Protecting son

Hi Guys

Not sure if anyone can help but I would like to know what my son is getting up to on his machine, especially with regard to chatting on MSN. He is pretty good on machines and has changed his passwords etc. so I can't just log in as him anymore.

What I would like to do is find a way of cracking his passwords - win7 logon and MSN if possible so that I can log on as him as I don't wish to reset the passwords as that would tell him that I don't trust him to behave sensibly.

Is there anything out there that will allow me to do this?

 

I saw this post this morning and did not know how to reply without offending the OP but you did it perfectly.

 

Thanks for the replies, and appreciate what you are saying, it is something that I have been considering. However having full access to the machine doesn't give me access to his emails as they are web based (hotmail).

 

Who actually bought the machine?
How old is your son?
My neighbor from a few years ago had a similar,in reverse, problem. He had full control as Administrator, son had a guest (limited) account. His 14 year old son got PO'ed at him for some reason. The son went to a tech forum (not here) and posted pretty much the same explanation.
Tech site provided him a way to get control. Father then found himself getting all kinds of bills where the kid was using his account. Guy was having ALL passwords saved, so kid had a field day.Denied knowing what was happening.Bills were from porn sites, you name it, the boy was trying to buy it.

 

Like people have said we do not know what is going on in the family/son. Maybe hes already a trouble one, maybe hes already looking at porn, maybe hes already doing things. But in the end your kid will continue no matter what you do to watch/read his stuff. I know for personally that when I was younger I talked to girls and guys and heck even looked at porn when little and dumb. You can take his privs or computer away and he will just go else where to use it or view it. Also if hes a trouble kid then do more instead of letting him use the pc, take it away totally. Take things away for longer times... its 2010 and internet/computers are way out there..

 

As a parent, it isn't really that hard. "Because I said so," accomplishes it quite well.

 

Not in this day and age, when all they need to do is visit a friend or go to the public Library.

 

Actually, to me it would communicate, "I don't trust you, and I am taking all your privacy away". Which obviously would have made it extremely difficult for me to stay in touch with my boyfriend at all, and that in turn would have led to some serious, serious family conflict.

It's all in what you want to accomplish. Do you want full control over your kid's online activity, or do you want to have an open and trusting relationship with them where they are comfortable sharing some of it with you, and you are comfortable that what they choose to keep private is harmless?

 

Have you thought about just sitting down and discussing your concerns with him?
Done properly, without making demands, can sometimes pay off with some surprising dividends.
Could actually bring you closer together.

 

To answer the main theme here, yes I do trust him, but he is only 10 and I don't trust the people he may be talking to, and I certainly don't trust a couple of his school friends. As I am sure other parents have found it is difficult trying to gauge the line between invasion of privacy and wanting to protect your kids. With the older ones I had no issues but this one is much more easily led by his so-called mates and I would rather stop any trouble before it starts.

 

How old are the others?
Does he respect them enough to listen to them if they explained?

 

That's where the real difficulty is, of course. You may have some control over his online activities, but you have absolutely zero control over his friends and the people he might be talking to online.

A friend of mine set up an arrangement with her son (who at the time was 7, which admittedly is a bit younger), where he can have his own computer in his room, for fun and games, but without an internet connection. Anything he needs to do online, he gets to use a guest account on her computer. It seems to work out very well for them, but that may be because her son didn't have regular access to the internet before the set things up this way, so he didn't lose anything.

Tim's suggestion of having the computer where you can casually glance over his shoulder, like in the family room, is one that nearly every family I know uses.