Making a Firefox profile for my kid brother.

December 28, 2005 7:51 AM

Can I make a profile in Firefox that will only surf to sites on an approved list?

Here's my situation. My brother is ten. I often have him over for the weekend and he loves playing on my computer and being on the internet. He frequents sites like Cartoon network and other kid stuff. While I'm always in the room with him when he's on the computer, accidents happen, and I'm wondering if there's a way I could set up a profile in Firefox for him that would only surf to sites on an approved list. Is there a way to do this? Preferably, I would like to do it without the aid of any software, but if I must, free is good. I won't use Internet Explorer. Also, it has to be local to just that profile; I don't want it to mess up any of my other profiles. Oh and I'm not that techie. I am basically internet savvy, but don't ask me to like hack my cable modem settings or anything. If this whole thing isn't possible without expert level knowledge, I can accept that.

posted by katyggls to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Found this post on SpreadFirefox.com: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/20592#comment-67747

Recommends a whitelist for a specific profile.

Haven't tested it, YMMV.

- Mark
posted by mmangano at 8:17 AM on December 28, 2005

Mark's suggestion looks good to me. I wouldn't change your habit of always staying in the room, though, as many ten-year-olds could circumvent this pretty handily.
posted by musicinmybrain at 8:59 AM on December 28, 2005

Thanks, Mark. Exactly what I was looking for. And yeah, I wouldn't leave my brother unattended on the computer, but I'm more worried about the stuff he could stumble onto by clicking an ad or link or whatever. You'd be surprised that I've seen ads and links on Cartoon Network that led to some questionable sites (nothing hardcore; just not appropriate for a ten year old). I'm pretty protective of the kid and I want to cover all my bases.
posted by katyggls at 1:08 PM on December 28, 2005

are there things on the web that are harmful for 10yos? i don't think so..
posted by suni at 4:27 PM on December 28, 2005