# Got locked out of my kid's computer!



## Black Panther (Oct 21, 2013)

OK this is a bit embarrasing...

My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again 

How do you suggest I retrieve my admin account again?
Keylogger maybe? Never used one before - can you install a keylogger without logging in the pc?


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> OK this is a bit embarrasing...
> 
> My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again
> 
> ...



Download Hiren's Boot CD and it has a user unlocking tool. It's all CLI, select the tool and it will give you a couple of options, eventually you can remove the password from an account entirely, so you'll be able to log in as the admin without a password and clean things up from there.

Maybe you should play farmville less?


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## ne6togadno (Oct 21, 2013)

reinstall windows or even better install linux.
any ideas how she got your password?


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## remixedcat (Oct 21, 2013)

Yes you can install keyloggers using bots. You can slip them in her drink and then she will tell you everything.


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## bencrutz (Oct 21, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> OK this is a bit embarrasing...
> 
> My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again
> 
> ...



win 7? try this
warning: encrypted files will be unreadable.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Oct 21, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> OK this is a bit embarrasing...
> 
> My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again
> 
> ...



You have a intelligent daughter


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## qubit (Oct 21, 2013)

Use the cracks described above and then ground your kid for a week. That'll learn her.


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## BarbaricSoul (Oct 21, 2013)

since it's your kids PC and not yours, meaning it shouldn't matter to you if all the info and programs are lost that are on it, just do a reformat/reinstall of windows, and tell your daughter "next time you'll just throw away the locked hard drive, and make her pay to replace it(by money if she's old enough, extra chores if too young).


For me, it would be more about regaining control of the PC then just getting it unlocked. It may be "her" PC, but who actually paid for it? Who pays for the internet access? Whose house is it in? Who is the kid and who is the parent? You need to do something about this that will deter her from trying it again. Teach her she's not as smart as she thinks she is.


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## brandonwh64 (Oct 21, 2013)

put the computer in the closet and make them go out side and play!

Or 

use hirens boot disc to change the admin password.


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## Fourstaff (Oct 21, 2013)

Strict parenting vs arms race. If I have time I will pick arms race, it teaches people a lot about computers and security. If you don't have the time or resources to do an arms race with your daughter, just go strict parenting route.


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## pigulici (Oct 21, 2013)

Put linux, like Mageia 3, it have Steam too, it will not stop the kid to "crack" the OS, but at least it learn something good for future, anyway you must know if it have phisical access to that pc, it is a matter of time to "crack" it...and yes, with hiren you can remove any password from windows accounts(so the kid can too)...if you want to stay on windows you can use something like "Deep Freeze", after each restart/reboot it will restore the image of OS partition(even the cookie, etc will be lost)...


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## Aquinus (Oct 21, 2013)

Fourstaff said:


> Strict parenting vs arms race. If I have time I will pick arms race, it teaches people a lot about computers and security. If you don't have the time or resources to do an arms race with your daughter, just go strict parenting route.



Or a combonation of both. A lot of routers will let you restrict internet access at certain times of the day on certain machines, so just lay out some ground rules for when and how she can use the internet and when her time is up, you're golden. That way you can police her usage and know that she's not using it when she isn't supposed to. Either that or she'll find out how to reset the router, but she doesn't need to know that it's the router doing it. Just tell her it's the computer and she'll try to find something on the computer that is blocking it, that way she doesn't actually think it's something else. On top of that, you could use something new like Linux and then she'll have no idea what she's doing or even where to look to find it (when it actually exists elsewhere.)

By the time she figures it out and learns what's going on, you may want to re-evaluate those ground rules though.

Edit: It might be time to build yourself a gateway that does everything you want the firewall to do.


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## micropage7 (Oct 21, 2013)

pigulici said:


> Put linux, like Mageia 3, it have Steam too, it will not stop the kid to "crack" the OS, but at least it learn something good for future, anyway you must know if it have phisical access to that pc, it is a matter of time to "crack" it...and yes, with hiren you can remove any password from windows accounts(so the kid can too)...if you want to stay on windows you can use something like "Deep Freeze", after each restart/reboot it will restore the image of OS partition(even the cookie, etc will be lost)...



but they could unfreeze it
maybe linux
maybe best way is using 3rd party software, not from windows
some people dont like when you feel like get watched, maybe your kids feel the same too
if you are afraid they do something wrong you could tell them that everyone responsible of something, if you using pc for bad things and you get caught, i wont help you.

btw where you put that pc?
you could move it to dining room or any room that open and accessible for anyone not in her/his room


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## lilhasselhoffer (Oct 21, 2013)

I'm particular to Ophcrack.

The interface is nice, the password can be retrieved (though it does require some time), and you don't lose anything.


Search it out online (http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/).  Get their password, reinstall yourself as admin, then downgrade their permissions.  Just don't tell them you've got their password, and you've got an in the next time things go sideways.


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## pigulici (Oct 21, 2013)

"Deep Freeze" it is a 3rd party software...parenting can't be 100% replaced but can be enforced; software can be "cracked" if it have enough time, on hardware side it is more time to do; it was a t my shop some times a go , to buy, a usb key(hardware), without that you can start the pc...


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## Jetster (Oct 21, 2013)

Just curious how old? Sign her up for computer classes. Hiren's is the fastest way to retreve the password. 5 min. And you should be proud. You know kids are supposed to chalange you. Thats why its called parrenting. Why would you punish that?


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## Frick (Oct 21, 2013)

Fourstaff said:


> Strict parenting vs arms race. If I have time I will pick arms race, it teaches people a lot about computers and security. If you don't have the time or resources to do an arms race with your daughter, just go strict parenting route.



Arms race in a nuclear family? 

English is fun.


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## puma99dk| (Oct 21, 2013)

sounds like you got a smart kid Black Panther, maybe as Jetster says if she want, sign her up for some computer classes.

but i will jump on the hirens train to, for getting that password out.


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## AsRock (Oct 21, 2013)

BarbaricSoul said:


> since it's your kids PC and not yours, meaning it shouldn't matter to you if all the info and programs are lost that are on it, just do a reformat/reinstall of windows, and tell your daughter "next time you'll just throw away the locked hard drive, and make her pay to replace it(by money if she's old enough, extra chores if too young).
> 
> 
> *For me, it would be more about regaining control of the PC then just getting it unlocked. It may be "her" PC, but who actually paid for it? Who pays for the internet access? Whose house is it in? Who is the kid and who is the parent? You need to do something about this that will deter her from trying it again. Teach her she's not as smart as she thinks she is.*



Hehe, but trying to prove a teen that he or she is not as good as you can have it's major draw backs although i do agree with you for the most part..

And BTW her's or not it always matters.




Fourstaff said:


> Strict parenting vs arms race. If I have time I will pick arms race, it teaches people a lot about computers and security. If you don't have the time or resources to do an arms race with your daughter, just go strict parenting route.



Strict can very much course rebellion even more so if a teen.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 21, 2013)

What version of windows? I like OPH Crack, but if it's windows 7 then just use this.


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Mindweaver said:


> What version of windows? I like OPH Crack, but if it's windows 7 then just use this.



Admittedly when I was 16 I used Ophcrack to get hold of the password to the administrator account at school so I could install and play GuildWars and Counterstrike 1.6 in my computer lessons. Hiren's just has a million more tools to play with though.


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## Easy Rhino (Oct 21, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> OK this is a bit embarrasing...
> 
> My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again
> 
> ...



i am positive that in 10 years my kids will be able to outsmart me when it comes to working with the PC. i am terrified!


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## Solaris17 (Oct 21, 2013)

I use NTpassword at the shop orph is legit too. Really its w/e you are comfortable with. Seriously though like mother like daughter. I think its awesome she could do it. I mean of course up the difficulty this time around but from what I hear daughters are harder to raise. The "arms race" isnt going to stop any time soon. If anything im curious how she did it, I'm also curious if she will be able to do it again. Maybe the jokes on us and she has a copy of hirens.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 21, 2013)

RCoon said:


> Admittedly when I was 16 I used Ophcrack to get hold of the password to the administrator account at school so I could install and play GuildWars and Counterstrike 1.6 in my computer lessons. Hiren's just has a million more tools to play with though.



Yea, I haven't used ophcrack in forever, but it worked really well on windows xp and I use Hiren's cd as well (_I just seen where lilhasselhoffer posted it and wanted to comment on it_) . But the link I posted is just so simple to use, and works great on Windows 7.



Easy Rhino said:


> i am positive that in 10 years my kids will be able to outsmart me when it comes to working with the PC. i am terrified!



You and me both brotha!


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Solaris17 said:


> Maybe the jokes on us and she has a copy of hirens.



Never under estimate the power of a child that _really_ wants to do something. They seem to have far more patience to break things for their own diabolical ends than I do now.


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## rtwjunkie (Oct 21, 2013)

Easy Rhino said:


> i am positive that in 10 years my kids will be able to outsmart me when it comes to working with the PC. i am terrified!



Not mine...dumb as rocks as far as computers go.  Oh my youngest will play on his PC for games like Skyrim, New Vegas, Starcraft II, and he figured out how to install Skype and get it working, but that's his only feat.  He really wouldn't care less if it went away, I think, as long as he has his precious Xbox360.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 21, 2013)

RCoon said:


> Never under estimate the power of a child that _really_ wants to do something. They seem to have far more patience to break things for their own diabolical ends than I do now.



Yea, my wife took a picture of my daughter when she was 5 wearing my headphones using my computer staring up at the monitor.. lol The headphones are bigger then her head. My wife showed me and said, "_*That's your little prodigy!*_" all I could think of was the brain telling pinky, "*The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!*"


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Mindweaver said:


> Yea, my wife took a picture of my daughter when she was 5 wearing my headphones using my computer staring up at the monitor.. lol The headphones are bigger then her head. My wife showed me and said, "_*That's your little prodigy!*_" all I could think of was the brain telling pinky, "*The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!*"



Hahahah, my 6 year old niece can do things with an iPad I never thought somebody as young as her could. I've worked in schools most of my working life, and besides teaching A-Level Media, the other half of my time is spent fixing the workarounds the kids figure out so they can play balloon tower defense flash games. Some of these schools are on the lower end of the social class, and some don't have computers at home, but they figure it out somehow. The current school is a grammar school, rich kids, and they don't even attempt anything, they're almost too dumb to try. It's pretty weird how these things work.


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## BarbaricSoul (Oct 21, 2013)

AsRock said:


> Hehe, but trying to prove a teen that he or she is not as good as you can have it's major draw backs although i do agree with you for the most part..
> 
> And BTW her's or not it always matters.
> 
> ...



Never said it would be easy, but it's just something I feel that would need to be done. Too many times these days parents just cave in when a situation gets hard. Not saying BP is that kind of parent, but a lot of my friends that are parents are guilty of it. But this is getting WAY off topic so.......


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## KrisC (Oct 21, 2013)

whats with all the 3rd party software suggestions? Pop in your win 7 install disk or thumbstick. Open up the repair console and launch the admin panel from there. Then after that reset the password. No need for 3rd party software. lol. The process of cracking an admin pass on win 7 is easier than doing it on a win 95/98/ME system now .

EDIT - didn't see that mindweaver had posted the exact same info in that link earlier.


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## Easy Rhino (Oct 21, 2013)

Mindweaver said:


> You and me both brotha!



i can see it now.. i come home and am locked out of the entire home network. there is a message on every PC that says "THE STUDENT HAS BECOME THE MASTER"


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## Static~Charge (Oct 21, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> OK this is a bit embarrasing...
> 
> My kid figured out how to remove Microsoft Family Safety from her pc and made herself admin with password... She's also proud of having done so and doesn't want me to install Family Safety again
> 
> ...



I like this utility: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. Despite the name, it works great on Windows 7. Burn it to a CD, boot from the disc, and follow the instructions (it's menu-driven). I don't bother to retrieve the admin password, just clear it so I can log in.

And you might want to remind your daughter that having a computer is a privilege, not a right. Privileges can be revoked for bad behavior.


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## Ikaruga (Oct 21, 2013)

I don't know how old is she, but you could just deny/disable internet accessibility for her computer in the router until she tells the pw. If she asks what happened, you could tell her that Mom and you can't just allow her to wonder around the internet without any kind of supervision. Tell her that you are willing to start a negotiation about some new rules, which would give her more freedom, but having a computer without any kind of supervision whatsoever is definitely off limits for minors.


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## ste2425 (Oct 21, 2013)

My sister tried that many years ago (parents password wasn't the hardest). So my dad just got me to reformat it. Trouble was we hadn't realised she actually did school work on it :/


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## Peter1986C (Oct 21, 2013)

Suddenly this makes me think of South Park season 17, episode 2: "How do you tame a horse in Minecraft?" being a kid-invented security question to block his parents from certain TV channels.


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## TheMailMan78 (Oct 21, 2013)

Wish my boy would do cool things like that BP. All mine does is want to eat cheese and destroy things. Last week he was literally hanging from a chandelier. I mean I didn't do that until I was in high school.


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## Ja.KooLit (Oct 21, 2013)

last post are mostly off topic.....


anyway, buy router.... that has firewall built in....

you can restrict surfing times.... sites.... and so on.....

even they got admin password... they cannot go online....

but, make sure to hide your router... if your daughter finds out how to crack your password, she might or big chance how to bypass your router as well... lol...


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## AsRock (Oct 21, 2013)

night.fox said:


> last post are mostly off topic.....
> 
> 
> anyway, buy router.... that has firewall built in....
> ...



When she finds the router she will hit the reset button.


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## Ikaruga (Oct 21, 2013)

AsRock said:


> When she finds the router she will hit the reset button.



It's usually very easy to remove the reset button from routers, I did it on many.


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Ikaruga said:


> you could tell her that Mom and you



BP is Mom


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## Wrigleyvillain (Oct 21, 2013)

_Microsoft Family Safety_? Oh, Lord. I don't see why everyone is assuming the kid pulled off some great hack. Chances are good it wasn't much more difficult than following some instructions from a Google search. Though hey compared to lots of people on forums she gets kudos for even that. 

Next question is what are you going to do going forward? Obviously MFS is not cutting it lol.


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## xorbe (Oct 21, 2013)

Format it.  Move PC to publicly visible common area in the house.  Claim there is a screenshot program, and that you review the results weekly.  She won't find it because it isn't there.


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## a_ump (Oct 21, 2013)

I'm all for securing your internet and protecting your children from some of the nasty and bad stuff on the web, But i must say this, i don't agree with the idea of punishing a child for outsmarting you. I have a little girl, and when she gets older(only 4 months) i don't plan to punish her for outsmarting me on something. I won't encourage her to continue but this is a moment where she used her intellect and thought on her own which is a great thing. As long as it doesn't come down to something dangerous to her life then i will secretly applaud her for using her wits


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## Jetster (Oct 21, 2013)

Awesome of you to admit being out smarted by your kid. Tell her we are impressed. I don't know if it was the right thing but when my son was 12 and I caught him looking at porn by checking his history. We sat down and looked at it together with his mom and talked about it. I never caught him again looking at porn.


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I never caught him again looking at porn.



Because all men eventually learn how to never get caught.


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## Easy Rhino (Oct 21, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Awesome of you to admit being out smarted by your kid. Tell her we are impressed. I don't know if it was the right thing but when my son was 12 and I caught him looking at porn by checking his history. We sat down and looked at it together with his mom and talked about it. I never caught him again looking at porn.



that must have been SUPER awkward for him... 

"hi son, your mom and i want to talk about triple penetration"


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## Peter1986C (Oct 21, 2013)

Is TP being DP+oral?


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## qubit (Oct 21, 2013)

Easy Rhino said:


> that must have been SUPER awkward for him...
> 
> "hi son, your mom and i want to talk about triple penetration"



I'll bet that was the intent, to put him off. I'll bet their son has since learned some real skills in covering his tracks.


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## ShiBDiB (Oct 21, 2013)

Assuming it's a pc you paid for and provide to her.. Ground her and toss the hd in the garbage.. By removing it and not letting you put it back on it's basically a big middle finger to you.


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## Easy Rhino (Oct 21, 2013)

qubit said:


> I'll bet that was the intent, to put him off. I'll bet their son has since learned some real skills in covering his tracks.



themailman78 level ability...


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## EarthDog (Oct 21, 2013)

RCoon said:


> Because all men eventually learn how to never get caught.


 Exactly.. Don't think for a SECOND that he stopped looking. He just stopped getting caught, Dad.


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## Jetster (Oct 21, 2013)

Exactly, its important to develop those skills


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## Kreij (Oct 21, 2013)

Protecting your daughter from the evils of the internet is important, but it’s more important to teach her to protect herself and at the same time reinforce the trust you both share.
Here’s what I would do ….

1)	Praise her for figuring out how to circumvent the system and tell her you are proud of her for being so smart.
2)	Tell her that the Family Safety stuff is not just there to stop her from doing things, but to protect all the computers that use the internet in the house.
3)	Tell her you will re-install the protection software, but will give her access to it (the password) so if it’s stopping her from doing something she can configure it differently, and that you trust her to do the right things, *IF* she gives you the admin password because you may need it when she is not there to fix something.
4)	Re-install the protection software and note how it was set. Then in the future you can go look to see if she shut anything off to give you an idea of what she is up to, and you will have the admin password in case you need to fix something.
5)	Give her a big hug.

If she will not give you the admin password and refuses the deal, pull the CPU out of the rig and tell her "have fun".


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## qubit (Oct 21, 2013)

Kreij said:


> Protecting your daughter from the evils of the internet is important, but it’s more important to teach her to protect herself and at the same time reinforce the trust you both share.
> Here’s what I would do ….
> 
> 1)	Praise her for figuring out how to circumvent the system and tell her you are proud of her for being so smart.
> ...



More seriously sensible advice from The Kreij. 

The strong educational / explanatory and non-authoritarian slant will make her feel good about herself for being smart and it'll reduce the chance of friction and tensions in the household, along with helping to develop her skills and become even cleverer. Oh and it'll make her more likely to behave and hide things less...


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## a_ump (Oct 21, 2013)

+1 to Kreij


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## Ikaruga (Oct 22, 2013)

RCoon said:


> BP is Mom



oh, thanks, I did not know. Please accept my apologies.


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## natr0n (Oct 22, 2013)

Ask for password and/or threaten with a full format !!!


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## entropy13 (Oct 22, 2013)

Well at least your daughter haven't gotten access to some pictures of yours, BP.


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## GreiverBlade (Oct 22, 2013)

tigger said:


> You have a intelligent daughter



was about to say that... wow just wow ahah 

sidenote: i hope you can fix this issue but ... dont be mad at her, its pretty awesome what she did, even if its not right  


Kreij said:


> Protecting your daughter from the evils of the internet is important, but it’s more important to teach her to protect herself and at the same time reinforce the trust you both share.
> Here’s what I would do ….
> 
> 1)	Praise her for figuring out how to circumvent the system and tell her you are proud of her for being so smart.
> ...



totaly agreed!


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## Black Panther (Oct 22, 2013)

Kreij said:


> 3)	Tell her you will re-install the protection software, but will give her access to it (the password) so if it’s stopping her from doing something she can configure it differently, and that you trust her to do the right things, *IF* she gives you the admin password because you may need it when she is not there to fix something.



Thanks Kreij, that seems to be the best compromise I might try so far.

Perhaps I'm soft-hearted, it's just that she burst out crying (puppy-dog eyes, sniffles and all) telling me that she felt hurt that I didn't trust her by having 'my account' on her pc.

Throughout the entire year I've had family safety on her pc - she only watches youtubes like ctfxc (I figure they're amateur video makers on youtube?) and similar 'vlogs' (video-blogs = vlogs) all her online time. She has facebook but rarely checks it.

The only requests I got were to download some Disney/Family videos *cough cough* off a well-known pirate site, but then she wouldn't know what's legal to download and what's not... 

She never searched for anything inappropriate for her age. In fact to date she still closes her eyes and goes 'ewwww' whenever she catches us watching a movie with people making out. To explain the reason for family-safety I told her (she's an avid Sims player) would you want to accidentally see something where people are woo-hooing (sims speech for having sex) without a blanket over them and you see everything? And she went all EEWWW.... 

I still have to figure out how she got hold of the pw in the first place. My guess is that she secretly found my little black book of passwords.... then put it back in place...  (so sorry to disappoint any who thought my 10 year old was some genius budding hacker). 

Well, she might be, but she sleeps too early and too heavily for her to get the better of me.


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## Ikaruga (Oct 22, 2013)

Kreij said:


> 1)	Praise her for figuring out how to circumvent the system and tell her you are proud of her for being so smart.


Sorry if I'm spoiling anything here, but I just can't agree with this point. I think it's wrong. I can't help it, sorry again :shadedshu


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## GreiverBlade (Oct 22, 2013)

Ikaruga said:


> Sorry if I'm spoiling anything here, but I just can't agree with this point. I think it's wrong. I can't help it, sorry again :shadedshu



sometime saying its wrong and getting mad is the best way to worsen the trust issue, a bit of child psychology and not letting her getting above her head due to the compliment is a good way, taking a step back and mixing fun + lesson without punishment as long as it is understand as it should be. 

i know its hard but worth the try


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## Ikaruga (Oct 22, 2013)

GreiverBlade said:


> sometime saying its wrong and getting mad is the best way to worsen the trust issue



If you read back, you will see that I did not suggest anything like that. Yes I proposed that she should also lock her out, but only to let her experience the consequences of her actions, and *definitely not* to start a "war". 
Negotiation about knowing the admin password, or any kind expansions of her "user rights" can only begin when she releases the computer she locked down, and when she understands that taking away things how she just did will bring her nothing but only trouble in life. That's why I could not praise such an act, even if it's quite an achievement from a technical point of view (for example, would you also praise her if she would have done a highly sophisticated credit card fraud on a bank account, only because she needed money?)

All of this doesn't mean that one should not hug the child at the end ofc, but moral standards are very important imho.


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## GreiverBlade (Oct 22, 2013)

im speaking of the interpretation on the side of the child  not that you said to start a war  

frankly if i had a son/daughter who did a bank fraud or something technically wrong i would be proud and amazed of what he/she did but i would also make him/her realize its wrong ofc the law would be here to do the worse part of the scolding ahah, but here we dont talk about something that important , 

we talk about something where scolding could be more hurting than making her realize its wrong but well done, 

at last i can agree with the last sentence ... since its what i tried to explain with my crappy swissglish 

ok ok i know ... steal a egg steal a cow ... password admin overtake by a 10yrs old little lady will allways end in fully fledged cyber criminal


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## Steevo (Oct 23, 2013)

Assign yourself system level rights and remove the password by batch script?


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