There are several ways to implement a filter to prevent any ‘topics of concern’ from being loaded in FireFox and web browsers in general. One FireFox add-on I found which could do that was Fox Filter. I tried this out on my primary computer’s FireFox install, but found it very efficient, but lacked the ability to remotely administer new rules and polices.

Since this machine is for someone outside my physical household, I can’t touch the machine for updates often.

Step forward Glaxstar’s Glubble. The Glubble Family Edition 1.0.1.5 add-on allows ‘parents’ to administer content, children to request access to new websites, which might have been blocked by the hammer of Fox Filter. If I approve, it becomes allowed and the child view the website without making modifications to any rules or filters. The approval or rejection of website requests can occur if a parent is surfing with FireFox and logged in as a Glubble parent, on a different machine. Many homes likely have at least one PC.

Following the paradigm from my post on restricting OS X Tiger,

1. log into the restricted user account
2. Launch FireFox
3. Visit glubble.com, and install the Glubble Add-on
4. FireFox will prompt you to allow the installation of the add-on, accept and allow.
5. Once Glubble is installed, restart FireFox by either closing it, or clicking on the ‘Restart FireFox’ button.
6. FireFox will load. Accept the terms and conditions of Glubble, and click on “Create a new account” at the top of FireFox. You will be guided through the Glubble setup process.

Note: If computer is for children only, then you may not want to install the parent Glubble profile on this machine. A password is required to log into the parent account, but if you don’t plan to log into the parent account, just don’t add it. If it’s added, click on the small x next to the name of that tab and it will allow you to remove that user tab.

Glubble stores the various account settings in the cloud. This allows easy remote administration and control. There are many features worth looking at in Glubble such as: their default safe websites called ‘Glubbles, the ‘family wall’, the ‘Last surfed’ information for the children accounts.

Glubble seems to fit the bill for child proofing the internet, IMO.

Since I’ve arrived at Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) for the iMac G3 I salvaged for free from Craigslist, I need to lock down the UI.  Sure, in Tiger, there are plenty of ‘Parental Controls’ but selecting the most restrictive setting of: ‘This user can only use these applications’, adds several Folders to the Dock such as Documents, Applications. Given this particular user, I felt it would confuse more then it would help.

So, I decided I’d select ‘Simple Finder’, but restrict the UI and the Dock. I did consider removing the Dock, and found buried online a good reference on removing the Dock from OS X.

So, here are the steps I took.

1. Create a new user in System Preferences, leaving it as a ‘standard user’ (for the time being)
2. Log in as that user and trim down the Dock (click and drag Dock icons into the trashcan). I only left  FireFox (see my post on child proofing FireFox) and an AppleScript to Shutdown the Mac.
3. Disable the OS X Dashboard [In Terminal run: defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES] (activates at next login, test by pressing F12 key)
4. Locking the OS X Dock [In Terminal run: defaults write com.apple.dock contents-immutable -bool true] [Then also run in terminal: osascript -e 'tell application "Dock" to quit'] (this applies the change by killing the Dock)
5. Last step is to change the user type to 'Simple Finder' [In Terminal run:defaults write com.apple.finder InterfaceLevel simple
6. Now, log off and back in. Time to lock down FireFox.

Note: This method does not prevent other applications from running. An example would be iTunes. If an audio CD is inserted, iTunes runs. I felt 'helper applications' running would be pleasant, but at the same time, I'm not advertising that they exist or can be run.

Clearly, this leaves the system open and exposed at several levels. If you follow my approach, I recommend that you put in an audio disc, run and configure iTunes with defaults, and adjust the Parental Controls in the Preferences section.

A major benefit of selecting the 'Simple Finder' lockdown approach is that a menu option exists in Finder (Finder -> Run Full Finder), which when authenticated as a System Administrator, will let you run Terminal or any other application in this profile to further tweak the OS or perform some other administative tasks without logging out.