Would you be willing to install the 3 programs, Squidd, DG, and the other progaram mentioned on my two computers? This request goes to anyone else who can do it. There must me a remote access program that works in Linux, but I don't know of one without searching. Are you aware of one?

Would you be willing (and able) to remotely install this program, and the other two, Squidd and DG, on my 2 Linux machines, remotely? Is there a program to do this remotely?

If anyone else sees this, and can do so, same question to you.

Well, I am supposed to introduce myself, but do not know what to say. I don't know who I am myself.

hopbt wrote:


It may be possible to be done remotely. For example, using Chrome Remote Desktop. Are you willing to pay $40/hour for my help? I accept Visa and MasterCard. I plan to email you my phone number.

If not, you have other options, such as the following.

1) Switch to Windows.

2) Use Software Manager.

On Linux, you should almost never ever download software from the Internet yourself using a web browser. You should use your distribution's package management system. On Linux Mint, the nicest way to access the package management system is using Software Manager. If you decide to use Software Manager:

a) Install squid3. community.linuxmint.com/software/view/squid3

Set it to listen on port 8081. Preferably set it not to cache anything to disk.

b) Install dansguardian. community.linuxmint.com/software/view/dansguardian

Set it to listen on port 8080 and to connect to Squid on port 8081.

c) Set your web browser to connect to the proxy on port

Or if you cannot specify a port, specify your proxy as

d) Make sure you have some good phraselists and blocklists. I think the Shalla website may offer Dansguardian blocklists downloadable for free.

e) After every Dansguardian configuration change, restart Dansguardian.

Note that Squid and Dansguardian were made for enterprise use, not for home use. Maybe that is why they are not so easy to install and configure.

The consolation prize is that one Squid+Dansguardian installation can be used to provide filtering for all the Windows, Linux, and Mac computers, plus maybe also cellphones and tablets, in your home. You may need to keep the Squid+Dansguardian machine powered on 24 hours per day if you want this.

hopbt wrote:


If you click the blue "Subscribe" button below, the site can email you to alert you of new replies.

Ok, appreciated. I am not technically advanced enough to offhand understand exactly what to do with this info. I am quite sure that your help would be worth forty per hour or more. My financial situation is precarious as well, so I would not take advantage of your offer right now. I can change my mind.

Some people think that Linux is only for geeks. Some think that Squid and DG are outdated. What do you think about that?

BTW, I am having difficulty finding posts on this site. How can I find the posts that I made, for one thing. I typed in "Linux" and got no results.

If turning off the machine prevents filtering, it would be no better than what I have, Open DNS. I am trying to find something a little foolproof. Perhaps the accountability program mentioned would be difficult to remove. That, with a shvuoh...

After searching online a bit, I tried to just install the two progs. from software mangager. Bingo. They were there in the repositories. Just like that. Now to see if I can configure them.

hopbt wrote:


why don't you try posting a new post in a new thread in the category called "introduce yourself"?
then, hit the subscribe button on the bottom, where it will email you when people respond.

b'hatzlachah

I have to agree. I am really fed up with Windows. It's always seeming to be busy and won't do what you want it to. I originally started looking into Linux because a few used notebooks I was looking to buy were using it and not Windows. Now it seems faster and smoother, as long as it has the programs you need. Windows does have more capabilities, whether they work all the time or not.

I am about to try to install the accountability program you mentioned, as it seems the most promising. They, or someone claimed, that it is not so easy to get around it once installed. I hope it will be possible for me to install, not like Squid or DG, which are not made for novices fo install. Thanks so much for mentioning it.

Do you know of any such router?

Most new Netgear routers come with built in filtering through OpenDNS. Once you configure it you can have someone change the password on the OpenDNS account. It works by registering the MAC address of the router so even a full reset will not override the settings.

This may be extremely helpful. Thank you so much. As with all things related to computers, there may be unknown problems when you actually try to do something.
However, the eitzos mentioned here are finally getting to be very helpful.

hopbt wrote:


Start with OpenDNS for now. Try to configure it to meet your needs.

Don't use OpenDNS FamilyShield. It's probably too lenient for you. Use ordinary OpenDNS.


Regarding choosing what to block, and Google SafeSearch, and YouTube Safety Mode:

If part of a website causes you problems, use OpenDNS to block the whole website. For example, if one video causes you a problem, you can block the entire website on which it was found, or even the entire OpenDNS category which holds the video.

Also visit the Google preferences webpage and lock SafeSearch "on", and visit the YouTube preferences webpage and lock Safety Mode "on". Note that Safety Mode is no panacea: there's unsafe content viewable even when Safety Mode is "on". You may need to block all of YouTube.


Regarding your OpenDNS password:

Use a random password generator to generate a long and difficult OpenDNS password. Write the password on an index card. Lock the index card in a box. Hide the key (or the index card) somewhere difficult to access (e.g. inside your car's trunk, or in your home's attic, or at the bottom of a large heap of furniture, or at shul, or at your workplace).

Or: Save the password in a word-processor document. Use a Zip utility such as 7-Zip to zip it up. Assign a password to the Zip file. In the tiny password box, enter a nice long passphrase. Something like: "Relapse may feel good in the short term, but will only hurt me in the long term; it is better to phone a twelve-step friend or other friend (for distraction) instead of relapsing". Write the passphrase on a sticky note. Before you unzip the Zip file, you will have to enter the entire passphrase by hand. Take those moments to think about alternatives to relapse.

Or get a friend to change your OpenDNS password for you. Or get us to do so.


Next:

Try to get some monitoring software working, such as Net Responsibility. R' Belsky writes that every Jew should have both filtering and monitoring software.

Do these three terminal commands work in Mint?



If all of the above doesn't help:

Perhaps twelve-step would be helpful for you. (I've tried it, and I've found it helpful for me.) The main risk is that you might learn new ways to meet prostitutes and find other bad things, but the good might outweigh the bad for you. Please email me privately. My email address is in my profile.


Closing words:

Does any or all of the above work for you?

Please keep us updated.

Also, do you truly need Internet access at home? If so, why?

One update about DansGuardian:

DansGuardian is no longer maintained, though it's still a good choice. e2guardian is a "fork" which is maintained. e2guardian is nowadays a better choice than DansGuardian.