How To Make The Computer You Gamble On Child Safe — The Best Online Casino Guru - TheBestCasinoGuide.com

Well folks, it has been an interesting week here for The Casino Guru! After a solid week of ice storms, freezing rain, snow, chilling cold and massive power blackouts, we are happy to be back with you. Your friend, The Casino Guru, spent most of his time sitting under several blankets by candlelight, waiting for the power to be restored. Of course, this allowed for lots of time to think about the issues that concern the users of http://www.thebestcasinoguide.com/. One thing in particular that came to mind is a question that was asked by a good friend. She told us she loves to gamble online but is concerned because she shares her computer with her 14 year old son. She wanted to know what she could do to restrict his access to websites that were not appropriate for a teenager and she also wanted to be able to protect her privacy.

This is a great question and we are sure that many online gamblers share her concerns. Kids are naturally curious and teenagers of her sons age have a tendency to not always do what they are told. We will focus our article on steps you can take to protect your computer and leave the child raising issues to the experts in that field. However, we will say that since kids do tend to be highly curious, try not to make your online gambling into a big mystery that your kid is just itching to figure out. Don’t flaunt online gambling in a 14 year old’s face but if they ask you about it, be honest. Tell them it’s a hobby and you do it for fun and not for profit. Let them know from the start that gambling is very unpredictable and you should always gamble with the understanding that you stand a greater chance of losing than winning. Stress to them the value of money. Let them know the money you use to gamble with online was money you saved for that purpose and that you gamble with strict limits. Make sure they understand that you never use household money to gamble. Remind them that just like driving a car, getting a credit card or drinking alcohol, gambling is a privilege that comes with age and experience and they will have to wait until they are of legal age. Hopefully, most kids will accept these points and not try to gamble online. But for those kids who may try to gamble online despite your logic and also to protect your own privacy, The Casino Guru has some suggestions.

The first step the parent must take is to setup secure user accounts on the computer. Assuming that the vast majority of you use Windows operating systems, our advice will be geared for Windows users. (Frankly, if you are using Linux or Unix, you are probably an expert anyway and know how to secure your computer.) Log on to your computer as the Administrator and go to the control panel from your Start Menu. In the Control Panel, go to User Accounts. In Windows 7, this is called User Accounts and Family Safety. Set up a new password for your Administrator account and record the password on paper to store somewhere safe for backup in case you should forget it. Use a random password of numbers and letters and avoid family names and birth dates. The administrator account is for your use only and will be able to control the privileges of all other accounts you set up on the computer. Every single account you make will have its own unique user name and password that you will have a copy of that is kept in a safe place. No one else should ever have access to the Administrator account other than the Administrator(s).

Before you connect to the internet from any account on your computer, you must make sure to have your anti virus software installed and configured to protect all user accounts. All anti virus and firewall installation and configuration will be done from the Administrator account. After you install your anti virus, update it and run a full scan of your computer. Next, you will want to configure the built in Windows Firewall or install and configure a 3rd party firewall. After this is done, you must use the Windows update program to completely bring your operating system up to date. These are essential steps to protect your computer from the outside world which is just as important as protecting the computer for you kids. If you are unsure how to do these things or unable to accomplish these tasks, get help from someone who knows how to do it. Even if you have to spend $75 to $100 to have a professional fully configure and protect your computer, do it. The potential for identity theft and credit card fraud is very real on the internet; not to mention the crippling viruses and Trojans you can get while surfing the net. The small amount of time and or money you spend to properly configure and secure your computer could save you thousands of dollars and dozens of hours of your time. Trying to recover an identity stolen while surfing the net on an unprotected computer can be a nightmare.

OK, so you set up an Administrator account, installed anti virus software, configured the windows firewall and updated your operating system. What is next? Since the administrator account is your control account, make another account just for yourself that you will use for your gambling activities. This second account is where you will install any gambling software. By making a second account for gambling, you will restrict outside access to your Administrator controls. Give this account it own unique logon and password. When you try to install the your gambling software to this account, the operating system will prompt you for Administrator permission to make the install. This goes for any software that anyone attempts to install to user accounts, because you will configure the Administrator permissions to require Administrator consent to make any changes to the computer. You will also have already configured your anti virus and firewall to protect this second account and all other accounts.

Now make a third account for that 14 year old son of yours. Give it a unique logon and password that both your son and you will know. Stress to him the fact that he has a password protected account that belongs only to him as a positive point. Find out what games or programs he wants to use and install the ones that you approve. Configure the access permissions and his software is ready for him to use. If he tries to add any games or software on his own at a later date, the system will block him from doing so and ask for an administrator’s permission. This is an effective way to make sure of what software and games you kid is using and to prevent him from altering your configuration. It is not a method of controlling what websites he accesses.

Now we will go a step further. While Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista all allow parents to setup some Administrator controls such as how long a user can access the internet, what games they can play, what programs they can use, it does not restrict access to specific websites. For this you will need to buy third party software like Net Nanny or use the security software offered by most of today’s internet access providers. These programs will allow the parent to either block specific websites or choose exactly which websites their kids can access. They also offer more sophisticated tools to protect our more tech savvy kids with features like SSL Filtering and blocking, IM monitoring, Facebook reporting, filtering, and/or blocking, PC game blocking and blocking proxy (work-around) sites. This is a parents best choice to control their child’s access to the internet. We highly recommend that parents make use of this type of software, especially for younger children. Of course, this software should not just be applied without explanation as this tends to just add drama. Explain to your kids about responsible use of the internet, explain the risks and dangers of the internet and take the time to have some fun by surfing the net with your kids.

So there you have it. A Basic step by step guild to protecting your PC for your kids so you can enjoy your online gambling and they can still safely surf the net. If you have any further questions on this important issue, post a comment here to The Casino Guru and we will do our best to help you. Please share your experiences with us concerning how you have handled similar issues with your kids. Our readers are welcome to post their comments about their own experiences with gambling and computer security.