ScoobyDoo555

OK, scenario -

A room of macs running on a limited user access (non-admin) under the "parental controls"......

My understanding is that I cannot just remove access to websites (YouTube, for example ) - I've got to build up a list of authorised websites.......

This is a PITA, as I just want to limit access to sites that distract the users from what they're doing, rather than state a policy of these are the sites you CAN use.......


Is this possible in OSX? Can only seem to do it on list compilation basis....

Dan

stevem2k

Why not proxy through a standalone machine running squid ?

ScoobyDoo555

Sorry, I'm a user with Admin rights. ie simple

We're part of a bigger network, where the sites can be "banned" at the firewall, but we've got political issues where staff need access to sites that regular users don't/shouldn't.

I'm thinking of perhaps a local-machine based option - ideally as OSX has parental controls, this would be the obvious option, but it seems to do it "ar$e about face" (IMHO!! )

Dan

stevem2k

osx ~ unix isn't it ?

why not add the list of hosts you want blacklisted to /etc/hosts with loopback addresses ?

127.0.0.1 www.somebadsite.com somebadsite.com
127.0.0.1 www.someotherbadsite.com somebadsite.com

as long as resolv.conf does files dns then it should work.

cottonfoo

Quite easy to bypass if someone has an OS X boot CD though isn't it? The proxy is the way to go.

stevem2k

I agree, but it may not be an environment where adding a room-proxy is feasible.

Markus

10.4 is a pain in this respect, as you have seen you need to specify a list of allowed sites and there does not seem to be a way to generate a list of disallowed sites. You're correct it's **** about face and that's why most of our protection software gives the user the ability to specify a list of allowed items and anything not explictly on that allowed list is automatically denied.

Software similar to netnanny/surfwatch is another way to go.

One thing I do know is that Parental controls in 10.5 are improved and I *think* (would need to boot and look at the seed) you can setup allowed and denied lists, and if the OS does not support that then I know a couple of software products that quite probably will after 10.5 is released

Markus

There is one other important factor about the Parental Controls feature, it'll only work for Safari, so if you use any other browser then they can access whatever sites they like

I've had a very quick search and came up with KidsGoGoGo which seems like it might do what you need.

modifying /etc/hosts might be the best bet and it's quite possible that it could be scripted to make adding the bad sites easier. Plus once you have done it on one computer you can push it out to others.

ScoobyDoo555

Nice one chaps - had downloaded KidsGoGoGo this afternoon. Looked pretty good too

Until I get an IT department who actually understand the Macs, this package may suffice

DAn