WRT54GS Parental Control feature

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless (More info?)

Thought I'd post it here since I didn't have access to this ng from RR
network when I wrote it last night.


"Tested Linksys" <tested@linksys.com> wrote in message
news:JOYnc.79001$NR5.44974@fe1.texas.rr.com...
> If you're going to be buying this product because of the Parental Control
> feature, you'd better look somewhere else.
>
> I bought this to replace my D-Link DI-624 because of the Parental Control
> feature. Which was a big mistake.
>
> If you log off the OS (Windows XP in my case) without logging out of the
> Parental Control applet, it will crash and after that would allow anyone
to
> browse the internet freely.
>
> If you had a server in the network, that machine would have to go through
> the same log in procedure to access the internet. There's no configuration
> option to tell it which machines are exempted and which should be managed.
>
> I was willing to pay the $39/year subscription if it worked half as good
as
> it is promised.
>
> Supposedly, this Parental Control feature disables the router's built-in
> Internet Access Policies. However, this is not the case.
>
> Scenario: I have 1 computer for my younger brothers where I set up with
the
> built-in Internet Access Restriction to only allow that system's internet
> access (using MAC or IP address) from 6:00 AM to 9:30 PM everyday.
>
> After enabling Parental Control feature and sign-up for the trial period,
I
> had to enter in all the user names of all the people needing to have
> internet access, along with their age level info.
>
> After that I go back to each user and defined the Time, Web Browsing,
> E-maill, and IM restrictions that I need to adjust for each of those
users.
> The interface is quite confusing. When you're modifying each user and
> clicking on the "I'm Done" button means you're done with all the settings
> and will automatically put you in the main home page of your browser.
>
> After all the configuration is completed, it was time for testing: First
and
> foremost, I found out that the router's built-in Access Restriction was
> still in effect. I wasn't able to access anything on the internet. Mind
you
> that this was taking place around 9:50 PM.
>
> After disabling the built-in restriction completely, I was then prompted
for
> the sign-on page. I chose a user that I knew would be allowed to browse
the
> internet. A pop-up window came up requesting that I install a Netopia
> plug-in, which after installed, then started another pop-up window with
the
> display of whoever is logged in to Parental Control at the time.
>
> Like I mentioned earlier, you should first sign-out of Parental Control
> before signing out of the OS to give other people the use of the computer,
> otherwise, it will crash the Parental Control connection and will then
allow
> everyone else to browse the internet freely. Hey, maybe this is a
back-door
> they forgot to close?
>
> For the time being, I'm going back to my half-the-price-of-WRT54GS-DLink
> DI624 and along with squid+squidquard for proxy which has worked well
enough
> for me.
>
> I can only wish WebWasher solution was lower-priced and does not have the
> hefty hard-ware requirement
>
>
>
> Louis
>
>