'Covert' internet activity log - best one...

[mking3181]

Hello,

Apologies if ive started this thread in the wrong area, wasnt sure really what it would come under...

I need help! My 9 year old DS is very, very computer savvy and would be on his laptop or tablet playing or researching minecraft 24/7 if i let him. He is also a bit of a pork pie teller so if i suspect he has been online without asking he never admits it unless he is absolutely caught out red handed.

I have a few days ago found out that he has been waiting for me to go to sleep at night then creeping out and getting one of the computers and then playing minecraft until who knows what time. I thought it was a bit odd when, the morning after he did this, he slept until almost lunchtime, i thought he was maybe coming down with something until happened to check my email, where i had a receipt for an app to do with minecraft that had been purchased through the amazon app store at 2.09am... DS insisted until he was blue in the face that he had no idea what the app was, he hadnt bought it, nothing to do with him, until i said to him that there was a log on the tablet that shows the internet pages looked at and what times (massive lie), so i would be able to tell if he was lying and if he didnt tell me the truth before i checked the log there would be even bigger trouble. Finally, he owned up.

I have no idea how long hes been doing this and how often. He is murder to get to sleep of a night and has always sneaked out of his room, to get his DSi or torch to read with or now computers. I try to store all computers and games under my bed before i go to sleep so he cant get them without waking me, but sometimes i forgot or didnt hide them all, so i started hanging a carrier bag on his door handle with a load of pennies in so when he opened the door the bag would fall and hed be rumbled. But he has worked out how to open the door by only pushing the handle down very slightly so not enough for the bag to fall off (hes WAY too clever).

So then i thought about if there actually is some app that i can download or software i can buy that does keep a log of webpages visited and times, and also what other programmes have been used and times, as ive just remembered that minecraft on the laptop is a downloaded game, not played through the internet i dont think. Has anyone got any recommendations or advice? It would also need to be discreet, no big icons on the desktop or any noticeable signs that it was on there and watching him as if he knew or spotted the software/app in the applications list then he would be on it like a shot and wouldnt take long to work out how to disable or delete it....

Someone please help me...

There are no apps to do this, at least not ones that are foolproof. If he is as savvy as you say, he will switch to incognito mode which will prevent logging happening.

Simple. Passwords.

You need to set up passwords on your computers so he cannot log in to them without your permission. Never make them simple either. He will be able to guess them.

Also you need to change the password on the router so he cannot connect devices to the WiFi.

If you can update me with a little info as in what kind of router you use and what operating system I can point you in the right direction to do this.

You're right, a savvy kid will dodge logging and blocking, passwords are the key, or rather they're the lock :)

Part of this is passwords that can't be guessed, so your cat's name or middle name backwards aren't enough to stop someone who will try these and hundreds of others.

A good way to create a child resistant password is to take the first letter of the words from a song you liked as as kid, so the Pet Shop Boys West End Girls "Sometimes you're better off dead, there's a gun in your hand...." becomes sybodtagiyh which won't keep out the CIA but will resist a 10 year old.

I'd be tempted to let him "earn" time on the computer, homework done is 20 minutes, washing up is ten, clearing bedroom 30, not saying a rude word this week earns an hour, etc.

Definitely passwords! Just make sure it's not something he can guess (and, to be super safe, use a different password for each device and change them every month).

I don't really understand.

The kid is nine

You are the grown up. You are cleverer than him. Probably. More importantly though...you are in charge.

So act like it.