Help needed with blocking torrent traffic & account configuration etc on Vista Home PC

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AllenG

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#89510 4-Sep-2011 00:42

Hi.

I have a 19 near old nephew still living at home sharing his mothers internet connection. Even though I'm using OpenDNS to try and block objectionable material, P2P/Filesharing etc he is still consuming significant volumes of data (>50GB recently). I also suspect hes using a Proxy His mother is also concerned about the copyright infringement act.

My sisters win7 Home Premium PC is on a wired LAN connection to the Router and has a wireless adapter (unused at present). My nephews laptop connects via wireless to the Router.
The Linksys WAG54GP2V2 Router is too old to do any statefull filtering or Traffic quotas etc.

Recently he has found Trojan/Virus infections on his laptop and I have convinced him that I should reinstall windows and create an admin and user account. To remain on the internet he has agreed that I can filter his traffic/browsing.

How do I best achieve this?

I have recently installed Microsoft Family Safety on the younger boys hand-me-down PC, and am intending to use it on this laptop but herein lies the problem: I want to let him have an administrator level account/password so that he can install apps etc on his user level account. But if I give him an admin account he can logon with that and won't be controlled or monitored by Family safety. Family safety won't let you apply many of the settings to an admin account.

Is there any way of having an admin username/password he can use to elevate his regular user account but not be able to logon with it? Remember that Vista Home basic/Premium don't support Group Policy.

Is there a nice simple and free app or configuration tool/setting for Vista Home Basic that will block Torrent Traffic IE statefull Firewall or Transparent Proxy that is easy to set up? I also need to be able to prevent it being tampered with at a user level logon?

Failing this, can I set my sisters unused wlan adapter up as a wireless gateway and install a transparent Proxy between her Lan and Wlan adapters? Nephews Laptop would then use this gateway. Her PC is Win7 Home Premium.

I have never used a Proxy. Squid has been suggested but the configuration looks daunting and I'm not sure how the Windows version works? I'm also not sure if Win7 will let me use the wlan adapter as a gateway?

Sorry this is long winded but I want to explore all options. I'm a scada tech with Network+ certification but i'm more an enthusiast than an IT professional. I don't have any Microsoft certification.

BTW My sister is on a tight budget so a new router is out of the question. We can probably do $50 for a second hand router with suitable firmware or an old Thin client or wyse-term running XP Embedded or Linux but I've never played with linux ether.

Help please?
Regards Allen.

Niel

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#516334 4-Sep-2011 08:49

He is at the point where he should be held accountable for his actions, after all he (assume) already has a license for a lethal weapon (a car) and for the past 5 years he was legally allowed to be left alone with children. Treating the symptom does not stop the problem. Let him sign a contract making him accountable for his internet usage, both financially and legally. Loving your kids unconditionally does not mean they can walk all over you.

For a while I've used K9 Web Protection which is free and web based, but I suspect an admin account might still uninstall it - worth checking though. I've stopped using it only because at the time the internet at peak time was poor and being a web based proxy you have to resolve URLs with America. I am however going to re-install it as it has numerous options.

An option is to get a better modem/router which has account management where you can specify what hours and how much data can be used for each MAC address (the unique address of a network card). Torrent downloads still takes time, and if he has internet access only from say 4:00 to 9:00 then there is only so much he can download. If he wants more he can pay for it himself.

The one who pays is the one who says how it may be used.

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AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#516408 4-Sep-2011 12:16

Hi Neil.

It's my sister and nephew I'm trying to help. I don't live there :)

I believe my sister would be liable for any breaches of copyright with torrents. I don't believe she can contract out of her liability here. Also I just want to protect my nephew from himself as much as I can while he is living at home.

I havn't found a software solution for this.

I'm looking at a secondhand linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT custom firmware. I believe this can detect and block torrent/P2P traffic and enforce traffic shaping/limits?

Not sure what version I need though as some WRT54 versions will only run a limited (mini) version of the DD-WRT Firmware.

Allen.

kiwigeek1

637 posts

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#516409 4-Sep-2011 12:24

goes to show you cant control pc savvy teens.. they often more clever on
hacking and other stuff and can defeat your counter measures.

same for laws.. easily by passed.

better to have a open system give people what they want
and less controlling people and gov trying to stop progress

if your afraid.. might be easier to by a cheap vpn account and force it on
the router to be sure the ip is protected and change the password
there so he cant login.. but might have to superglue the reset switch
to factory defaults LOL..

failing that put the internet in his name.. might be easiest so if sh!t happens
sister is not put in jail or done by the silly 3 strike law :)

freitasm

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#516414 4-Sep-2011 12:33

Regardless of what you do, if he bypasses it, your sister is the one responsible for the connection.

So either transfer the account to your nephew's name, and he pays for it, or simply rule that:

a) PC will run in user mode only
b) PC will have monitoring and management software installed by an admin
c) Router will only accept connections from specified MAC address
d) that's the way it is, deal with it

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lokhor

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#516420 4-Sep-2011 12:51

Get the nephew to pay for bandwidth and a vpn

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

nakedmolerat

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#516425 4-Sep-2011 12:59

lokhor: Get the nephew to pay for bandwidth and a vpn

kiwigeek1

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#516426 4-Sep-2011 12:59

no point putting monitoring soft on pc.. only way is
control the gateway router
e.g. vpn or limit to one pc ip and time frame (pc in the lounge)
so can manually keep an eye on users

theres windows and linux thats runs entirely of a cdrom or
dvd or memory key now like bartpe can can do anything you want
and by pass the hard drive and monitoring soft

you could mess with bios to block access to cdrom and usb
gets messy and could easily open side of pc and reset the bios
anyhow or disconnect the drive in a minute

controlling people dont work well ,, look at the govs and
dictators in middle east right now LOL :)

best option put it in his name.. atleast you get 2 warnings
before its serious.. then you know what hes doing
or confirmed it :)

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#516428 4-Sep-2011 13:03

freitasm:

a) PC will run in user mode only
b) PC will have monitoring and management software installed by an admin
c) Router will only accept connections from specified MAC address
d) that's the way it is, deal with it

a) Can do.

b) intending to install microsoft family safety. Good for limiting PC time and logging browser activity. Not sure how good it is for blocking downloads or workarounds ie VPNs? Can you recommend any software I can install as an admin to a: block P2P and VPN traffic; b: limit his data useage per day or month?

c) SSD Hidden, Wireless clients limited to whitelist of MACs. Internet access limited to 10 am - 12pm

Just bought a second hand Linksys WRT54G V6 with DD-WRT V24 PreSP2 (mini) firmware. I believe I should be able to achieve p2p filtering and traffic limiting with this?

Regards Allen.

sbiddle

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#516518 4-Sep-2011 17:30

AllenG: Just bought a second hand Linksys WRT54G V6 with DD-WRT V24 PreSP2 (mini) firmware. I believe I should be able to achieve p2p filtering and traffic limiting with this?

Regards Allen.

It will give you traffic limiting capabilities but won't be effective at all in blocking torrents.

AllenG

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#516606 4-Sep-2011 22:36

sbiddle:
It will give you traffic limiting capabilities but won't be effective at all in blocking torrents.

Why not? can't it identify and block torrents by packet identification? I thought that was one of the features of the dd-wrt firmware?

sbiddle

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#516637 5-Sep-2011 06:29

AllenG:
sbiddle:
It will give you traffic limiting capabilities but won't be effective at all in blocking torrents.

Why not? can't it identify and block torrents by packet identification? I thought that was one of the features of the dd-wrt firmware?

L7 filtering of torrents is only partially effective and also very CPU intensive. Anybody with knowledge can get around it in 5 minutes.

MikeB4

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#516640 5-Sep-2011 07:14

If your sister has only light internet useage, that is Email, surfing and Facebook I would suggest the following

1. Get a Prepaid Mobile WiFi Dongle from VF or Telecom for the sisters use only

2. Cancel the Broadband account

3. Tell the nephew if he wants Broadband get his own account. This is the new house rules live with it.

Niel

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#517011 5-Sep-2011 17:32

I see 2 issues: Copyright infringement notices and data usage. There is software available to log data usage on each PC so you can split the bill. Regarding infringement notices, have a rule that if 2 notices received within a 9 month window then the nephew looses his internet connection until all notices expire. If your sister owns the account then she makes the rules. Otherwise he can get his own line.

You can never have enough Volvos!