Good virus protection for kids first computer?

[Xycolian2332]

And Firefox with Adblock Plus extension. Completely forgot about that.

And NoScript

It would be too much for a 7 year old imo.

They'd probably just click "Allow page" every time (if they could even figure out that much), effectively rendering it useless. They wouldn't have enough knowledge or know-how when deciding which sites to allow or deny.

[Bob2004]

Yeah, I'd pass on NoScript too. As for Linux, it's irrelevant - it needs to be something the OP is familiar with, which likely means Windows. Not to mention, learning to use Windows is much more useful in later life than learning to use Linux, unfortunately.

That said, Linux isn't too bad once you've got it all set up - which can indeed be a pain in the arse due to driver issues, or different releases, even of the same distribution, changing completely at random (I remember I used to use Ubuntu. Then more recently I installed one of the newer versions, only to discover that half the audio software I'd used before no longer worked out of the box because they'd suddenly decided to replace ALSA (which was the entire audio backend) with PulseAudio, which is totally different, and hadn't provided any kind of legacy compatibility).

Once you've set it up, Linux is great for everyday stuff - web browsing, email, music, watching the occasional video (less good for office work, since OpenOffice is a pile of crap, but there is some decent word processing software out there). So for a seven year old, it would probably be absolutely fine. My grandma uses Linux quite happily (her Windows 98 laptop broke a couple of years ago, so she was forced to upgrade), with no problems at all, for example. Linux only becomes difficult if you want to do something more complicated, since that either requires some configuration, or a Windows application - which are frequently difficult to run in Wine, and the Linux equivalents are often nowhere near as good. Photoshop vs. Gimp, for example.

For a 7 year old, once it's got going, Linux would probably be fine. But it's irrelevant, since the OP would probably prefer not to have to make the effort of setting it up, and trying to fix it in the event any troubleshooting were necessary.

[Tiffanys]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

[kitamesume]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

hackintosh 

[sams88]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

hackintosh 

I never knew that existed, I gonna try it

[revo]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

hackintosh 

still you need to have supported HW
and why would you even want to have OSX installed ?

[kitamesume]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

hackintosh 

still you need to have supported HW
and why would you even want to have OSX installed ?

why am i the one you're asking when i just answered an indirect question commented "theres such a thing as hackintosh"?

[sams88]

OSX is overpriced? the OS is $30US i believe.  i am partial towards Snow Leopard.  now Windows is overpriced.

Assuming nothing has changed... They don't let you run OSX without their hardware and it's the hardware that has like a 2-5x markup.

hackintosh 

still you need to have supported HW
and why would you even want to have OSX installed ?

Why the hell not ? 

[Tiffanys]

Me personally? I wouldn't. But it's extremely simple and generally devoid of viruses. Though we've always known it's because freakin' nobody uses Macs so hackers don't give a flying flip about hacking them. Better to focus on the most popular medium that has the best chances of spreading to more users.

I think it's inherently more secure given that it's on Unix, but I don't think it's safe if hackers ever really bothered. I don't even think Linux is safe from viruses, just nobody uses the garbage so nobody's making anything for it.

If you make sure to set up a non-admin user account for Windows, disable java, and disable all exe's except a specific inclusion list then the 7 year old will be practically immune to viruses. Even if they download an exe they wouldn't be able to run it.

[sams88]

I think it's inherently more secure given that it's on Unix, but I don't think it's safe if hackers ever really bothered. I don't even think Linux is safe from viruses, just nobody uses the garbage so nobody's making anything for it.

Linux isn't that secure really because it gives the user fully control over most of the aspects of the OS, so basically a virus could cause more wreck than a Windows virus. In Ubuntu they lock some of the core system elements unless you log as Admin and in Debian you have to provide your Password every 2 seconds when doing anything like installing a program, because you are just 2 commands line away from nuking your own computer.

So any Linux virus could also do the same if it were properly designed.

If you make sure to set up a non-admin user account for Windows, disable java, and disable all exe's except a specific inclusion list then the 7 year old will be practically immune to viruses. Even if they download an exe they wouldn't be able to run it.

Best advice for the OP, this is going to make the computer very secure with a anti-virus and firewall.

[JoonasTo]

Me personally? I wouldn't. But it's extremely simple and generally devoid of viruses. Though we've always known it's because freakin' nobody uses Macs so hackers don't give a flying flip about hacking them. Better to focus on the most popular medium that has the best chances of spreading to more users.

I think it's inherently more secure given that it's on Unix, but I don't think it's safe if hackers ever really bothered. I don't even think Linux is safe from viruses, just nobody uses the garbage so nobody's making anything for it.

If you make sure to set up a non-admin user account for Windows, disable java, and disable all exe's except a specific inclusion list then the 7 year old will be practically immune to viruses. Even if they download an exe they wouldn't be able to run it.

Mac has been cracked ten times over since they took more market share and at least used to be pretty badly updated compared to windows. Running a mac without an antivirus is stupid nowadays.
The one big bonus mac has is that it doesn't let the user do anything. Thus it might be a lot better for someone who's bound to fuck up windows just because it doesn't stop them from doing it like mac does. Too bad mac is even more gimped in compatibility.

Safety depends completely on linux. Cracking into your default linux is pretty easy but if you run a hardened version which you compiled to your parameters it's nigh impossible without knowledge of your systems. It can be done but it's basically the same as cracking into Nasa or CIA.
It's also techically easy to make a virus for a particular linux but when there's dozens of them each with a gazillion of different versions, it's not worth it. Enterprise red hat(has a few viruses every year) or mainstream ubuntu perhaps but it's still a ridiculously small target.

Linux isn't that secure really because it gives the user fully control over most of the aspects of the OS, so basically a virus could cause more wreck than a Windows virus. In Ubuntu they lock some of the core system elements unless you log as Admin and in Debian you have to provide your Password every 2 seconds when doing anything like installing a program, because you are just 2 commands line away from nuking your own computer.

So any Linux virus could also do the same if it were properly designed.

/mount /dev/sda1 /boot
rm -R /boot

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

@echo off
del c:\windows\system32

If you make sure to set up a non-admin user account for Windows, disable java, and disable all exe's except a specific inclusion list then the 7 year old will be practically immune to viruses. Even if they download an exe they wouldn't be able to run it.

Best advice for the OP, this is going to make the computer very secure with a anti-virus and firewall.

Agreed. But might want to just disable executives not placed in certain folders so installing games is easy.

[Tiffanys]

Agreed. But might want to just disable executives not placed in certain folders so installing games is easy.

That would also make installing viruses easy once they figured out they can only install stuff in that folder...

[kitamesume]

o.o why not lock down an entire partition and have a special partition in sandbox mode? the locked partitions can't be changed or touched, yeah it may block updates too.

[sams88]

/mount /dev/sda1 /boot
rm -R /boot

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

@echo off
del c:\windows\system32

Not good enough, I would do:

del c:\BOOTSECT.BAK

[Tiffanys]

o.o why not lock down an entire partition and have a special partition in sandbox mode? the locked partitions can't be changed or touched, yeah it may block updates too.

They need to be able to run and update their games so I don't think that'd be feasible.

[kitamesume]

o.o why not lock down an entire partition and have a special partition in sandbox mode? the locked partitions can't be changed or touched, yeah it may block updates too.

They need to be able to run and update their games so I don't think that'd be feasible.

then put the games in the sandbox

edit: simply put, you'll have more than one partition, most of them are locked, the ones that are unlocked are in sandbox mode.
candidates for locked partition is OS, some apps, etc. though anti-virus should be on a sandbox so it can update it's library.

[Saras]

Oh god. You lot would make such overbearing parents.

I'm so god damn happy that I grew up in a family where I had full admin privileges to all of the systems in the house since I was 5.

Why the hell are you in a race to make the computer be as unusable as humanly possible? It's a separate machine, where'd she'd be the only operator. If she gets a virus? Nuke it, restart go at it once more until she learns not to fuck up. What is she going to lose, tax data from the last 10 years, really now? Her youtube account? Fuck all of that shit. This is the perfect opportunity for her to learn from her mistakes. It won't hurt anyone, it's not a shared system. She's free to fuck it over as many times as she wants. Trial and error is part of any learning process.

Go back to reality, will you? This is the first laptop for a 7 year old girl, she doesn't have ANY valuable data on it, she isn't doing ANY transactions on it, she isn't holding down to ANY important data. It's a toy for her, and it should treated as such.

Microsoft Security Essentials and a basic Ad block is all she needs ontop of a clean system. Make an image of that and just restore it whenever she fucks up. And let her do it over and over and over again.

I hope none of you become parents any time soon.

[sams88]

Oh god. You lot would make such overbearing parents.

I'm so god damn happy that I grew up in a family where I had full admin privileges to all of the systems in the house since I was 5.

Why the hell are you in a race to make the computer be as unusable as humanly possible? It's a separate machine, where'd she'd be the only operator. If she gets a virus? Nuke it, restart go at it once more until she learns not to fuck up. What is she going to lose, tax data from the last 10 years, really now? Her youtube account? Fuck all of that shit. This is the perfect opportunity for her to learn from her mistakes. It won't hurt anyone, it's not a shared system. She's free to fuck it over as many times as she wants. Trial and error is part of any learning process.

Go back to reality, will you? This is the first laptop for a 7 year old girl, she doesn't have ANY valuable data on it, she isn't doing ANY transactions on it, she isn't holding down to ANY important data. It's a toy for her, and it should treated as such.

Microsoft Security Essentials and a basic Ad block is all she needs ontop of a clean system. Make an image of that and just restore it whenever she fucks up. And let her do it over and over and over again.

I hope none of you become parents any time soon.

Not even a porn internet filter ? Raising children is not freerange chicken rearing 

[Saras]

Oh god. You lot would make such overbearing parents.

I'm so god damn happy that I grew up in a family where I had full admin privileges to all of the systems in the house since I was 5.

Why the hell are you in a race to make the computer be as unusable as humanly possible? It's a separate machine, where'd she'd be the only operator. If she gets a virus? Nuke it, restart go at it once more until she learns not to fuck up. What is she going to lose, tax data from the last 10 years, really now? Her youtube account? Fuck all of that shit. This is the perfect opportunity for her to learn from her mistakes. It won't hurt anyone, it's not a shared system. She's free to fuck it over as many times as she wants. Trial and error is part of any learning process.

Go back to reality, will you? This is the first laptop for a 7 year old girl, she doesn't have ANY valuable data on it, she isn't doing ANY transactions on it, she isn't holding down to ANY important data. It's a toy for her, and it should treated as such.

Microsoft Security Essentials and a basic Ad block is all she needs ontop of a clean system. Make an image of that and just restore it whenever she fucks up. And let her do it over and over and over again.

I hope none of you become parents any time soon.

Not even a porn internet filter ? Raising children is not freerange chicken rearing 

Yes, because hardcore porn is the first thing on the mind of a 7 year old girl, that's yet to hit puberty. And even then, if she wanted to find porn, she could, whatever fucking filters you have and there's nothing you can do about it, that comes with the territory. Even if she did stumble upon porn, chances are, she wouldn't understand what's the deal with it, being banned from something on the other hand is likely to have a forbidden apple effect. "Why can't I view this content?", "why can't I search this word?". 

You want to make sure she doesn't look at porn, don't allow her to use the computer while secluded in a room from other people. Simply make it a "in the living room only" sort of thing. That's both the most effective and the least debilitating measure.

Also, we aren't in the internet of the late 90's, where porn adds an other such shit were abound. You really won't come into contact with porn unless you specifically look for it.

And, to be frank, what's with the whole fear of ooh, she might found out what an adult human body looks like. All of the violence on daytime tv is far worse. And if you want an introduction to porn, just watch some rap video. There really is no way from protecting kids from all the stuff without destroying her means with interacting with society at large.

[sams88]

Yes, because hardcore porn is the first thing on the mind of a 7 year old girl, that's yet to hit puberty. And even then, if she wanted to find porn, she could, whatever fucking filters you have and there's nothing you can do about it, that comes with the territory. Even if she did stumble upon porn, chances are, she wouldn't understand what's the deal with it, being banned from something on the other hand is likely to have a forbidden apple effect. "Why can't I view this content?", "why can't I search this word?". 

You want to make sure she doesn't look at porn, don't allow her to use the computer while secluded in a room from other people. Simply make it a "in the living room only" sort of thing. That's both the most effective and the least debilitating measure.

Also, we aren't in the internet of the late 90's, where porn adds an other such shit were abound. You really won't come into contact with porn unless you specifically look for it.

And, to be frank, what's with the whole fear of ooh, she might found out what an adult human body looks like. All of the violence on daytime tv is far worse. And if you want an introduction to porn, just watch some rap video. There really is no way from protecting kids from all the stuff without destroying her means with interacting with society at large.

Putting the computer on the living room does help a lot, but also using a Internet Providers blacklists would also help provide some protection.

Yes some elements of day time TV are bad, which is why some family TV viewing or direction is always a good thing. As for interaction with society I don't see why my kid would lose in not being in contact with harmful things, interacting with society at large is not more important than being raised as a balanced person.