A guy at my church men’s group says he’s had to take away the PS3 because his smartypants kids know how to save their games to a USB drive (I guess) and format the hard drive, removing the parental blocks he has against going on the unfiltered internet.
What he’d like to do is password protect the settings, the ability to remove the settings, and format the disk. Until then, I think it’s a doorstop.
Ideas?
Taking away the PS3 is the better solution. Solve the problem, not the symptom.
Just sayin’.
Yeah. I was going to say this problem is nothing a 12lb sledge wouldn’t fix.
Funny, but not really helpful.
It kind of is. If the kids don’t have respect enough to listen to the parent’s rule that they shouldn’t format the ps3, then they shouldn’t have a ps3 at all.
The answer is no… You might have to stricken your rule a little there. PS3 is a big privilege, tell them how to keep it…
Yeah, simple solution here, parent checks daily to make sure password is still set to the right value. If not, take away the PS3 for a month - or sell it on eBay.
If the concern is about the children getting on the internet from the PS3, then perhaps the parents should configure the router so that it’s not possible to get on or restrict internet access from it. On my Linksys router, for instance, I can restrict access from specific MAC addresses.
If he wants to get all militant about it, he can make them charge the controllers via another USB tool (PC/laptop/whatever) or buy a standalone charger. And then epoxy the heck out of the USB port on the console.
OTOH, if the kids are old enough to know how to kludge together a workaround to defeat parental controls, they’re likely old enough to see boobies/violence. Hell, if they want to see it, they HAVE seen it.
The real question I have is why in the world is access to the formatting function not under parental control, anyways? If I’m password protecting a PC, I will definitely lock you out of being able to do that–the only way in being to actually open it up and replace the hard drive.
And, yes, the solution for this man is to move the parental controls up the chain. Block stuff in the router, and make sure the router cannot be touched. If that doesn’t work, look into software on a computer that will let it act like a router, and restrict stuff there.
And, even then, don’t expect that they won’t find another way around the block. I loved skirting the block at my high school–they even blocked Gmail and Google.
Forget about the PS3 and block websites on the router. If the current router can’t do it, get a router that can.
Also put in place logging on the router to see if the kids try to bypass the router.
Either that or take away the PS3 until the kids follow the rules.
Ultimately it’s impossible to completely secure something without restricting physical access. Accordingly, taking away (or locking up) the PS3 is the only working solution that involves only the PS3.
Why is removing the actual machine not helpful? It’s not like that sucker weighs 200 lbs. or something. Have your friend put it in the trunk of his car.
If it’s because your friend likes to play with it also. Have him just get out of the trunk when he wants to play Call of Duty and put it back when he’s done.
That way the kid will quit trying to hack his way into it and do his homework.