Help! 4 pre-teen girls saw a HORRIBLE website pop up last night - how do I block this

[Home'scool]

My daugher, who was having a sleepover, wanted to know if they could rent a certain movie. I typed into google "family movie reviews" to search for it.

The first website listed was fine, but didn't give enough detail.

The second website listed an address, ([url]www.nelsamp.neu.edu --middleschool ....) but when I clicked on it, it switched addresses and up popped a p*rn review website, complete with disgustingly graphic pictures!!! There was a grid of about 9 pictures.

I had 4 girls crowded around the screen! I shut the computer, but I am sure they saw at least a glimpse.

HOW do you avoid something like this happening!!!

[Home'scool]

Sorry! I didn't mean to make the bad website clickable. I just wanted to list it so you could see that it was supposed to be a normal website, but somehow it switches while loading to a bad website.

DO NOT CLICK ON THE WEBSITE!

[Home'scool]

Okay, I figured out how to edit the website so you can't click on it.

Sorry for the confusion

[Mx5]

My daugher, who was having a sleepover, wanted to know if they could rent a certain movie. I typed into google "family movie reviews" to search for it.

The first website listed was fine, but didn't give enough detail.

The second website listed an address, ([url]www.nelsamp.neu.edu --middleschool ....) but when I clicked on it, it switched addresses and up popped a p*rn review website, complete with disgustingly graphic pictures!!! There was a grid of about 9 pictures.

I had 4 girls crowded around the screen! I shut the computer, but I am sure they saw at least a glimpse.

HOW do you avoid something like this happening!!!

K-9 is amazing & easy to use & free. Really, what more could we want? Our family has been using it for about 9 months. It's fantastic. It also allows you to block all internet usage by time, day, content, keyword etc. and logs every single site & ad.

K9 Web protection (http://www.K9webprotection.com)

Oh, and with the link you gave, it ends in .edu which means it's a school (degree granting college). AAAAAAACK! What's up with that?

If my dd were at anyone's home and accidentally got an eyeful of this, I'd want to know. You may wish to consider letting the girls' parents know as a courtesy. I'm sure their parents will understand.

[Home'scool]

Because the website "was" for an educational institution before it switched, would K-9 still block it?

[Mx5]

They filter on content, images, etc. and are constantly updating their database. It would be easy to report if it's not already been blocked.

[Mom2jnb]

We had a very similar situation happen back in the fall with our son. UGH..it wrenched my heart to the core....

We worked with Bsafeonline It is FABULOUS

Thanks,
Alison

[HeatherH]

I have a friend who runs a terrific ministry - http://www.generationsofvirtue.org (http://www.generationsofvirtue.org/)

Here has been her advice. If your kids accidentally stumble on a p*rn site, they should do these things:

Close the window immediately.
Run and tell you.

It is one thing to close the window. But they also need to be trained to tell you, DON'T keep it a secret. That way, if you're looking through your internet history, you don't think, "Oh no! They looked on purpose!" And, it trains them that this should be out in the open, not a secret "I looked" issue.

Does that make sense? I know there are other issues here, but that at least can help in the future.

[GothicGyrl]

I just went to the website and no such thing came up and I do not have any kind of web protection whatsoever.

When I selected middle school, the website for it came up "access denied--forbidden on this server", which means either someone hijacked YOUR computer with porn (that is someone was surfing without your knowledge), OR YOUR computer got hijacked with spyware, OR THEIR server was attacked with bot-returners(that is, when you type in an address, thinking it correct, it goes someplace else--which is what you described) AND the school caught this and chose to remove that page until they could make their end more secure.

All other pages seem to go where they say they do. But right now, the page is safe, there is no porn popping up anywhere.

[islandmama]

I have a friend who runs a terrific ministry - http://www.generationsofvirtue.org (http://www.generationsofvirtue.org/)

Here has been her advice. If your kids accidentally stumble on a p*rn site, they should do these things:

Close the window immediately.
Run and tell you.

It is one thing to close the window. But they also need to be trained to tell you, DON'T keep it a secret. That way, if you're looking through your internet history, you don't think, "Oh no! They looked on purpose!" And, it trains them that this should be out in the open, not a secret "I looked" issue.

Does that make sense? I know there are other issues here, but that at least can help in the future.

I agree with this, but you do want to block sites to prevent the temptation of clicking out of curiosity...

We us K9 too, and it does a wonderful job! You can even track what sites were block/attempted... and it's free!

Anita

[beansprouts]

I just went to the website and no such thing came up and I do not have any kind of web protection whatsoever.

When I selected middle school, the website for it came up "access denied--forbidden on this server", which means either someone hijacked YOUR computer with porn (that is someone was surfing without your knowledge), OR YOUR computer got hijacked with spyware, OR THEIR server was attacked with bot-returners(that is, when you type in an address, thinking it correct, it goes someplace else--which is what you described) AND the school caught this and chose to remove that page until they could make their end more secure.

All other pages seem to go where they say they do. But right now, the page is safe, there is no porn popping up anywhere.

We had a similar problem when our computer became infected by spyware. You may want to consider this as a possibility. Sorry you have to deal with this!

[HeatherH]

I agree with this, but you do want to block sites to prevent the temptation of clicking out of curiosity...


you're right, Anita - but it's good to have a strategy for the "what if it DOES happen" time!

[gardenschooler]

This happened to me once, and the page would NOT allow me to click off of it. It was awful! It wasn't just....well, nevermind. I had to turn the computer off to get it to go away.

Turns out we were infected with spyware. {{{Shudder}}}.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Close the window immediately.
Run and tell you.



The only issue that I would have with this advice is that VERY often, closing the window for some of these pop-ups is impossible. They are designed to open new cascades of worse and worse images with each click to "close" them.

The better (IMO) advice would be to immediately turn off the MONITOR and then run to tell you. Then you can deal with the cascading images, the freezing of the computer, or simply closing the window.

Learned this the hard way in my early days of internet use while finding something for my brother-in-law. :eek: By the time I was done trying to "close" things and reached instead for the power button on the computer, unimaginable (yeah, even for me) stuff was happening on the screen. :eek::eek::eek:

Sigh.

[Josie]

GothicGirl,
Would K-9 or a similar program block the site even if you were hijacked or bot-returned, or whatever?? Can you tell I don't know much about the technical side of this stuff?

Thanks,
Josie

[Snickerdoodle]

You could try spybot (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html)

or

spyware blaster (http://www.download.com/SpywareBlaster/3000-8022_4-10196637.html?tag=list)

if you think your computer is infected with spyware.

[Mrs Mungo]

You could try spybot (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html)

or

spyware blaster (http://www.download.com/SpywareBlaster/3000-8022_4-10196637.html?tag=list)

if you think your computer is infected with spyware.

I agree with downloading spybot. I would also recommend downloading Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware

Run them *both* at least every couple of weeks. Each will catch some things the other will not. Make sure you update them at least once a month. They are both free and work really well at keeping your computer spyware-free.

[Home'scool]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

I love the internet for all the educational stuff (I don't think I could homeschool without it!), but I HATE the nasty stuff that is so prevelant.