>>>Can someone recommend a parental guardian software? There are so many out there and I have never had the need for it until now. 17 year old son and well, you know the rest of the story...
>>>
>>>Any freeware that'll do it? I don't want something complex or with lots of bells and whistles, just something that logs Websites visited. That's all I need.
>>
>>At 17 he should be mature enough to filter his own Internet experience and to handle anything that may be encountered unexpectedly. If he's at all technical he'll almost certainly be able to circumvent any control or logging you want to do. If not, he'll do his computing elsewhere.
>
>I don't know, Al, at 17 he's still a minor.

Whether he's a minor or not, if the cops come knocking the parents are involved.

Part of the "talking to" he should have had (if he's 17) long ago, should have been to outline the consequences of various unsafe computing activities:

- Failure to use antivirus and firewalls will usually result in computer compromise. The remote cracker may then use the computer for spamming, serving up porn, participating in botnet attacks on commercial, military or other sensitive sites or other illegal activities.
- Accessing various porn, warez etc. sites may be logged or monitored by authorities
- That cute 15 year old girl in the chat room may be male, 42 years old and may or may not wear a uniform

>And I would think any good software would be password encrypted to thwart the average technical teenager.

So, he downloads Knoppix, burns a bootable CD-ROM and runs from that (or a buddy burns the CD for him). Just ONE example of what can be done these days.

>Now, on your last point, I agree. He will find somewhere else to go if he knows he's being tracked and can't do anything about it.

He takes the "talking to" with him wherever he goes. Sure as shooting he won't take the nanny software.