Questions about K-9 computer software to block illicit material

[bmaj]

I’ve heard great things about the free K-9 software, but does anyone know if having it installed slows down the actual operation of the computer very much? If so, how much? I need to have our computer run fairly fast due to my job, but I’d also really like to install K-9 on it so that I can block out the illicit material.
Also, does anyone know if it would block out unchaste photos if they come in as attachments on emails? I’m thinking it may just block out the inappropriate websites themselves.
Thanks.

 

[whm]

I don’t think it slows down the computer much if at all by itself. If your computer is already been infected by spam, viruses, trojan horses, worms etc. Those things will slow if down.

I do recomment k9 - it is free and works well. Note it does have a lot of “false positives” meaning it will sometimes block a site that you don’t want it to block, say yahoo.com. To keep your families frustration level down, you will want to take some time and except a bunch of sites your dh and others like to visit. (espn, msn, yahoo, etc)

 

[purplesunshine]

Keep in mind that these software programs are ment to block accidental contact and childish attempts at illicit material. A person who really knows what they’re doing can always get past these things.

 

[whm]

Keep in mind that these software programs are ment to block accidental contact and childish attempts at illicit material. A person who really knows what they’re doing can always get past these things.

This is true, a technically savvy individual can get around it. Setting up a bios password can make it more difficult. That being said it can be helpful for addicts who are trying to stop and are about to slip in a weak moment. A sit block screen comes up and they might snap out of it.

 

[bmaj]

Thanks very much for your (name removed by moderator)ut, PurpleSunshine and whm. We were discussing K-9 at our Women’s Support Group here at CAF for dealing with the suffering that comes from loved ones viewing unchaste images, so the information is real good to have.
Does anyone happen to know if K-9 would block emails that have elicit photos as attachments on them? The emails are not coming from trash websites, but rather from male “friends” of my husband who happen to think there is nothing wrong with this type of correspondence back and forth. They send pornographic photos on the internet like most people send jokes, and it’s pretty disgusting.

 

[White_Tree]

Does anyone happen to know if K-9 would block emails that have elicit photos as attachments on them? The emails are not coming from trash websites, but rather from male “friends” of my husband who happen to think there is nothing wrong with this type of correspondence back and forth. They send pornographic photos on the internet like most people send jokes, and it’s pretty disgusting.

I’ll start by saying I have no experience with this particular piece of software, but I’m fairly technologically savvy. That being said, I should point out that given the current level of technological sophistication, it would be virtually impossible for that software to do what you have described.

It could conceivably block all e-mail attachments, or even all attachments of a certain file type, or all attachments from certain users. I don’t know if it actually does this, but it would be technically feasible. Depending on the e-mail client you use, some of them already offer similar features, so you might not need an additional piece of content-protection software to do this.

It could also conceivably block pictures that are embedded in the e-mails (i.e. not sent as attachments, but rather coded as links to pictures on the Internet). Again, I don’t know if that software does this, but it could be done, and many e-mail programs offer the option to do this for you automatically.

But there is no way that it would be able to “look” at a picture in an e-mail, determine if it is pornographic in nature, and then selectively block only those pictures that are unchaste. Maybe that will be possible in the future, but right now the technology just isn’t there.

 

[purplesunshine]

I’ll start by saying I have no experience with this particular piece of software, but I’m fairly technologically savvy. That being said, I should point out that given the current level of technological sophistication, it would be virtually impossible for that software to do what you have described.

It could conceivably block all e-mail attachments, or even all attachments of a certain file type, or all attachments from certain users. I don’t know if it actually does this, but it would be technically feasible. Depending on the e-mail client you use, some of them already offer similar features, so you might not need an additional piece of content-protection software to do this.

It could also conceivably block pictures that are embedded in the e-mails (i.e. not sent as attachments, but rather coded as links to pictures on the Internet). Again, I don’t know if that software does this, but it could be done, and many e-mail programs offer the option to do this for you automatically.

But there is no way that it would be able to “look” at a picture in an e-mail, determine if it is pornographic in nature, and then selectively block only those pictures that are unchaste. Maybe that will be possible in the future, but right now the technology just isn’t there.

Very true…and now you have double embedded attachments w/regulatars. Where the attachment appears to be a innocuous photo…a pony or a rainbow or puppy…but the photo is 10x to 20x the size of a normal photo. They zoom in after releasing the regulators to find porn hidden inside.

If this was a struggle that the spouse wanted help with I’d use software to block ALL photo attachments.

I do believe there are filters for e-mail but they don’t work fabulously well. They don’t recognize leet speek, the word leet itself would be 1337. so porn could be spelled not only p0rn but |^(0)oh/2// ] or about a million different ways.

 

[Jan_Bolbot]

Needless to say, evil is very clever at propagating itself and any filter that exists will be breeched at some point, whether it is porn or Nigerians who want to give you a million dollars or just idiocy. No substitute for watching the little dears like a hawk.

My house rules are: Keep the kids’ computer in a public place in the house where you can see the screen easily. Know how to check the history on the browser and don’t let them know you do this. Computer time is limited, is a privledge (not a right), and can be taken away. They must ask before they can play games or check email.

jb

 

[Nechasin]

You are correct that there is no subsitute for watching them like hawks. I use K-9, but my primary concern is if they look something up on google. Fairly innocuous words can pull up pretty bad sites. If they told me that they were looking up cougar pictures for school, I would be right there and help them with that search. However, I don’t know every innocuous word that can pull up bad sites. So I use K-9 to help me with that.

 

[jwashu]

Right the best policy is to watch… but there may not be times you are always in there (washing clothes, cooking dinner, giving the other kids a bath etc…) K9 is very good at stopping unwanted content, I’ve been using it for a while and we are very impressed.

In regards to slowing the system down, my oldest’s PC is a AMD X2 5600+ with 2GB of RAM and a 9800 GT video card. Not the fastest gaming right but works well for the games we play together the most. After installing K9 he nor I saw no decrease in frame rates or noticed any slowdowns.

Joe

 

[bmaj]

Thanks, everyone, for all the info and suggestions. I will convey it at our Women’s Support Group here at CAF for those of us suffering from family members viewing unchaste materials. Every bit of help is greatly appreciated since the parasite of pornography seems to be spreading uncontrollably throughout our society. Very disturbing, but thank the Good Lord there is help! God’s blessings to all of you for your assistance.