your own openDNS account and attach your public IP to it and turn off filtering. You can do this by visiting their site https://www.opendns.com/home-solutions/parental-controls/ and signing up for the opendns home (not the vip) option.
I guess you’ll automatically then be signed in (I signed up many years ago). Click Dashboard (near the top) and then settings. You should be able to add your public IP as one of YOUR networks (your IP will be shown at the very top of the page, white text on grey background).
You can then choose your network in the “settings for” dropdown. Here you can choose your level of filtering including an option for ‘None’. Once this is set it’ll take effect on all of their servers in less than 10 minutes.
You’ll need to clear your dns cache as the computer remembers where to send traffic destined for a specific domain name. This is easier to do than it sounds, just type “ipconfig /flushdns”, without the quotation marks, into either the run box (win key + R) or command prompt.
Method B: Ask google “what is my IP address”. Just below the search box it’ll tell you “your public ip address is …..”. Write down the IP address. Switch off your router for at least half an hour, or better still before you go to bed. Hopefully it’ll drop your current IP address and pick up a different one once switched back on. Ask google what your IP address is again and hopefully it’ll have changed. If it has your problem should have gone away, if it hasn’t, you’ll have to use a different method.
Plan C, Part 1: Here goes. This will involve getting rid of open DNS. The setting could be in one of a couple of places. If it is in your Windows configuration you can sort of follow the instructions on this website. http://itservices.stanford.edu/service/ess/pc/docs/ethernet/wxp/dns . If it is configured here, when you get to step 6 you’ll see 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 entered as the DNS IPs. If they aren’t there, don’t bother going any further, If they are, change the settings to “obtain dns settings automatically” or enter the IPs of another service (google dns 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). You don’t need to go any further than step 6 on that page.
Plan C, Part 2: If nothing so far has worked, we’re down to configuring the router. This is where my instructions will get really patchy as this will vary between manufacturers and models. Typically you can get to the router settings by typing 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 into your browser. If these fail type “ipconfig” into the command line and look for the numbers next to default gateway. This will be the IP you need to type into the browser.
Hunt around for the DNS settings and change them to the google ones (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4). You may need to do some research on your model of router for the default passwords etc.

Good luck & please do let us know how you get on.
G

Reponse To Answer

In reply to As I suspected, OpenDNS

I’ll give it a go and report back, thanks so much!!

Reponse To Answer

In reply to As I suspected, OpenDNS

Way-hay!!!
I used your Method A – I signed up for the DNS and made it “no filters” – just to make sure, I also aded “never block” the fetlife website.

Took a while to set, as you said; when I put IE back on, checked the settings, then went to Google to find the website – it still came up “fetlife (remove)” which made me groan, but I got in!

I’d like to thank everyone for their time and trouble, wich I could give everyone a gold star – but this is the answer that solved the prob (she said with her fingers crossed!)

Reponse To Answer

In reply to As I suspected, OpenDNS

I tried to “Select as Answer” but apparently “The user must be the same as the user that asked the question!” – thought I was the same person, still logged in as me, so wtf???

Reponse To Answer

In reply to As I suspected, OpenDNS

Damn! Nanny’s still lurking: trjied to go to an tattoo site, but “blocked on thiis netwrok”. Reason? “sexuality” – for porn I could understand,but for tattoos???? I am NOT going to fill in “never block” for every damn site that Nanny doesn’t approve of!

I’ll have to try the other methods you mention and see if they might work

You just need to click down the circled options in this image

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

from top to bottom.
http://postimage.org/image/eaqdm7za9/

Reponse To Answer

In reply to You just need to click down the circled options in this image

I have – several times – i named the network, clciked “none” and “apply” – it says it’ll take three minutes for the settings to apply. So far it’s taken over an hour and nothing’s getting through

Curious

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

I am more curious on how OpenDNS got there in the first place if you did not set it? Are you trying to view these sites in your home? Or is this an office setting (I would assume no, but just asking). Do you have an idea of who set these settings?

If you (or anybody else) did not set these settings on your system, than most likely you are set to DHCP, which means your router is forwarding to OpenDNS.

Either way i see you seem to have it working but I would have liked to see more information on how this came about?

You also keep mentioning “Nanny”, isnt there some software out there (NetNanny) or something like that? Do you have anything like that in add/remove programs?

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Curious

It’s a home PC and I’m the only one using it.

I had to get XP reinstalled a little while ago: also had to reset IE, which is when I presume Nanny crept in.

I’ve signed up for the DNS and it let me into Fetlife, but maybe only because I set it as “never block”. but it blocked me going to a tattoo design site because of “sexuality”!!!

I emailed DNS and they said i hadn’t registered a domain. I had, but I hadn’t isntalled the software that was on teh same page – didn’t ant MORE Nanny! did it today, registered a doman “GetNannyOffMyPC” and set controls to “none”. didn’t add anything to “never block” becuase the settings shouldn’t need htat.

Still can’t get into Fetlife. I don’t want to “never block” because I’d have to give every website that I want to visit, and I deeplly resent having to ask Nanny for permission to have a life.

I’m not using anytihng officially called “Nanny” – but DMS is acting like a Nanny, and a really uptight one!

Resetting Your Internet IP Address

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

A previous response included [i]”…. Switch off your router for at least half an hour, or better still before you go to bed. Hopefully it’ll drop your current IP address and pick up a different one once switched back on. ….”[/i]

In my experience with three different cable-broadband ISPs, powering-off the [i]router[/i] does not cause the ISP’s DHCP server to assign a different Internet IP address. Power-off the “broadband modem” instead, [i]i.e.[/i], the device to which the coaxial cable is connected from the service outlet (usually in a wall), and leave it off for about 5 minutes. (If it doesn’t have an on/off button, just unplug it from the electrical outlet to which it is connected.) In order to regain connectivity, probably you must power-off the router, too, then turn it on again after you restore power to the “broadband modem”.

Note: there is no guarantee that the DHCP server will assign a different IP address, insofar as it might “randomly” assign the one that your device had previously. IP addresses are typically chosen from a pool of pre-assigned addresses for the cable “node” from which service is provided. Usually the node is shared among 16 – 32 subscribers, so the node’s pool has 16 – 32 IP addresses allocated to it. In effect, the DHCP server sees the “broadband modem” as the device to which the Internet IP address is assigned.

Try removing your network in OpenDNS?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

You could try to remove your network in OpenDNS. After deleting, you will need to wait some time for the information to propagate (a few hours at the most). Then re-add your network and try to set up again. You may also need to do some basic cache flushing in your browser (removing temp internet files, cookies, etc) as well as flushing your local DNS cache.

If you are familiar enough with yout tcpip configurations on your system, you could simply change the DNS to static 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 are googles public DNS.

What was the reason you signed up for OpenDNS? It is really a great service, but looks like its a configuration issue?

I suppose I overlooked the fact that

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

it could be the opendns family shield DNS IPs that are set (208.67.220.123 & 208.67.222.123) in which case making changes in the opendns dashboard will not make much difference.
I suspect that Franl has picked up a second hand ADSL modem or wireless router which have had these settings added by a previous owner.
Franl, I’m more than happy to remote into your PC over the weekend and try and resolve this for you. If you want me to do this just click on my userid at the bottom of this post and click follow. I can then privately send you my email addy.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to I suppose I overlooked the fact that

yah I was thinking that. When you say family shield DNS, is there specific DNS that filter by default (IE porn, malware etc…) without an account? If so that makes sense that this is what he has set up. I would love to use this on computers my kids access.

I have only used OpenDNS in a way that you had to reply to the email from within the IP you are registering (I use all static). Its either at the modem level or at the local nic level. I would doubt there is some kind of proxy.

Franl, if this is a standard router you are going through (Linksys, Netgear, Belkin……etc…) you can look up your router model number and try the “reset to factory defaults” option. Usually a recessed button on the back of your router. If you need help with this just post back here router name and model and we can help.

Is it your ISP?

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

My ISP has available parental controls settings, that I have had to turn off because they wouldn’t let me access a winery. That is Talktalk, in the UK.

Regards,

PM

Reponse To Answer

In reply to Is it your ISP?

I have o2 (it was the only isp on the comparison site to have 100% reviews right across the board, even though there were only two of them). To prove I was right: I went for the second-cheapest package; after a while they contancted me, they’d checked and my exchange wasn’t giving the service they expected, so did I want to drop down to the cheaper package? First time I’ve ever heard of a company offering to give up money!

parental control

In reply to Get Parental Control off my PC

Create a new user account that is an administrator account. Administrators have no parental controls. Don’t create the new user in the control panel; instead, use the Management Console
Use the following steps:
1. on your desktop,right click my computer, and from the drop down menu, choose Manage. This opens the management console (Computer Management)
2. In Computer Management , open Local users and groups
3. Click on the Users folder in the right pane; you’ll see the users currently on the computer
4. Right Click your username and click properties
5. In Properties, open the Member Of tab
6. If you are listed as User as well as administrator, click Users (or any other accounts besides administrator), then click the remove button. If you are listed as Administrator only, then you’re done. Click Apply then Close.
7. If you are not listed as Administrator, or if this didn’t work, you need to create a new administrator account, click the Action Menu, with no user highlighted, and click New User .
8. Name the new user: administrator2, skip the full name and description, and created & confirm a password; use your regular password
9. It’ll create a regular user, not an administrator.
10. Uncheck the User must change password on next login and check password never expires.
11. Click Create, then click Close to stop adding users
12. Now right click on that administrator2 account you created, click properties, go the the Member Of tab, click on User and click Remove
13. Click the Add button and type: Administrators. Click Apply then Close.
14. Log off, then Log on as the new administrator. Use this account from now on.
15. This is a new account, so you’ll have to do things like right click on the taskbar and unlock it, right click on your internet explorer bar and unlock that, set your new wallpaper up, etc etc.

The biggest pain for most people at this point is that all their favorites are gone and their documents folder is empty, but you can go to Users on your C Drive using your new administrator account, open your old account, open the favorites folder, select them all by keying Ctrl+A, then drag them to your Favorites folder in the administrator2 account (So you have to ha ve both accounts “Open” so you can see all the folders in the Naviagsation (left) pane. You can do this with your Documents too: go to the Documents folder in Users, do Ctrl+A, and drag them all to your documents folder in your administrator2 account. Presto.
Too Geeky? Too much trouble? Lost?
Download Firefox or Safari. Safari’s better in my opinion because it’ll safely and securely remember all your passwords and you don’t have to jump through that hoop of fire every time a password window comes up–especially nice feature if you use outlook or hot mail or windows live.

Reponse To Answer

In reply to parental control

I have a separeate “favourties” folder on an external drive, and I copy and paste all the links from the C drive “favorites” to it – I;d be swamped else, with a couple of zillion items. I can put them on a USB and load them to my Admin account.

And I don’t use “My Documents” on C except as a temporary storage space for pictures – I don’t trust the C drive, it’s dropped files before, so now everything is on external hard drives apart from Program Files.

And I don’t use a password to get on to the PC – there’s only me using it, so no point. As it’s a desktop, and not a new one at that, shouldn’t think any burglar would look twice at it!

I’ll copy and paste your advice into a Wprd document, then I’ll be able to enlarge the text, make it easir to read (if not to immediately understnad for an idiot!) Thanks

[Author]

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