I am hoping someone here can help me - in a hurry!
The other day, my grandchildren were coming over and my granddaughter (7 yrs.) wanted to go on my computer - she has her own at home so she is familiar with what to do. Knowing that her parents have parental lock on their system so she can only go to certain sites, I decided that I would do the same, but instead of going through the windows security and content in the "internet options" I went to my Norton and turned on the parental control, which I have never used because we have no children at home. Come last night and I went to go on the internet (believe it or not, HGTV website) and I get a notice that the web page can not be viewed because of parental control. So I go to Norton, turn off the parental control and restart my computer. Tried again to go to the site and I got another warning, this time from Content Advisor saying that I can't go to the site. It gave me the option to allow for one time, allow always or don't allow - but in choosing any option I have to put in a "supervisor password". (it gives a space for "hint" but then in brackets says there is
There are several possibly useful sites you can find by "googling" - "Norton Parental Controls"
None of them have "neatly laid out solutions" for your specific issue, and you may need to "read up" to fully understand what has occured on your machine.
Simplest Solution may be to ReBoot your machine into SAFE Mode and "Disable" Norton Parental Controls
I don't know if you can Disable Norton Parental Controls from MSCONFIG separately, without Disabling all the rest of Norton <— and you wouldn't want to disable for instance your AntiVirus.
There are options, inside of the Norton Parental Controls, To "turn off" parental controls.
Note: Parental Control functions may be "different" depending on which version of Norton you have (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007)
dough-
When I was trying to take care of things last night, I did disable Norton entirely - it gives you the option of turning it off for 5 min., until the next reboot, or until you turn it on again. I disabled all of Norton until next reboot; but even having Norton (all of it) turned off I still couldn't do anything. I'm not certain that doing it in safe mode would have much different affect but I will try it. In speaking with the service tech that takes care of us here at our office, he said he has heard of this before, and that the Supervisor Password that the Windows Content Advisor is asking for is really a Supervisor Password that is in Norton. He said I should try to go into Norton not through the task bar, but through the regular Start>Programs>Norton> and then log on to Norton as Supervisor before I "uncheck" parental controls in Norton (I had just gone in and unchecked it without logging on as Supervisor). He said that even this may not work and if it doesn't, completely uninstalling Norton and then reinstalling it with the disk should take care of the problem. I will keep you all posted as to what happens.
Though "cumbersome" I would follow that advice - Uninstall Norton - Reinstall Norton (without Parental Controls)
You are correct, that operating your machine, even for brief periods, without AntiVirus is hazardous (not recommended).
Norton Parental Controls don't get really high marks when reviewed on the Internet.
- Difficult to configure - Difficult to add and remove sites from restrictions - etc.
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Please forgive me as I wish to digress here for a moment… You're a parent and grandparent, so I am "preaching to the choir", when I say that the best "Parental Control" is a strong and mutually valued relationship between parent and child. Parents may do best to have the computer in a publicly common room where they can stop by regularly to observe and interact with their child when the child is using the machine. Automated "Parental Controls" cannot replace that value.
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If you wish to have security considerations in place, I'd recommend the following:
Password Protect your UserAccount that has Administrator privileges.
Create a New UserAccount with "limited privilege".
Allow your Grandchild to access computer only from the "limited privilege" account.
What will this accomplish?
1. Limited privilege accounts cannot "install" new programs and applications.
2. Any random or unwise "clicking' on "special offers", "new ringtones or smileys,etc." will be confined to the limited privilege account and cannot spread to the machine in general.
3. Users of the limited privilege account can fully participate with applicaitons already installed, and online activities that have been established in the Administrator Account.
4. Users of limited privilege accounts would have to request assistance from "you" to switch to Administrative privilege in order to install new features, thus passively involving you as the "parental control" in making such decisions.
5. Online hazards of a "malware nature" (viruses and spyware) would be confined, and not be able to infect the general machine, since they would be limited to the extent of privilege of the current user account.
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Additional comment:
It is a good idea to create a "limited privilege" account for yourself, and to use it for most of your computer and online activity. Doing so will give you the same protective advantages as outlined above. Periodically when updating AntiVirus and AntiSpyware, and Windows System Updates, you can logon as Administrator to accomplish those tasks, then switch logon to your "limited privilege" account to resume in the more protected environment.
Windows XP allows the owner/user full Administrative Privilege for their user account.
Those of us in the help-forum and Malware Removal forums have consistently decried this MS policy of leaving the OS vulnerable by default.
Fortunately, MS finally heard. Windows Vista now comes with default settings that protect the OS much like running from a "limited user" account.
I wish you well.
Best Regards
dough, Juliet and all others that are monitoring this thread - here is the status of what has happened.
First let me clarify a few things.
On my home computer the OS is Windows XP; I have (had) Norton Internet Security installed with the latest updates, and the only thing that had been turned off is the parental control. I run the Windows System Disc clean-up, CCleaner, AdAware, Spybot, and Norton AntiVirus on a weekly basis - without fail. My computer is in the livingroom in full view of myself. I have no children at home - all are married and gone.
Now, as we all know, when you visit a website, or when a website is attached to an e-mail that is opened, unwanted things get put into the temp folder - that is the purpose for cleaning it out. Even trusted websites like HGTV, and in my case NASCAR have little advertisements that try to entice you to go to their website. Although you don't go to the sites, the little "pictures" are already a part of your temp files/cookies or whatever. I found this out, quite by accident one time when I opened a photograph that my daughter had sent me of the kids. When I inadvertantly hit the scroll while viewing a picture of my grandchildren, every picture that I had seen on recent websites appeared as long as I kept scrolling. I saw every item that I had looked at in an online catalog, I saw the pictures that are on the front page of ebay, every graphic including logo's appeared - and yes there were a few "adult" photos that showed up. Prior to my granddaughter going on the computer the other day the first thing I did was clear the history, temp files, and cookies. Then I put on the Norton Parental Control and set it to what I wanted, which included prohibiting "adult" content. I did not restart the computer following that. She never ended up going on the internet that day - she only used the programs that I already have installed for them. The next day when I myself went to go to a website (HGTV) I found that I was not allowed because of "Parental Control" - that is the actual wording that was at the top of the box with the warning. Since I had forgotten that I had it on, I went to Norton Internet Security and turned off the Parental Control. Then I tried to go to the website, but this time when I couldn't open (even IE) the box said it was because of "Content Advisor" which is from Windows. It says I need a supervisor password. I then turned off Norton entirely and restarted still nothing. I did a system restore to the day prior to setting the Norton Parental Control. Nothing.
Now. Last night I first did what Norton (Symantic) advised in their help area. That was to reset the password; which entails going to add/remove programs, clicking remove, then you get the option to reset the password. That did not work. So I began the process of Uninstalling Norton Internet Security. During that process it asks if you wish to restore Windows Security and Firewall to their original state. I checked yes. Restarted the computer, and still no going to the internet. I put in my recovery tools disk, and followed for the options to repair the OS, but got stopped short when it asked for the Administrative password. I am not aware of an Administrative password, and since I just put in a new hard drive five months ago, I think I would remember putting one in. I restarted again and tried System restore and went back to an even earlier restore date. Nothing. I restarted again and this time pressed the F3 to enter setup. In the Bios there is a spot for Supervisor Password. Mine was disabled. So I enabled it by putting in a password. Figured I had it licked now. Restarted. Went to IE, the warning box showed up and I put in the new "Supervisor Password". Nothing. I fear that the only thing left for me is to do a System Recovery, which will cause me to loose all of the applications that I have put in. I don't want to do this for the obvious reasons, but I can't think of anything else to try. Norton Internet Security has caused me to loose a vital part of my Operating System and I have serious doubts that I will ever use the program again.
If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would greatly appreciate them.
Go take a look at this System's Information tool by Gabriel Topola, called SIW.exe
Here's the originator's website: http://www.gtopala.com/
And you can download it free from many download sites.
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Some folks consider it an "advanced tool", because it provides such extensive information about the owner/user's machine.
Well, it does, but that doesn't mean that average users can't benefit from it too.
One of the extraordinary benefits that it provides is a "listing of passwords that have been entered", listed by program application.
Take a look to see if you can use this tool to gain the information you need to resolve matters with your Norton problem.
Now remember that I can't get to the internet from the home computer - will this work if I download it to a disc here at work and then use the disc at home?
And, will it work if the box that says "delete all passwords" was checked when I did the clean out on Tuesday night?
Hello All. Just got on the telephone with another Tech aquaintence of mine and here is his suggestion. While at my "Add/Remove Programs" page I remember seeing "Internet Explorer 7", which I don't remember specifically downloading, but must have come in with my auto updates, and maybe me better half okayed it or I okayed it without thinking. This Tech suggests that I uninstall IE7 and by default when I open up my browser the next time, XP should pick up IE6. He said that there is a lot of problems with 7 right now and that possibly Norton has not coordinated with 7 yet. I guess I've got nothing to loose by uninstalling IE7 before I do a total system recovery and loose all of my programs! Will keep you all informed of what happens. Any opinions on this??
Yes you can download SIW and burn it to CD.
SIW can be run from CD.
In fact, that's the only way I do run it. (as part of a repair-kit CD that I've made)
It doesn't have to "install", it just runs independantly with no impact on your system.
The Checkmark for "erase all passwords" "may" only refer to website logon passwords stored as cookies or Temporary Internet Files. You won't know, until you give a look.
Your Tech buddy is right. Some/many people have had complaints about IE 7.0….
I have yet to adopt it on any machine that I am responsible for.
Though many other machines that I've worked on are now happily purring with IE 7.0
The beta version and the first public release of IE 7.0 seemed so buggy that I went to great length to uninstall them on a regular basis.
If you use Add/Remove to Uninstall IE 7.0, it will revert to the IE 6.0 that comes with Windows XP.
Like you say…….. You have nothing to lose, since you would be possibly planning a re-install later anyway.
Best Regards
Good Morning to all–here's today's update.
Sadly, uninstalling IE7 did not work. I didn't get the chance here at the office to download the program you suggested, dough, partly because I had a busy day, but also because here at the office we are still on dial-up (since my job doesn't depend on it, having internet on the computer at work is more of a benefit and hard to justify the extra cost when it doesn't help the company) - downloads take forever here and since the internet shares the fax line, I can't keep it blocked for long periods of time.
So I had to do the system recovery. I installed my DSL first, which is a little unorthadox, but I needed to make sure I got the problem. Somewhere a little after midnight I finally got the applications that I needed back in, the only things I think I have left are the printer and my camera. The good news is that I really didn't loose too much, most everything was still there, I just had to re-install the applications that made them run, and what I didn't have on a disc, I had saved to my desktop and just re-installed them from there. Still a pain in the neck though, and I wish I knew how it happened. I can only blame Norton Internet Security - Parental Controls however, since that is the ONLY thing that was turned on/off. Quite possibly, it really was the fact that Norton didn't coordinate with IE7; if IE7 was done as an upgrade maybe it used the "core" of something in IE6 that was distroyed by the Norton Parental Control when it was turned on and then off. Since I had run a full system virus scan, and both my AdAware and Spybot - I can only assume that Norton is to blame.
Will be out today getting a new and different security program!
One last update before we can put this to rest. I am posting from my home computer, at last. I would still like to know how it all happened, but after doing a complete system recovery, my computer is finally up and running on Internet Explorer. Believe it or not, in taking it back to the factory settings, Norton Internet Security 2004 was put in. Got rid of it in a hurry. Got a new Internet Security program and things are running fine. Thanks for the help dough, I hope my thread has/will help others.
Until the next time.
