Imac (parent) mac book (child): How can I monitor?

Question

HELP! I have a young teenage daughter and she just got the new imac aluminum and I want to monitor her book. Basically to make sure she is not going anywhere she shouldnt be and to make sure she isnt sneaking on to the neighbors network when she is suppose to be in bed. I am/was using chicken of the VNC and it worked the first time, but never again. I changed her preferences to share and allowed other computer to connect via vnc using a password. I can see when she is online because C.O.T.VNC finds her macbook name but keeps on telling me operation time out. Please help. any programs, ideas, etc...
Concerned parent.
BTW: I already entered her mac address into my router and gave her time restraints, so that part is covered.
Doobz

Answer 1

The IP changes whenever you dis- and re-connect to the internet unless you assign a permanent IP.
To do that, go to System Preferences>Network>Advanced...>TCP/IP tab on her Mac(s), and (after copying down the information there) from the first drop-down choose "Using DHCP with manual address" (unless it originally showed something other than "Using DHCP" in which case I can't help you ) and choose any IP you want (preferably round up to the nearest 10, make it different for each computer).
Now click OK, then Apply, then test going to www.google.com in any (working) browser. Success? Use that IP you put in for the VNC app (JollyFastVNC is really fast I hear...). Fail? Use the "Manual" setting from that drop-down and put in the stuff I told you to copy down but use a custom IP. Still fail? Reset the drop-down to "Using DHCP", then whenever you want to watch her Mac, you'll have to guess her IP. (It should be close-ish to another computer's IP on the same network.
Do you have the right settings in the VNC app? That may be your problem.
Message was edited by: Paul4900