Something horrible jumped out of the computer

[BusyMum]

and screamed at my son! I have told him so many times not to use google but he decided to do so today when I was busy nursing baby. He found a fun game and was happily playing it online when all of a sudden the screaming and disfigured face of a small girl filled the screen!

OMG! :001_huh:

He came racing out to me shaking all over! Talk about a convincing natural consequence of not listening to Mum!

I am feeling really upset for him. He is back to his chirpy self - I immediately put him to juicing lemons with the electric juicer which made his day and totally distracted him.

How can I ring-fence Google so he can use his favourite websites and not have this kind of thing happen again!

[King Alfred Academy]

YIKES! I hope he is able to sleep in peace tonight!

[BusyMum]

It is a really nasty horrible practical joke that I had heard about months back. I have no idea how he managed to get on to it - which is scary in itself. :(

[Amy in Orlando]

Ugh! I think I know what you're talking about and it scared ME to death. Your poor son! My rule, even with my older kids, is NO googling unless I'm right behind them. It's not foolproof, but it helps. ((()))

[BusyMum]

LOL! I'm shaking just thinking about it but he's happily trying to suck his brothers hair into mohawks with the vacuum cleaner.

I really hope it doesn't upset him tonight. He gets night terrors regularly anyway so this isn't going to help. :(

[Amy in Orlando]

LOL! I'm shaking just thinking about it but he's happily trying to suck his brothers hair into mohawks with the vacuum cleaner.

I really hope it doesn't upset him tonight. He gets night terrors regularly anyway so this isn't going to help. :(

:lol: on the mohawks - isn't it fun how easily they can be distracted sometimes? I had two that had night terrors. If it helps, they never seemed to be related to "current events" in their lives. Just my experience, but I am wishing you a calm night.

[sdWTMer]

You poor kiddo! That is scary. :glare:

[jkwynn]

We use firefox web browser on my son's computer, and installed Glubble (http://www.glubble.com/) with it. He's only 6, but he's a really good speller, lol.

It works well, IMO. It has several kid-safe sites pre-approved (like Disney games), and then he can 'request' to add other sites, but can't log on to them yet. No googling, either.

Then, I have to log in to my account (on that computer) to permit or deny the sites he requested. You can add one page, or the whole site.

The first night we installed it, we sat and he thought of the stuff he liked to play (mainly club penguin) and I added those myself.

It's handy.:001_smile:

If you do a search on parental control for other browsers, there are probably similar programs no matter what you're running. I can only speak about the one we use, though.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

That's awful. Poor kid.

[BusyMum]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have just done this!

It gave me a real fright at how easily and quickly he accessed something unsavory! Now he is completely ring-fenced to safe sites.

He wanted to talk about it before bed. After discussing how the person put it in the game as a nasty joke he turned to me solemnly and said: "I really don't think they must like kids."

[fivetails]

Oh I know exactly what you're talking about. That thing scared the chickens out of me the first time someone linked me to it. :lol:

Poor kiddo - tell him it's just a stupid joke, that some people *enjoy* being scared - kinda like how some people love to go through a spooky haunted house at Halloween and others won't go in at all. ;)

Now what's this Gubble thing all about? *investigating* ...we don't have an parental control stuff on the computer.... ds9 doesn't use it and dd11 only goes to sites I say she can - webkinz being her top one.... anytime there's something to google, I do it. If she's heard of a new site, she tells me and I check it out.... I do have a section of my bookmarks set for her, but I need to update that...she's just really not that much of a computer user.

[BusyMum]

Glubble is only availible for Firefox users. Download the Firefox browser (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/www.getfirefox.com) (which you can use in addition to Internet Explorer - it isn't one or the other) and then go to www.glubble.com (http://www.glubble.com). You can quickly and easily download Glubble and it is set up with 50 safe sites. You can set up a Glubble homepage for each of your kids and customise the websites that they can get to. It looks fabulous and it seems to be exactly what I need.

[fivetails]

Gubble is only availible for Firefox users. Download the Firefox browser (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/www.getfirefox.com) (which you can use in addition to Internet Explorer - it isn't one or the other) and then go to www.gubble.com (http://www.gubble.com). You can quickly and easily download Gubble and it is set up with 50 safe sites. You can set up a Gubble homepage for each of your kids and customise the websites that they can get to. It looks fabulous and it seems to be exactly what I need.

Oh I'm a FireFox only user :D ....IE drives me batty and it's only used when dh is on the computer because I won't touch it. :tongue_smilie:

Oddly enough, I've never heard of Gubble until now - not that I recall, anyway....I think I might try it out though. :)

[gardening momma]

Glubble is only availible for Firefox users. Download the Firefox browser (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/www.getfirefox.com) (which you can use in addition to Internet Explorer - it isn't one or the other) and then go to www.glubble.com (http://www.glubble.com). You can quickly and easily download Glubble and it is set up with 50 safe sites. You can set up a Glubble homepage for each of your kids and customise the websites that they can get to. It looks fabulous and it seems to be exactly what I need.
I went to the glubble website and clicked the button to download it...and it downloaded the firefox browser at the same time (we didn't have it). Maybe it checks to see if you have it. Seems like a timesaver. My oldest is 4, but is asking to learn how to use the computer, so we'll start with glubble and she won't know the difference for quite some time! ;)