Actiontec MI424 Advanced Parental Controls Loophole

There are 5 PC's on my home network. I want to block my sons PC from the internet on specific days if the week. I have tried parental controls and access controls but they do not work. This is because they block PC's based on computer name. Everytime he starts his computer he changes his computer name and gets a new IP. I have been told that you cannot block a PC based on MAC address but I think this is what I need to do. Can anyone give me instructions to configure the router to block this PC that is not based on PC name?

Go into advanced settings, IP address distribution, and at the bottom click on connections.
It should show his current PC Name, connection, IP and MAC address.
To the right side you will see a magnifier glass that shows connection informatin, a pencil, and a X.
If you click on the pencil it will open a the window below. If you select static, DHCP will always assign the same address to his PC based on the MAC address. You can select the address that you want the PC to use each time the PC boots.
Here you can also define the PC name that the router will use.
Regardless, the router should show the name of his PC. If he changes the name of his PC take administrative rights away from him.

Similar Messages

Advanced Parental Controls

Hello there!
Well, I have a bit of an odd one. Being in a school district here with macbooks in the hands of elementary schoolers, I see a lot of interesting stuff happen to computers.
Previously, when updating the machines to 10.6 I had them locked down pretty tight with parental controls. The only step further was to use the simple finder, which was too restrictive. Now going into 10.9, I want to do this right.
Sure enough, kids will change anything they can on these machines. Most of them have magnification on the dock, half of them have the dock somewhere else, all of them have a different desktop background and most of them either have huge icons or tiny icons.
Where are the settings to lock this stuff down in parental controls?
There's the "Prevent the dock from being modified" option, but why on earth does this allow the dock to be modified by moving it and enabling magnification and hiding? WHY DOES THIS SETTING NOT PREVENT THE DOCK FROM BEING CHANGED? All it does is lock the icons.
And there's no setting for locking the desktop icons!
Yes, I know about the Simple Finder. But that strips desktop and dock icons entirely! I want MY icons on the desktop, and MY icons on the dock, and I don't want those to be changeable.
Looking for 3rd party software only turns up software for blocking websites, which we have Cisco Ironports for that, it's pointless to do on a per-machine basis.
Where are the more advanced parental controls? If not that, what are the console commands for blocking the dock from being changed and the desktop icon size and locking the desktop from being edited?

Go into advanced settings, IP address distribution, and at the bottom click on connections.
It should show his current PC Name, connection, IP and MAC address.
To the right side you will see a magnifier glass that shows connection informatin, a pencil, and a X.
If you click on the pencil it will open a the window below. If you select static, DHCP will always assign the same address to his PC based on the MAC address. You can select the address that you want the PC to use each time the PC boots.
Here you can also define the PC name that the router will use.
Regardless, the router should show the name of his PC. If he changes the name of his PC take administrative rights away from him.

Actiontec MI424WR Parental Control Rule Names and Descriptions

I’ve created multiple parental control rules on my Actiontec MI424WR, entering different rule names and descriptions, but the Rule Summary displays all rule names as “Block_All” and all descriptions as “Blocking ALL Internet Access”. The rules function as expected, but it’s inconvenient that I cannot tell which is which in the summary. Is this a bug with this router?
Also, does Verizon offer a wireless-N router?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The purpose of my post is to inform you that when using Parental Controls on the Actiontec router your download speed will be cut in 1/2. You may be better off installing parental controls onto a PC/Laptop. Verizon does offer parental control software for free along with Microsoft and some others. I'm not sure if this is an option for you but something to consider.
Regards
Jim

Parental Controls Broken After Updating an Application

I'm using Parental Controls (remotely) under 10.5.4 to manage what applications can be opened in a small lab. This works well until I need to update an application on the lab computers. I'll use Firefox as an example, but this happens with all applications.
- I have a version of Firefox on all lab computers (3.0) and Firefox is allowed under parental controls. Everything works.
- I update Firefox to 3.0.1. (In this case, I simply overwrote the older version of firefox, but I get this problem when updating applications with installers.)
- If I remotely look at the Parental Controls settings for the lab computer, I can see that Firefox is still allowed (checked)
- Now, on the lab computer, I log into the managed account and try to open Firefox, I get a warning about the application not being on the allowed list.
- I log out of the lab computer, and again, access the parental controls setting remotely. Now Firefox is Not Allowed (unchecked).
- I check the box to allow Firefox
- Now when I log into the managed account, the new version of Firefox opens.
Some fixex / workarounds I have tried:
- After updating Firefox, I remotely accessed the parental controls settings and first disallowed (unchecked) Firefox, close parental controls, reopened it, and then allowed (checked) Firefox. When logged into the managed account, opening Firefox produced the not allowed error. When I return to the Parental Controls settings, Firefox is now Not Allowed (unchecked). Checking the box to allow Firefox fix the error.
- I've tried restarting after updating Firefox and it did not work.
My guess:
I assume that Leopard keeps a list of applications and versions installed on the computer. Parental Controls allows a specific combination and any update will break the parental controls. To allow this updated application to be opened, its old entry in the list must be updated to reflect the new version. The only way I have figured out how to do this, is to try and open the updated application and fail. Then I can finally allow the updated version.
Does anyone know of an automated or scritable way to do this. I have tried working with lsregister, but have not had any success. I need a way to force Leopard to reload / refresh its list of installed applications, with having a user logged into the console.
For a different solution, does if you can send a UNIX command to machine sitting on it login screen, that will cause the machine to login as a local console user. I could then send "open /path/to/updated app" and a logout to force the application list to be refreshed.
Many Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi! Did you ever receive any feedback on this issue?
I am interested since I have noticed the exact same frustration with Parental Controls since updating to 10.5.
While a very good idea, I think the parental controls, especially with respect to permissions about applications is utterly useless at the moment. It is completely stupid that I have to reset the permissions for applications each and every time I update an application. I have three children who use the computer and I don't want them using every bit of software on the eMac. They are naturally curious and will click on programs that can do damage without realizing is.
I have also turned off any parental controls regarding web browsing but my children still hit many sites that are blocked by Parental Controls. I do have a linux gateway that does the filtering quicker and better.
If anyone at Apple is listening ... please spend some time to fix this for the next update.
Thank you.

Windows Vista Parental Controls Preventing Connection to iTunes Store?

I really have two questions, one of which I think I have resolved but would like to find a more elegant way of handling. Let's tackle that first, after I provide some background.
I have been "managing" the contents of my son's iPod using my computer. Now that he has his own computer it should be up to him. I have two users established on his computer, with me as administrator. I have set up parental controls and am specifiying the websites he can access. I used an external hard drive to copy all his music files to his computer, putting them in a folder under his user name.
When he tries to play music copied from CD's or purchased from iTunes using my computer, a message pops up that says "The song <song name> could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" Absent a way to locate all such songs simultaneously, I click on the yes button and scroll through the list of songs until I find the one desired. Is there a better way, or are he and I going to have do repeat this hundreds of times? I think this needs to be resolved before he tries to sync his iPod with his computer. Correct?
The second problem crops up when he tries to purchase songs from iTunes. The error message reads "We could not complete your iTunes Store request. An unknown error occured (-9808). There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later." Apple.com is one of the sites he is allowed to visit, and there is no mention of parental controls or filtering (normally when that happens I am allowed to override with my password). Also, the computer has been authorized. Has anyone experienced anything like this or know what the workaround is? Does it have to do with parental controls, or is it something else?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Hello, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I have a few things to offer that may make things a bit easier. You mention the library or music content is on an External HD and you copied it to his PC. Is the Hard Data aka the songs themselves still on the computer in a folder?
If so. Delete the songs in iTunes, Select 1 song, then Edit Select All, and Delete from Library. Now go to iTunes - Edit - Preferences- Advanced Tab
-Put a check mark in Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized, Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to the library. Thus whenever songs get added into iTunes a hard copy will be copied into the iTunes music directory stored in
Music - iTunes - iTunes Music.
-Now exit out of Preferences, Go to File - Add Folder to Library - (assuming all the songs from the HD are in 1 massive folder) and browse for this folder. iTunes will scan it, add it into iTunes, and then copy a hard digital copy into the Music-iTunes-iTunes Music folder. You can go confirm the files are there by visiting the folder. The file size of the iTunes folder should grow as you add more and more music.
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

Saving MS Word docs with Parental Controls

I have set up an account for my kids using parental controls and have managed to add apps I needed, blocked sites, etc. My son is using MS Word for homework, but how can he save work under the kids login and I access it in the main account?
Thank you in advance.

He would need to save it into the Shared folder. On the Macintosh HD, it's under Users / Shared. All users can access this folder.
Matt

Parental controls/time restrictions on iPhone

I can safely say that my daughter's iPhone has ruined our lives. We've had it for five days. Yes, there are some built-in parental controls, but Apple has blocked anybody from offering a software program that will turn the dang thing off (I'm talking about texting and calling) at a certain time every night. I have a daughter who is addicted to her phone and the battles are humongous to get her to do anything but text.
There are plenty of good programs with good parental controls for the Android and Blackberry, but thanks Apple for not allowing us as parents to turn the phone off at night. I know about Mobicip, which is a great company, but they can only turn the internet off, not texting or calling. When you have a kid who can and will text 5,000 texts a month, we need something that eliminates the battles at home and can automatically turn the thing off when it's bedtime. We're all losing sleep. Most parents, when they get an iPhone for their kid, don't realize that Apple, unlike Android, has chosen to place more importance on children's privacy than parent's ability to place restrictions on their kids' phones. I plan to take the iPhone back and get her an Android.

The carrier doesn't have to "touch iPhone SMS or calling features. THEY SHUT THEM DOWN at thier end.
http://www.att.net/smartcontrols-SmartLimitsForWireless
Have you even bothered to look to see what AT&T offers? Apparently NOT. You can effectively shut her down on any schedule you like.
Restrict the times it can be used for messaging, browsing and outbound calling.
That means no SMS, no iMessage, and no calling her friends. It doesn't block incoming calls, but messages will be blocked.
Afraid she'll hop on your WiFi and use that instead? Then lock her out of it. You can even do it on a schedule if you have a half way decent router and a few ounces of technical understanding.
FEATURES
ENHANCED FEATURE: Block incoming and outgoing calls and text messages - now up to 30 numbers.
NEW FEATURE: Block calls to 411 Directory Assistance (including 555-1212).
Restrict times of day the phone can be used for messaging, browsing and outbound calling.
Set limits for the number of text and instant messages allowed per billing cycle.
Choose a dollar limit for downloadable purchases (ringtones, games and more).
Select the amount of web browsing/data usage allowed per billing cycle.
Restrict access to inappropriate content with content filters.
COST
$4.99/month per line
OTHER
Calls and text messages to and from phone numbers you designate as “Allowed Numbers” and calls to and from 911 will continue to be permitted regardless of the limits you set.
As your child approaches the text and download limits, he/she will receive an advance warning. Once a limit is reached, there will be a notification that the action is restricted and that the service will be stopped until the next billing cycle begins.
Please Note Important Limitations:

Parental Controls do not work.

I recently setup a computer for my boss' daughter and in doing so enabled the parental controls. Everything appeared to be working correctly until I got a call tonite. When I first setup the parental controls feature, I gave my boss' daughter access to only ONE site.... Yahooligans (The YAHOO SITE FOR KIDS). She came home today and typed in yahoo.com in the address bar and the main site came up with full search capabilities. Eveything else is being blocked as expected but this totally defeats the purpose of having a kids site if the kids can type in yahoo.com and get to the full acess/full search site. Anyone else having these problems..... or know of a third party software for Mac to block content?
Thanks in advance for your input
R
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Often, when it isn't possible to select an application for use in a "managed" account, the fault lies with the developer of the software for failing to follow Apple's guidelines and omitting eg. the 'CFBundleIdentifier' from the programme's "Info.plist" file.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300842
As the article suggests, it would be best to check with the developer, although it may be possible for a user to edit the file themselves in some cases, but given the effort involved, most people seem to find the alias workaround good enough.
Regarding the presence of the "Shared" folder in a "Simple Finder" user's "Dock", these managed user preferences are all stored in 'mcx_settings' in the "NetInfo" database, in plain text so it is possible (though somewhat tedious) to edit them. Another option is to download the "Server Admin Tools" from Apple, which includes "Workgroup Manager.app" which allows some fine-grained, though not complete control over these settings through the plist editor (it isn't exactly user-friendly either, but it is sort of a GUI).
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/serveradmintools1047.html
However, if the concern is that the user can open applications that haven't been selected, note that blocking access to the "Shared" folder still won't prevent users from launching programmes by other means.

Parental Control ALL Devices

Hey, I'm trying to add parental controls on my router in order to block certain sites from all devices that connect to my network. I don't want these sites getting through my router at all, regardless of the device, and I don't want any new devices being added to the network to be able to access those sites either. Let me reiterate: I want to COMPLETELY block a set of sites from my home.
I've got a Linksys E2500 at home and as far as I can tell, it only allows me to block individual devices from accessing certain sites. Does anybody know how to get the results I'm looking for with this router? If not, does anybody know of a router that Linksys manufactures that offers this capability? Thanks in advance for your help.

For this purpose I have deployed EA3500 and EA4500 models. These have the parental controls that you want are work well on under 100mb internet connections.
I don't recommend the update to the Cloud firmware as it is buggy and you lose exacting control over your network but the Classic firmware is available and excellent.
There is an issue with some ADSL modems but I have a firmware fix for that.
You would use a combination of parental control and wireless MAC Address filtering. Also if you want to know and label the device on your network DHCP IP Address reservation and label the device there.
Pick of the Parental Controls on these models:
Parental Control:
Wireless MAC Address Filter:
Please remember to Kudo those that help you.
Linksys
Communities Technical Support

What is the best parental control software for mac?

Hi!
I'm starting to teach my son (8 years old) in the use of Mac computer and I would like to have suggestions about the best software to be installed for a good parental control.
There is the possibility to localize two language (english and italian)?
thank you in advance for the suggestions!
Antonello

Antam7 wrote:
There is the possibility to localize two language (english and italian)?
Every account you set up can be localized in a different language if you want. So you can have yours in Itallian and your son's in English. The language is determined by what is at the top of the list in system prefs/language & text/language. You just drag the one you want there and logout/login.

Another Parental Control Bug

To start with, these sites worked fine before the upgrade.
Both of my kids enjoy the webkinz website ( for what reason I do not know!!!) but when one clicks logon it works fine. The other one get's blocked, even though it's been permitted in parental controls, it says it's been blocked. I tried adding it onto his bookmark bar again and again and though I was able to book mark it, it still restricted access to it. I logged out, logged in, tried everything I could think of ( and I'm a pretty advanced user) and even added the site to his permitted sites list under my logon via parental controls.
Any other thoughts?

Same exact effect here. I went so far as to add the IP addresses individually to a bookmark in case that would help. I got logged in, but then the page popped up with just the background and no content.
Tried it again, and went back to the 'this url not authorized'
If you're not careful, you can get into an infinite loop of authorizing. I got stubborn and 'authorized' the same page over and over for about 15 tries and still no fix.
What's worse is when it blows up is hit or miss. Sometimes when clicking the logon button it'll go to the logon screen, but after entering the name and password will say the servers at webkinz are broken
Worked fine in Tiger Safari with full parental controls on.

Has Apple come up with a fix for Parental Controls?

I've browsed around on this forum quite a bit but haven't seen any real fix for the fact that Parental Controls does not work as advertised (come to think of it, it doesn't work at all). Is there a fix??
I'm using a new iMac with 10.5.2 (clean install). PC has never worked, even when we first started using the machine.
I have 3 young kids, each with his own account. All the accounts are set to 30 minute time limits per day. I have customized the Web Content tab to include some sites that are not objectionable but too advanced for my kids.
Today one of my boys was logged in for at least an hour and a half. I check his Today's Activity log. Nothing there! I look at the Web site he's accessing. It's one of the three that I had specifically blocked! They're only in grade school but the kids have figured out that as long as they don't log off they can stay on the computer all day. This happens on all three accounts consistently. Sheesh, Apple, thanks for making me look like a real doofus in front of my kids!
So, is Apple sending out kitchen timers to all of us Leopard users now, so we can at least have a reliable method for controlling our kids' online time?
If there is a REAL fix out there, I'd love to hear about it?
<Edited by Moderator>

Apple doesn't come up with High data usage solutions for cell providers.
It is up to the cell provider.

Parental controls suddenly activated - without us ...

Hi there,
BT parental controls have suddenly been activated without us asking for it. I noticed it first when trying to access Facebook. I then found out my own website is being blocked (despite no suspicious content!) and as a result also my e-mail. That's a massive problem as I work from home and need my e-mail. I phoned BT last night (Sunday) the call centre told me we'd get a call back today. We didn't. I phoned again tonight and the call centre assured me I'd get a call back tomorrow. Really?
I'm loosing money by not being able to access my e-mail. How do I stop this?
When logging into "My BT" the extra's says: "Parental Controls is being activated on your account and will be available in the next 24 hours. Please log in again later to manage your account."
It's been saying that for at least 48 hours. I cannot change the settings.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi prim1,
Once contacting the BT care Team (Mods) via the Contact the Mods form they will reply either by phone or email usually within 3 to 6 working days, however you will be given a tracking number immediately after sending the request. Please keep this safe.
Please be aware that this timeframe does not include weekends and Bank Holidays. The timeframe will also vary during busy periods.
Each case is done in a strict rotation so once your mod request has reached the top of the BTCare Team's inbox then they will contact you.
The BT Care Team are a BT UK Based specialist team who have a good reputation for solving customer problems.
Also be aware that if you PM'd the Mod instead of using the correct procedure then the Mods won't pick up your request as PMs are not tracked.
Cheers
jac_95 | BT.com Help Site | BT Service Status
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ML 10.8.2 parental controls "Allow Always" doesn't work

Hi all,
I have set up parental control for two kids' accounts with limited application
When my kids try to start an App, even though the App is in the allowed list, there is still a pop-up to ask for administrator's permissions. The sad thing is that if I select "Always Allow", it doesn't work. The app doesn't get started. If the app is on the dock, it will bounce once. However, "Allow Once" works, but I can't just stay home all the time to authorise this. That's why I need parental control!
Anyway, I have noticed that:
Even though my parental settings for both kids are exactly the same. One kid can access Safari with no problems while the other kid always gets the prompt.
The prompt is coming up very slowly lately. It seems taking 20 seconds after the App is selected.
I find hundreds of lines similar to the following messages in the console log:
14/02/13 10:27:07.381 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~PVBRm7W9Fv6hz2zd: No such file or directory
14/02/13 10:27:07.382 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~Z22_clV82Au8gY4T: No such file or directory
14/02/13 10:27:07.383 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~2pB8Jh3XtiDkej7g: No such file or directory
14/02/13 10:27:07.384 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~VrPT54SDwdjzTmNZ: No such file or directory
14/02/13 10:27:07.384 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~BN1ajLstoCMYGNWQ: No such file or directory
14/02/13 10:27:07.385 PM parentalcontrolsd[6287]: Couldn't create temp file /private/var/root/Library/Keychains//~5_ZLm1JCUxxKWGc4: No such file or directory
The time is around the time between selecting an App and until the prompt pops up.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Alex

So I solved this on my own. Based on other similar posts, I tried the messages certificate removal (didn't work), the messages pinfo file removal (didn't work), and finally the Mountain Lion recovery install (WORKED!).
This is getting to be like Windows. If it doesn't work, reboot or re-instal...

Downgrade Admin to "Managed with parental controls" - no data loss?

I want to change my daughter's iMac account (originally my wife's computer) from "Admin" to "Managed with parental controls."
Is this possible while saving all of her school work/music/etc. which are now under the admin login/account? Or do I backup her home folder, delete the admin account, add a new one for me, then put her back in as "Standard" and go from there?
Hope there is an elegant/easy way to avoid data loss while still upgrading security on her usage...
Thanks in advance!
Kevin

hi k,
yes you can down grade her account and enable parental controls. This will not delete her content such as itunes, photos, documents, extra.
if you haven't done so already, make another administrator account with you will use to manage the computer. Make sure the account has a password; and that password is not the same as her password.
then Login with the new administrator account.
go to system preferences and click on accounts. unlock accounts by clicking on the lock. click on the old administrator account. now uncheck allow this user to administrate this computer. then check enable parental controls. then click on the open parental controls button.
you can now configure parental controls.

Actiontec MI424 Advanced Parental Controls Loophole

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