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prevent my kids from downloading files from the Internet

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kyrathaba:
I have two boys, ages 11 and 9 who, despite past punishment and dire threats have continued to download silly games, toolbars, etc., onto their desktop computer.  Last night I spent over 2 hours in Safe mode running Anti-Maleware and SuperAntiSpyware.  Found and (supposedly) got rid of many trojans, adware, and at least one worm.  It's still not behaving right.

My question, without getting into a discussion of whether they should even BE allowed to have a computer (which my wife and I are also discussing) is:

Is there a way, without shelling out money for specialized software, to prevent them from downloading games, toolbars, etc.?  I still want the computer to be able to download images for webpages, Windows Updates, etc.  I just don't want them to be able to manually download anything.

The kids' computer runs Windows XP SP3 (I know, I know... but it only has 512 Mb of RAM).

Bamse:
You could start by blocking with dns-service. What they download is probably not covered by OpenDNS so use DynDns http://www.dyndns.com/services/dynguide/ Has the advantage over similar services that you can whitelist/blacklist domains. Set dns service up in router if possible. OpenDNS is way more slick and probably better with parental control but they save "malware" protection for those with too much money to spend. If you need safe mode and antimalware programs to clean up Opendns will not be enough.

Norton has dns-service http://nortondns.com/ and toolbar protection, Safe Web Lite http://safeweb.norton.com/

Also WOT http://www.mywot.com/ will block many unfortunate downloads. Set it up so only RED sites are affected. No warnings, chose block. That way less FPs. They can ignore WOT of course but then they want trouble :) WOT can insert colored lamps in Google searches and elsewhere - you can turn all that off. Can be as transparent as dns blocking.

Microsoft also have Live Family Safety http://explore.live.com/windows-live-family-safety Don't know how well it filters but obviously more direct control or spying.

Not sure of impact on XP but they should have course not be logged in as Admin. Limited users for them.

Also a good idea to remove ads, probably what they click on to get toolbars. If IE is main browser try Simple Adblock http://simple-adblock.com/ works just as good as Adblock on Firefox.  

cmpm:
The family safety built into XP, will kill most everything-not recommended.

The rest of Bamse's suggestions are good.

I'd make a backup of the entire system when it's in good shape.
Save yourself the trouble of hunting down changes.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
Macrium free can make a full backup to anywhere you want it.
And it will erase and restore.

I have two boys as well and they started even earlier then those ages.
Which I would say, it is good for them to learn the computer and keyboard early.
But also to learn how to fix what they screwed up.

Malwarebytes and SAS are worth the money for full time protection imo.
Also a firewall will make them think. Plenty of free ones there.

lanux128:
iirc there's a registry edit that disables file downloads in Internet Explorer. maybe you can try that.. also set the PC on limited user account.

Bamse:
Yes a Windows wizard can probably lock down any computer to military standards. But when it comes to kids of that age I think it is better to promote freedom and problems than only boring freedom :) If they screw up best protection could be to take a long long time fixing computer. If you make it impossible to get in trouble, in worst case white list method, or just re-image computer they do not learn how to manage internet and incomings. Easy to say when not a parent perhaps ;)

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