How do you block downloads?

[silvergrey]

I hope this is the right forum for this. My 14 year old BIL is clogging my MIL's computer on a daily basis with adware, spyware, viruses, etc from all the random stuff he downloads off the internet. Is there a way I can prevent the computer from allowing downloads of any kind unless you have a password? I tried a google search and found some software for this purpose, but I can never tell what is legitmate. I was hoping someone could recommend a good one. TIA!

[Brandles]

I showed this thread to DH (he's good with computers) and he said there's no way to block them. :( Sorry.

[PG-rated]

I'm pretty sure you can put up a firewall that's password-protected. My mom had one on her computer to block stuff that my brother was getting along with his file-sharing downloads, but it wasn't password-protected, so my brother would just disable the firewall whenever he wanted to download anything. :rolleyes: But I do think there's an option to put a password on it. Do a search for firewalls and you'll come up with some of the most popular.

The other option is for her to change her internet options so that you have to log in every time you want to use the internet, and then change the password so that he can only log on if she logs him in. But I don't know if she wants to restrict him that much.

[silvergrey]

Thanks so much for the replies! They have a firewall, so I'll see if I can mess w/the security settings. O/w, it sounds like they'll just have to run virus & adware scans often, since I'm having no luck convincing BIL not to download every random thing he sees. :rolleyes: :)