Indeed. And if the browser is amenable to proper configuration, and properly configured, then non-administrators would not be able to disable proxy configuration either.
I haven't tried this, (no kids to worry about), with recent browsers like Firefox and Opera, but it should be possible to protect their configuration files/registry entries so that non administrators cannot make changes. I'm not sure whether this would prevent transient changes in non-MS browsers, but it was certainly possible to cripple IE 4/5 in this way for corporate purposes.
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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If I had kids, I'd probably make it so their accounts would not allow them to install anything, especially from the web.
Personally, depending upon their ages, I'd be more likely to give them unrestricted access to the web, than allow them to install stuff without supervision. I don't think censorship works in general, and with kids in particular. Better to acknowledge that pornography and similar exists and educate them about it, than pretend it doesn't I think, but that's an opinion formed without the benefit of being tested.
How do you go about stopping them from installing stuff? Without having put it into practice, something along the lines of:
- They would only have write privilege to their own home directories.
- They would not have execute privileges in those home directories.
That would allow them to download anything they wanted to install but require me to do the installation for them. It should also prevent a whole class of infections. There are probably loopsholes in this simplistic approach, but I've no doubts that with suitable research they can be plugged.
In fact, the sixth hit on Google with the search term "setting up windows accounts for kids" turned up this. Now I haven't vetted that in detail, but the basics are all right there.
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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But then, can't the kids just install a different browser and configure them not to use a proxy?
If the only way out of the firewall is via the proxy, then who cares :)
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