Norton Family

[PeterDP]

I have OnlineFamily installed and configured for my oldest four children, ranging from 14 to 7.  I have recently formatted and re-installed my operating system Windows XP Pro and it is now running SP3 and all updated software, drivers, etc. on my DIY AMD 64 based desktop. My children have been using this newly installed system for about a month now.  I have the only administrator account on the system.  All other accounts are User accounts.  My account, email and other information are all secure and unavailable to any other family member.

Today, my oldest logged on around 10:40 (according to the first record of web activity).  At 11:47, I received an email with the above subject.  The body says that the Safety Minder tool has been disabled.

I've seen this previously and it appeared that the tool was nonetheless working correctly.  However, the tool has failed to enfore the time limit imposed on my sons account.  Therefore, it seems that the tool has failed and not restarted.

From the log, it appears that the tool failed six minutes after he began to play World of Warcraft. There doesn't seem to be anything in his search logs that would indicate that he was looking for a way to force the Safety Minder tool to fail.  It just looks like it failed and didn't restart.

Has anyone else encounted a failure of this order? I've read a number of postings, but haven't seen anything that offers a satisfactory explanation or resolution.

I would like, since I am traveling, the ability to force the end of his logged on session through the website, but that would require that the Safety Minder tool is running properly.  Are there any plans for this type of functionality?  How about if I could verify from the website that the Safety Minder tool is running as expected?

If at all possible, I would appreciate some additional information on how the Safety Minder tool is designed to withstand and recover from catastrophic failures.

Many thanks,

Peter

Message Edited by PeterDP on 10-17-2009 02:08 PM

[PeterDP]

Update to the post:  My son logged off to eat dinner and I logged in remotely to confirm that Norton OnlineFamily was running.  I even downloaded the family settings again to be sure that the recent changes I had made were loaded onto the desktop.  

My wife tells me that our son was able to log back on to his account.  Of course, if the service was disabled then it might not have been recording the time he was logged in.  This doesn't make much sense because the service reported is activity, so something was running and monitoring his activity, it just didn't seem to enforce the time restrictions.

[PeterDP]

Update 2: I just logged on remotely.  The Paw icon was not present, so I rebooted the computer, logged back in and verified that the paw icon is now present.

However: When I logged on between my son's two sessions, the paw icon *was* present and I used to to update the house rules.

[KatieQ]

Hi PeterDP,

Thanks for the detailed information.  If you are able to reproduce the issue consistently, please let me know.  Our QA and development team are working on it.

Thanks,

Katie

[mijcar]

Please, everybody, join us in this thread so that we can have a consistent discussion about this.  Symantec already knows the likely cause as you will see when you read the thread.  There are so many different threads that it is very confusing.

This is very urgent!

[farmerlibrarian]

I have had the same exact problem with getting a notification that the Client Has Been Turned Off, but I believe it is still working.  I don't get it.  That's why I have consulted this forum.

Please someone at Symantec tell me what the problem is, and how to make sure that the monitoring is occurring.  I don't like to have to ask my daughter to 'step away from the computer' after I get this message.  The program should be doing its job.

[ijc316]

I've been getting emails containing the message... Norton Safety Minder on TIEN'S LAPTOP used by TIEN has been disabled.

How is this possible if my son doesn't have the ID and PW?  His laptop does run on a wireless network.

[Bagger]

I first reported this problem the beginning of the year. Got one recommendation to do a complete re-install of On Line Family Norton. However I didn't do it becasue it still appeared OFN was functioning properly even though I was getting the Client Turned Off message. I was basing this on the activity screen and the email messages I was receiving. Activity screen still showed that the sites I wanted blocked were in fact blocked, However I just looked at my Cox phone phone call listing and saw a new unkown cell number show up with very late call times. I called it and it was a boy my 14 yr old daughter met via My Space (I asked him how he met my her and this is was he told me.) Problem: I have social networking checked and I have been receiving block web site notices for trying to enter myspace. Later today I'm going to ask my daughter what's going on. I want to ask why she's even trying to access since she knows it a prohibited social networking site and if she's found away around ONF. I also see that she was attempted to get into IMVU last night. Both of these sites have gotten her into trouble and was the main reason why I turned to ONF. Will post an update once I talk to her.

[Bagger]

Update Just talked to my daughter. She said sometime last month OFN began allowing her to go on MySpace. Before then it was prohibiting her. She said it's off and on as far as letting her get on. Looked at Settings and Social Networking is stll X out. And again, I'm getting notifications that she is being blocked when in fact she isn't. Also, why do some of the notifications come to the Inbox and others Junk Mail. I'm using Outlook 2007. The IMVU notification came to the Inbox with Client Turned Off and MySpace notifications sent to the Junk email folder. What's going on???

[tmbaker]

This is just the information I was looking for. My son (14) has been able to 'disable' OFN just by right clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen where it gives him the option. What happened to password protection?? The first time he did it we did not know how he did it. We suspected that he found out the administrator password and disabled it through the actual website. We changed the password hoping to prevent this from happening again. After receiving an email notice about him disabling it again today I asked him how he did it and he showed me. I have blocked "gambling" and it still shows that it is blocked, with the X, but he has full access to it now. The website indicates he is "protected" but now I question what he is protected from. I just installed this program a week ago and I am very disappointed. I have used Norton products for many years and they have never failed me to this extent. I just want to allow my kids to have a chance being innocent and kids a while longer.