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Can anyone help lockdown internet access on an old laptop?

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/4260037125

August 10, 2026, 07:18 AM
thumperfbc
Can anyone help lockdown internet access on an old laptop?
The short of the long is this: I have an old Acer laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1. The kids use it for some DOS games, solitaire, and minesweeper only. They aren’t allowed internet access unless under direct supervision, so the WiFi adapter is disabled. For now, that’s sufficient as they don’t really use computers and don’t know their way around them more than the above games.

They are home schooled and we use a website math program. To do they they use a different laptop and we sit with them to supervise. I’d like to allow the old Acer to access that website and only that website. Last night my oldest and I sat down with it and she did a lesson (I enabled the WiFi adapter) and it worked fine.

Is it possible for me to set it up so that one laptop can only access the single website?
August 10, 2026, 07:39 AM
dbgeek
Setting Up the Proxy Restriction
Click the Start button, type inetcpl.cpl into the search box, and press Enter to open Internet Properties.
Click on the Connections tab near the top.
Click the LAN settings button at the bottom.
Check the box that says Use a proxy server for your LAN.
In the Address field, type 127.0.0.1 and in the Port field, type 80.
Click the Advanced button right next to it.In the Exceptions box labeled "Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with", type the web address you want to allow (for example: example.com).
Click OK on all open windows to save your changes.


Peter
August 10, 2026, 08:36 AM
FenderBender
Yep, that'll work.


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Proverbs 3:31 "Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways."
August 10, 2026, 04:27 PM
thumperfbc
Ok great thanks, that worked! It is much much simpler than some solutions I found via google and via ChatGPT. Those wanted me to add registry items and change browser policies and a bunch of stuff that is over my head.

Follow-up questions: I made the suggested changes on the admin account, do those changes persist if I was to create a separate kids account? I realize the changes I made are even easier to undo, and while my kids are currently not that savvy, I don’t wish to be caught unprepared. I imagine if I create a kids account, that isn’t Administrator level (and password protect the Admin account) that’ll keep them out of settings and unable to undo what I’ve done, right?

And secondly, on the desktop of the admin account there are several instances of DOS launchers, 3 in-fact. Each one is set-up to launch open dosbox, run a specific game, and make the game full screen. If I create the non-admin account for them to use, I need to put these games on their account. Can I just copy them from with windows explorer into that other account (from one desktop to another) and that’ll workout ok? I guess I can just try it and see what happens.
August 10, 2026, 06:49 PM
TigerDore
This forum never ceases to amaze me. I believe there's more intelligence here than any other site I go to.



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August 10, 2026, 07:57 PM
doublesharp
I'm thinking the same thing Tiger - how in the world can someone remember the sequences and explain the steps so concise and understandable. Wow! Cool


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God spelled backwards is dog
August 11, 2026, 06:22 AM
dbgeek
Not going to lie - I have googled it many times. I have teenage boys, and have been locking down every computer they touch over the past few years. I also use OpenDNS (free) to restrict web browsing of adult sites.

When you create user (non-admin) accounts, you can go to those settings and check, but you'll need the administrator password to get to the settings.

If the Command shortcuts are on the admin desktop, you can copy them to a directory that is accessible to the user accounts, and then to their desktop. c:\games or something like that.


Peter