Norton Safety Minder

[mbf123]

My parents have recently installed Norton safety minder on my computer.

If you don't know what it is you can visit this link: HERE.

Anyway i am now limited in my computer usage and I have no privacy.

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR "RESPECT YOUR PARENTS" LINE AT THE DOOR, thank you.

I have tried ending processes, booting in safe mode other tricks. They do not work, how stop the program without my parents being alerted. If i uninstall, my parents will find out.

Is there anyway I can stop this program from running at login or start up?

I am running, Home version of Windows 7, 32 bit.

Thank you.

[Sparda]

Ubuntu live disk, finished.

Have you thought that, perhaps your parents have good reason to install that?

[mbf123]

I have done that, but I am a gamer, so my games are all windows based.

[Sl45h3R]

Just disable the startup services with msconfig

[Sparda]

I have tried ending processes, booting in safe mode other tricks. They do not work, how stop the program without my parents being alerted. If i uninstall, my parents will find out.

Ubuntu live disk, finished.

I have done that, but I am a gamer, so my games are all windows based.

Try again.

[Infiltrator]

My parents have recently installed Norton safety minder on my computer.

If you don't know what it is you can visit this link: HERE.

Anyway i am now limited in my computer usage and I have no privacy.

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR "RESPECT YOUR PARENTS" LINE AT THE DOOR, thank you.

I have tried ending processes, booting in safe mode other tricks. They do not work, how stop the program without my parents being alerted. If i uninstall, my parents will find out.

Is there anyway I can stop this program from running at login or start up?

I am running, Home version of Windows 7, 32 bit.

Thank you.

When you meant limited, did u mean your computer account that you log in with is limited in terms what it can do, like install games and do other administrative stuffs or do you still have admin rights on your computer.

Edited May 15, 2010 by Infiltrator

[mbf123]

When you meant limited, did u mean your computer account that you log in with is limited in terms what it can do, like install games and do other administrative stuffs or do you still have admin rights on your computer.

I have an Admin account and have the right to download and install, i cannot however be on for more then two hours a day, which sucks because after homework is done there is only an hour left.

[Infiltrator]

I have an Admin account and have the right to download and install, i cannot however be on for more then two hours a day, which sucks because after homework is done there is only an hour left.

Does this parental software uses internet time or local time to activate the locking mechanism. Because if it does use local time you could try changing your local system time. If you know what I mean.

Edited May 16, 2010 by Infiltrator

[digip]

boot with ubuntu like sparda says, find the program in the system, then rename it. Reboot, play games, when done, reboot back into ubuntu, rename back to normal, then reboot again, done.

[mbf123]

will simply renaming it something other then norton safety minder (or what ever its called) really stop it from running?

[Sparda]

will simply renaming it something other then norton safety minder (or what ever its called) really stop it from running?

either that or cause BSOD reboot loop.

[Zimmer]

In which case you could just re name it back to what it was and reboot and probably no more BSOD (don't know why it wouldn't remove the BSOD just can't guarantee)

[mbf123]

BSOD? What does that mean and who does it affect my parents finding out?

[Sparda]

BSOD? What does that mean and who does it affect my parents finding out?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=BSOD

[Charles]

Why not ask yer parents to allow more than 2 hours on the computer, instead of going behind their backs.

[Infiltrator]

Why not ask yer parents to allow more than 2 hours on the computer, instead of going behind their backs.

I guess if he asks nicely they might consider increasing his allowable computer time to more than 2 hours.

[NegativeSpace]

Not that I condone this sort of thing, but there are techniques that might work. You could try a keylogger, which would allow you to get the password, which would then allow you to change the settings of the software that is limiting your time. Most key loggers are easily detected by a lot of common software, so you would probably get caught and even if you didn't , the key logger probably wouldn't last long.

You could create a new windows user account and make it look like your old account (ie, same user name, thumbnail picture, etc) which might trick the Norton software into thinking that you are not subject to the limitations. Even if that works, it is likely to become obvious with little or no investigation by your parents.

One more thing you could do is create a new hard drive partition and install Windows on it and use that to do whatever. It would be quite a lot of trouble and also might work or might not, and could easily be detected by anyone who cared to look. Many anti virus software might detect the change and notify admins.

If you wanted to spend some money, you could buy a cheap hard drive and install Windows on it, which would allow you to avoid detection (possibly) by disconnecting power to the drive, which would prevent the primary hard drives copy of windows/security software/ users from detecting it. Again, anyone who opens the computers case would see the hard drive, unless of course you take it with you when you leave.

All that being said, as a kid it might not seem true, but your parents almost always, if not 100% of the time, really do know what is best for you. Imagine what will happen if you get caught. You will probably lose all of your computer time, not to mention other stuff as well. You might screw up really bad and destroy your families computer.

I'm not familiar with Norton whateveritscalled, or Norton anything for that matter, so I don't know how easy it is to manipulate. Being made by a company that also mak security software, it's not a stretch to think that it has fairly well thought out built in security that serves to keep kids like you from defeating it. I think there is a pretty small chance that you will be able to defeat this software without getting caught. The best idea is probably to do as suggested before and find an honest way to get more computer time.

[H@L0_F00]

I wish there was a place on the internet where you could search for things and find more answers than you'll ever need... :(

[Mr-Protocol]

I'm not sure how old this individual is but I'm sure his parents have good reason to limit computer usage. Although the auto logout can be done with Windows SteadyState (which is free).

My suggestion would be have a "mature" conversation with the parents. Or save up and buy your own computer. Fact is, if you are a minor and/or live under their house. You should probably follow their rules.

Think for a second. If you are gaming for 2+ hours. You think they wont notice you've been gazing at the screen for 4+ hours? Parent's will pick up on it. Then you may end up with NO pc usage at all...

[astropos]

i think its safe ive been using it for almost 1 year and its really good. until now im still using it. i dont think im going to change :D

[syntaxerror]

I don't know about you, but my parents are just as evil as yours, putting this Norton crap in my computer. I'm not allowed anytime [unless added] on the weekdays, and only 2 hours on weekend days. A number of ways in which i have gotten around this are:

1)

a. when the 60 second pop-up comes up keep clicking ok and logging back in until you get to the instant "look at me" extend time module

b. continue what you where doing before, clicking cancel instead of o.k. and logging back in

c. after about 10 times of going back in (it may require more though) you should stay logged in for a considerable amount of time

d. if any more pop-ups come up after this brief solace, repeat this process.

(I understand that you may not believe me from disbelief, though it actually works; through the above stated method i have written this entire post without being logged out once :)

2)

I don't know if you're parents have updated the Norton safety minder but i got a rar(ish) bug that caused me to have unlimited time once time was added or when I have time already.

[Radau]

If anyone has to deal with this you really probably should just save up and get your own PC. I feared having to deal with programs like this ever, so I saved up and bought my own PC when I was around 9 years old (it took 2 years of saving too), but it was the best choice I ever made. Plus you don't have to worry about privacy issues really, and it's a great learning process (at least building one is).

[bobbyb1980]

I read through the post and have several ideas on how to evade this Norton but this one comes to mind and it's the simplest. If I read correctly, I am under the impression that you have admin rights.

There is a program called Deep Freeze. It's free, google and download it. It restores a system to fresh state based on a "snapshot" of the system. IE any changes made after booting up will disappear on the next boot.

Wait until you have a full two hours of time. Then install deep freeze with 2 hours of time left on the machine.

When your two hours are up, simply reboot the machine and start fresh with two new hours (since it starts on the last snapshot of the system, which would be with 2 hours left). Haven't tested but there is a certain probability that this would work.