Preparing a PC for a 11/12 year old

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Design1stcode2nd

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I'm not sure if this is the best subforum for this so if not please move it.

I'm setting up an old PC for my daughters use and I have or will have done the following:

  • Set up time and usage restrictions through parental controls.
  • Blocked social media websites like instagram, FB etc.
  • Adblock extension in Chrome
  • Malwarebytes
  • Avast

Anything else you would recommend? I have rules and guidelines in place so she is not to install anything and I plan to not have Adobe Flash on the system.
 
Once you get everything setup to your liking, make a good system image so you can restore things back to baseline quickly.

As for anything else, it'd really depend on what she'll be doing with the PC. Gaming? Office apps? Nothing but browsing or media consumption?
 
Constant vigilance. I don't mean spying on her, necessarily, just making sure that the precautions that you set up still work.
 
Bandalo said:
Once you get everything setup to your liking, make a good system image so you can restore things back to baseline quickly.

As for anything else, it'd really depend on what she'll be doing with the PC. Gaming? Office apps? Nothing but browsing or media consumption?
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Photoshop, MS Office, youtube and whatever gaming it will handle, its an old Q6600;. probably Minecraft, Hearthstone, HoTS and similar games.

The system restore point is a good idea.

Microsofts reporting tools are pretty good, will show all websites she tries to access, usage, what she is using etc.
 
Design1stcode2nd said:
Photoshop, MS Office, youtube and whatever gaming it will handle, its an old Q6600;. probably Minecraft, Hearthstone, HoTS and similar games.

The system restore point is a good idea.

Microsofts reporting tools are pretty good, will show all websites she tries to access, usage, what she is using etc.
Click to expand...

You might consider a whitelist for that PC at the firewall if you're really concerned. It'll restrict the "freedom" quite a bit, but it's far easier to maintain there than on the PC.
 
You should install a free office suite instead of MS Office. Why pay for nothing.
 
avast is aweful and never catches anything even when people say oh ive never had an issue or never been infected havnt done a 2nd scan with avg or kaspersky to see that there really infected. Kaspersky has an awesome parent control options features and security all in one package if you look hard enough you can get it for free after mail in or 10 bucks sometimes. I use the Kaspersky Total Security suite. Malwarebtyes and excellent backup and scan.
 
fightingfi said:
avast is aweful and never catches anything even when people say oh ive never had an issue or never been infected havnt done a 2nd scan with avg or kaspersky to see that there really infected. Kaspersky has an awesome parent control options features and security all in one package if you look hard enough you can get it for free after mail in or 10 bucks sometimes. I use the Kaspersky Total Security suite. Malwarebtyes and excellent backup and scan.
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Just make sure it's not feeding data back to the Russians!
 
Do your kid a huge favor... install Linux and treat it like a learning experience for the both of you. Kids pick things up quick... it depends on your daughter of course, but depending what she enjoys and her aptitudes she may be better off learning the ins and outs of the worlds server infrastructure then how to use the current version of photoshop.

Blocking websites with your router is likely the best option... at some point when she is a bit older and you do allow some social media and the like you can restrict their use to specific time frames if your like. The router option is going to be the best option for sure if you stick to windows, the child lock stuff is either an overbearing mess or weak... if you go the router option and she manages to guess your router password, or you go with Linux and she figures out how to break in she deserves all the FB she wants as you have a smart one. lol ;)
 
Design1stcode2nd said:
I'm not sure if this is the best subforum for this so if not please move it.

I'm setting up an old PC for my daughters use and I have or will have done the following:

  • Set up time and usage restrictions through parental controls.
  • Blocked social media websites like instagram, FB etc.
  • Adblock extension in Chrome
  • Malwarebytes
  • Avast

Anything else you would recommend? I have rules and guidelines in place so she is not to install anything and I plan to not have Adobe Flash on the system.
Click to expand...

Which version of Windows are you going to install? Win7 - Win10 I would just go with the MS Defender ant-virus.

Either way install the OS you want to maintain and know that Linux is not maintenance free.

Hope this Helps.
 
I have kids in the same range I did not see it mentioned so I will say it, you need the child to have their own login and it needs to be set as a standard user this move eliminated malware for my kids, and parents. And personally I run every computer that way. No one uses an administrator account except for computer service. You can label this login as a child and ms will do some reporting on program usage and websites to you. Then the kids have to ask you for installation of most things.
 
How many other PCs are there in the house? If sufficient, consider building a Window Server Essentials 2016 box for the backup facility and centralised management. Of course that means buying Windows 10 Pro.
 
rudy said:
I have kids in the same range I did not see it mentioned so I will say it, you need the child to have their own login and it needs to be set as a standard user this move eliminated malware for my kids, and parents. And personally I run every computer that way. No one uses an administrator account except for computer service. You can label this login as a child and ms will do some reporting on program usage and websites to you. Then the kids have to ask you for installation of most things.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the reporting requires making a Microsoft account for the kids / for the computer. Definate no-go there.
 
Her account is a regular user and mine is the admin, it screwed me up when I tried to run HWmonitor under her profile and didn't figure out why it wasn't working until I logged in. Her account is under parental controls.

She's a good kid and has always followed the rules, my main concern is just preventing issues from ignorance. We have established bookmarks for the sites she wants to go to, email rules (basically don't click on any link even if it's from me unless I tell her on the phone or in person it's alright) etc...
 
Make sure the computer case is snazzy. Something with a flame job on it to make it go faster.

hot%2Bwheels%2Bpc.png
 
modi123 said:
Make sure the computer case is snazzy. Something with a flame job on it to make it go faster.

hot%2Bwheels%2Bpc.png
Click to expand...

I would have liked to have built her a nice ITX build with an Overwatch theme, Sadly she just gets my 10 year old Gateway FX530, not the worst looking case but it is a big heavy one.

If she continues to use it and takes more to PC gaming (she does more Nintendo and XBONE than anything) then I'll build her one in the future.
 
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