[Ipg-smz] Any ideas for helping a friend with a computer-related addiction?

[Lee Schlesinger]

If your friend is not technical you could install a custom /etc/hosts file (
https://www.hostsfile.org/hosts.html for instance) to block undesirable
sites. It's not a total solution, but it could help.

On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 3:02 PM David Needle <davidneedle at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> Friend of mine has been dealing with a porn addiction issue for many
> years. He lives on the East Cost (I’m in California) so it’s hard to help
> directly. But I have over the years with mixed results. He’s had computers
> that he’s ended up smashing in frustration and gone years without using one
> at all because of the issue. He also uses a bare bones cellphone because of
> the issue.
>
> His last computer was three years ago and we used a family protection
> service by Symantec a filter that worked really well (I had the password),
> until it didn’t. This doesn’t quite make sense to me, but as he explains
> it, he was getting pop up ads from Comcast offering free wifi on an hourly
> basis. He said these would pop up even when he was offline. I’m not sure
> how that could be so, but I guess if it was embedded in the computer it’s
> possible.
>
> Anyway, what happened was he would buy hourly time and that connection for
> some reason subverted or was immune to the filter so he could do whatever
> he wanted and that was not a good thing. He ended up shutting down the
> computer and stopped using it. I suspect he’s not giving an accurate
> description of what happened. It may be he ended his Internet provider (and
> Symantec) and then got the Comcast offers, etc.
>
> In any case, he wants to try getting a computer again which he needs for
> email etc. and starting with the filter again, but is worried about this
> Comcast issue happening again. It’s a weird situation to be using this
> “family filter” because he’s in his 50s, but seems to be the only solution.
>
> Anyone have any ideas or thoughts? I’m thinking just go ahead with
> Symantec again and see what happens. I don’t think he’ll get those ads with
> a new laptop. I think they were some vestige of the last computer that a
> friend gave to him.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
>
> David
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