Hello, I am very computer handicapped unfortunately, and I need to know how to keep people from being able to delete the browser history. My son uses the computer a lot and I think he is deleting the history so I don't know what he is looking at. I know this sounds like an invasion of privacy, but he is young and the Internet can be a scary place now a days, so if anyone has the answer please let me know! :p

He might be doing drugs at school too, but you can't follow him all day.

Have you taught him out to behave on the internet? I personally believe teaching is better than controlling. (Unless he's too young to understand of course.) He may not be doing anything wrong -- he may just want his privacy. Have you asked him why he deletes it?

But that's my opinion.

As morgaine said, you cannot interfere with his privacy. If you really want to check what he does, you can peek every now and then in his room, but, you have do it without his knowintg.
Well, no idea, how to stop deleting browsers history. Ha ha ha At least he is good at it, he don't leave prints behind!(joking). Regards!

If you have a computer and the internet at home then it should be located in a central area where you can always see what is on the screen.
Kids need to have set times they are allowed on the computer, make sure you know what they are doing durin those online times.

You may also want to consider net nanny programs which block out inappropriate sites.

I wonder why people treat the internet differently than they do other things. There was no internet when I was a kid, but there were certainly dangers in the world. But I was allowed out of site of my mother once I was reasonably old enough. Me and my friends would take off on our bikes or something, and no one could see exactly what we were doing or spy on us. Of course we could get into trouble, get hit by a car, get grabbed by a stranger.

But the internet we treat differently and have to spy on them every second?

Although as an added thought, even though no one could follow me everywhere I went, my mother was a rather nosy person and liked to listen in on conversations and come into my room while she thought I was asleep and look through stuff. (And no, she wasn't suspicious of drugs.) I hated her for it and thought it was an invasion of my privacy. (Not to mention that she would lie to me about it.) I'm a grown woman and she is gone, and I still feel the same way about it.

(Although I will add one more time that it's different if it's a younger kid that doesn't understand things yet.)

But Morgaine, when you were a kid riding off on your bike did you happen to ride past hordes of naked women and men having sex on the street, or a man dressed up as a 14 year old girl trying to chat your up... that is the sort of this readily available on the internet and why kids and teens need supervision...

I do understand what you mean but there are just as many dangers on the internet these days as there are in real life.

Let them wait until they are old enough to buy/obtain girly magazines I say

I strongly recommend moving the computer to the living room or kitchen. You don't have to watch everything your son does, but if he knows you are likely to walk by at any moment, he will be less likely to explore porn sites or whatever else you are concerned about. He knows your values.

I did this with my two sons. And while it's inconvenient having a living room that looks like an office, I have a good relationship with my sons and have found no need to spy on them. In several years, I have occasionally said, "This website really bothers me and I wish you would not go here." I do not read their email and only looked at their histories a few times when they were younger--between 11 and 14.

How old is your son?

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

But Morgaine, when you were a kid riding off on your bike did you happen to ride past hordes of naked women and men having sex on the street, or a man dressed up as a 14 year old girl trying to chat your up.... that is the sort of this readily available on the internet and why kids and teens need supervision...

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No, but some pretty nasty magazines were out there, and they could be gotten a hold of, never mind that they were behind the counter. I babysat for some five year old where they had Hussler just sitting about in the den and dirty movies waiting to be popped into the VCR. (And I was a teenager myself and shouldn't have been looking at that stuff... but, yes I was.) Besides, all sorts of other things could've happened to me if I was stupid enough, things that could've gotten me dead. (And I knew of people who did, or almost did, get themselves dead.)

I don't have an issue with blocking sites for the younger ones. I don't know how old this kid is. (Actually, I prefer younger kids not even be on the internet.) But at some point you have to hope you taught them well enough and let go. I really am convinced there's not a lot being taught these days. (I don't mean this particular poster, just in general.)

But it's mostly the spying concept that bugs me. I'm not talking about certain forms of supervision, or punishment if necessary -- it's that spying thing that really gets me.

If he knows that you'll be checking the history regularly, then its not spying. He may perceive it as you mistrusting him though. I see nothing wrong with seeing what's he's up to.

If you are using IE, go to start menu

Run

Type gpedit.msc
Click OK
Double Click:
"Computer Configuration"
"Administrative Templates"
"Windows Components"
"Internet Explorer"
"Delete Browsing History"

Right Click "Turn off 'Delete Browsing History' Functionality"
Properties
Enabled
Apply
Next Setting
Enabled
Apply
Next Setting
... Repeat until next Setting button doesn't work any more.

If your kid's smart, there are ways around this, but if that's the case then he is old enough to take personal responsibility for his actions.