Finally, Here It Is
A while back I promised a big, important post. The time has come.
Readers of my site will know that having the internet in my home is a dangerous thing for me, as I struggle with a certain vice which the internet makes easy to give in to.
My wife and I agreed that to get the net again, we'd need to install some filtering software to keep out the bad stuff, and to that end we forked over some coin for CyberPatrol.
Now I'm a sinful man, and a relatively smart techy guy, so I'll admit that I tried to get around it a few times; partly to see merely if I could, and partly to get around it.
Thankfully, I was unsuccessful. It can't be shut down in system services or msconfig, it can't be uninstalled, it still applies when you create a new system user; in short, it is a very well protected program.
Sure, there's the drastic step of reformatting and starting everything from scratch again - but also thankfully, my laziness trumps by sinfulness.
Then I figured it out. I figured out a way around CyberPatrol. It is quite simple, really.
No, I'm not going to post it. That would be scandalous.
So this internet thing is going to become an issue of self-control, instead of external control, all over again.
Scary.
But I feel up to it. I can do this.
Please, all of you, keep me accountable. Don't be afraid to email me to check on my progress in this struggle.
This post probably wouldn't have happened, but Owen (::thrive!) sent me a follow up email to a post from a few weeks ago. His words - although obviously not intended as such - were like a slap across the face to a man suddenly going insane.
Thanks Owen! You may well have saved my blog, and my soul!
hi, just checking in on your progress in the self control department. Lent is the perfect time to remind yourself why it's worth it to abstain from temptation!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah! I'll be posting an update soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
ReplyDeleteCome on, tell us....
ReplyDeleteInformation should be free.
What did you do, replace the executable?
Killing the process & reconfiguring things & killing it before it has a chance to fix itself?
Use one of Mattel's backdoors?
I have yet to encounter a computer with CyberPatrol, NetNanny, et al so I'm not sure why I'm interested other than for anectodal reasons. If you have physical access to a computer, all bets are off, so I suggest you build a transparent proxy in the form of an OpenBSD router, give your wife the keys to the server closet and tell her to change the root password.
\/\/\/
We're a single computer family, and I had to convince my wife for months before she let me upgrade my HD from 4 to 30 GB, so I don't suspect she'll be too eager to purchase another computer to help me do something that ultimately comes down to self-control.
ReplyDeleteBesides, if she left the house, I'd just get out the saw and cut a hole in the closet door to disable the protection.
To answer your questions, no, no, and no - the first two options corrupt the program which then shuts down access to everything online and must be repaired by someone who knows the password. The third method, if you're referring to proxy sites, was blocked by default.
I will never publish how I got around it.
What I will publish is that God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. If anybody out there feels the need for porn to feel love, let me admonish you as my confessor admonishes me: ask God to love you when you're in that mood.