Download Restrictions
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You could use software, but depending on how savvy your daughter is, it's easy to circumvent. You might want to think about investing in a more capable router/firewall appliance. The stuff your ISP gives you simply isn't up to the task (afterall, they want you to exceed your bandwidth limits). This is a bit overkill, but you could build your own firewall system and put very capable (and free) firewall software on it that will allow you to set quotas based on IP address. You may even be able to get functionality like this by using one of the Linksys WRT routers and replacing its firmware with more capable (and free) open-source firmware images. Lots of options, but it's like the say in auto racing... Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
This is a bit overkill, but you could build your own firewall system and put very capable (and free) firewall software on it that will allow you to set quotas based on IP address. You may even be able to get functionality like this by using one of the Linksys WRT routers and replacing its firmware with more capable (and free) open-source firmware images.
Hmmm, that is not a bad idea. I already have the main ADSL router's firewall locked down to only allow the necessary ports and to block certain sites. Do you know if its possible to change the firmware of a TP-Link router to open source firmware? Note: The TP-Link is used as just a router, I have a seperate ADSL router which 'feeds' the TP-Link.
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
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Mine is fairly unlimited, I have never received any fair usage warnings.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
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Who is your ISP if you don't mind me asking?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
Virgin
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
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Virgin
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
Cheers, I'll have a look into it, we keep getting advertising blurb from them telling us that the street has fibre optic cables installed. Whats the service like? reliable?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
This is a bit overkill, but you could build your own firewall system and put very capable (and free) firewall software on it that will allow you to set quotas based on IP address. You may even be able to get functionality like this by using one of the Linksys WRT routers and replacing its firmware with more capable (and free) open-source firmware images.
Hmmm, that is not a bad idea. I already have the main ADSL router's firewall locked down to only allow the necessary ports and to block certain sites. Do you know if its possible to change the firmware of a TP-Link router to open source firmware? Note: The TP-Link is used as just a router, I have a seperate ADSL router which 'feeds' the TP-Link.
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
I have my DSL modem in bridge mode and connect it to a homemade firewall box (a PC running pfSense). While I don't need to limit bandwidth (my wife and I don't stream anything beyond the occasional youtube video), it is possible to achieve through creative use of the traffic shaper in pfSense. I don't know anything about the TPLink stuff, but at the price range I found them for, i would classify them as "consumer-grade", and therefore probably not capable of performing bandwith capping. Heck, my Zyxel2 doesn't even let me do it (and that's a $190 router). Have you considered actually blocking p2p traffic at the router? Can it do that? You could also put an appropriate hosts file on her machine that will block sites you specify (I have one that's a few megabytes big for blocking ad sites), and she'll probably be none the wiser about it.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
So, there I am lecturing my daughter on Internet usage once again because of the emails from the ISP saying we're over our download limit yet again, when it occurs to me what I need is something to turn her connection off after a predetermined download limit has been reached. Unfortunately, the router doesn't have this option :( I'd like to set a daily limit that resets every 24 hrs rather than turn it off completely for the remainder of the week/month. So, as this is Codeproject, I'd like to write some software which would achieve this. What would be the best way to capture & count all the bytes that her computer receives? Thinking about it, it sounds like I would need to hook into the NIC driver or find out where the local area connection status window gets its activity information from. Any ideas?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
There may be some custom firmware you could install on your router that has this.
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Cheers, I'll have a look into it, we keep getting advertising blurb from them telling us that the street has fibre optic cables installed. Whats the service like? reliable?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
You should still think about implementing more stringent firewall rules, and teach your daughter about fair use.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
Cheers, I'll have a look into it, we keep getting advertising blurb from them telling us that the street has fibre optic cables installed. Whats the service like? reliable?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
Absolutely, 20mb spped and I cannot remember the last time I had a service outage.
------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
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You should still think about implementing more stringent firewall rules, and teach your daughter about fair use.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
You should still think about implementing more stringent firewall rules, and teach your daughter about fair use.
Hence my original post. I'd like to show her that Internet usage is a privilege and not a right and that it's also a resource that has to be managed. For example, if I allow her a daily allowance of say 100 Mbytes within the time frame that she's allowed access (the router connects and disconnects her at set set times giving a 4 hour window) then once that 100 MB is used, tough, no more access until tomorrow. I'm curious, do any of you think that's harsh?
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
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So, there I am lecturing my daughter on Internet usage once again because of the emails from the ISP saying we're over our download limit yet again, when it occurs to me what I need is something to turn her connection off after a predetermined download limit has been reached. Unfortunately, the router doesn't have this option :( I'd like to set a daily limit that resets every 24 hrs rather than turn it off completely for the remainder of the week/month. So, as this is Codeproject, I'd like to write some software which would achieve this. What would be the best way to capture & count all the bytes that her computer receives? Thinking about it, it sounds like I would need to hook into the NIC driver or find out where the local area connection status window gets its activity information from. Any ideas?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
Check if your router is supported by DD-WRT, which allows a lot of control for this kind of thing. Controlling this on the OS may be noneffective if you have more than one computer.
I see dead pixels Yes, even I am blogging now!
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I have my DSL modem in bridge mode and connect it to a homemade firewall box (a PC running pfSense). While I don't need to limit bandwidth (my wife and I don't stream anything beyond the occasional youtube video), it is possible to achieve through creative use of the traffic shaper in pfSense. I don't know anything about the TPLink stuff, but at the price range I found them for, i would classify them as "consumer-grade", and therefore probably not capable of performing bandwith capping. Heck, my Zyxel2 doesn't even let me do it (and that's a $190 router). Have you considered actually blocking p2p traffic at the router? Can it do that? You could also put an appropriate hosts file on her machine that will block sites you specify (I have one that's a few megabytes big for blocking ad sites), and she'll probably be none the wiser about it.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
Have you considered actually blocking p2p traffic at the router?
That fails in two ways 0) It's possible and even easy to use a lot of bandwidth without p2p (youtube? normal downloads?) 1) It would block a heck of a lot more than just huge torrent downloads (Skype, World of Warcraft updater, a couple of "rare" games such as GunZ The Duel)
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So, there I am lecturing my daughter on Internet usage once again because of the emails from the ISP saying we're over our download limit yet again, when it occurs to me what I need is something to turn her connection off after a predetermined download limit has been reached. Unfortunately, the router doesn't have this option :( I'd like to set a daily limit that resets every 24 hrs rather than turn it off completely for the remainder of the week/month. So, as this is Codeproject, I'd like to write some software which would achieve this. What would be the best way to capture & count all the bytes that her computer receives? Thinking about it, it sounds like I would need to hook into the NIC driver or find out where the local area connection status window gets its activity information from. Any ideas?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
Todd Smith
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So, there I am lecturing my daughter on Internet usage once again because of the emails from the ISP saying we're over our download limit yet again, when it occurs to me what I need is something to turn her connection off after a predetermined download limit has been reached. Unfortunately, the router doesn't have this option :( I'd like to set a daily limit that resets every 24 hrs rather than turn it off completely for the remainder of the week/month. So, as this is Codeproject, I'd like to write some software which would achieve this. What would be the best way to capture & count all the bytes that her computer receives? Thinking about it, it sounds like I would need to hook into the NIC driver or find out where the local area connection status window gets its activity information from. Any ideas?
No trees were harmed in the posting of this missive; however, a large number of quantum states were changed.
"Traffic Shaper XP is a free bandwidth limiter for Windows 2000, XP and 2003 Server" [^]
Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
You should still think about implementing more stringent firewall rules, and teach your daughter about fair use.
Hence my original post. I'd like to show her that Internet usage is a privilege and not a right and that it's also a resource that has to be managed. For example, if I allow her a daily allowance of say 100 Mbytes within the time frame that she's allowed access (the router connects and disconnects her at set set times giving a 4 hour window) then once that 100 MB is used, tough, no more access until tomorrow. I'm curious, do any of you think that's harsh?
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
My daughter wasn't even allowed on the internet at our house until she turned 18. No, I don't think it's harsh at all. What is your monthly bandwidth limit? 100MB is easy to chew up, what with Windows updates and all...
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
My daughter wasn't even allowed on the internet at our house until she turned 18. No, I don't think it's harsh at all. What is your monthly bandwidth limit? 100MB is easy to chew up, what with Windows updates and all...
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
What is your monthly bandwidth limit? 100MB is easy to chew up, what with Windows updates and all...
20GB. Although this has to be shared five ways with me, the wife and three daughters; we all have our own PCs or laptops. Ordinarily, 20GB is ample, however, the youngest daughter (who has the highest download usage) has discovered Habbo, Youtube and GrooveShark. I don't really want to block these sites - which is easy to do through the router - just limit her daily download usage.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
What is your monthly bandwidth limit? 100MB is easy to chew up, what with Windows updates and all...
20GB. Although this has to be shared five ways with me, the wife and three daughters; we all have our own PCs or laptops. Ordinarily, 20GB is ample, however, the youngest daughter (who has the highest download usage) has discovered Habbo, Youtube and GrooveShark. I don't really want to block these sites - which is easy to do through the router - just limit her daily download usage.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
20gb split 5 ways? That's not a lot. I would slow her bandwidth down to something that makes it take a lot longer to download stuff. You could also block the offending web sites during specific periods of the day, and maybe give her a 15 minute window to look at youtube/other stuff. Maybe you could write a windows service that watches traffic and simply disables the NIC if a daily limit is reached. As long as she's not admin, she can't disable it or turn it off.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
What is your monthly bandwidth limit? 100MB is easy to chew up, what with Windows updates and all...
20GB. Although this has to be shared five ways with me, the wife and three daughters; we all have our own PCs or laptops. Ordinarily, 20GB is ample, however, the youngest daughter (who has the highest download usage) has discovered Habbo, Youtube and GrooveShark. I don't really want to block these sites - which is easy to do through the router - just limit her daily download usage.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
Hey I worked up some code that counts bytes sent/received (your ISP only caps bytes received, right)? It's a winforms app, but can easily be made into a windows service. Disabling the machine's NIC should be moderately easy if the service has the correct permissions. If you want the code, send me an email, or post a quick answer (and then respond to this message telling me you posted the quick answer), and I'll post the code as a reply to it.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
Hey I worked up some code that counts bytes sent/received (your ISP only caps bytes received, right)? It's a winforms app, but can easily be made into a windows service. Disabling the machine's NIC should be moderately easy if the service has the correct permissions. If you want the code, send me an email, or post a quick answer (and then respond to this message telling me you posted the quick answer), and I'll post the code as a reply to it.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
(your ISP only caps bytes received, right)?
They give you a download limit, once exceeded they hike the price and reduce the speed for any overusage.
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
If you want the code, send me an email, or post a quick answer (and then respond to this message telling me you posted the quick answer), and I'll post the code as a reply to it.
I would be more than greatful for the code as this was the original intention. :thumbsup: I have started to write a small app. However, it would be nice to be able to compare. Innovation is easier than invention!
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
(your ISP only caps bytes received, right)?
They give you a download limit, once exceeded they hike the price and reduce the speed for any overusage.
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
If you want the code, send me an email, or post a quick answer (and then respond to this message telling me you posted the quick answer), and I'll post the code as a reply to it.
I would be more than greatful for the code as this was the original intention. :thumbsup: I have started to write a small app. However, it would be nice to be able to compare. Innovation is easier than invention!
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
Digital Thunder wrote:
I would be more than greatful for the code as this was the original intention.
Post a "Quick Answer" question, and I'll post the code as a reply.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
Digital Thunder wrote:
I would be more than greatful for the code as this was the original intention.
Post a "Quick Answer" question, and I'll post the code as a reply.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001Hi John, cheers. http://www.codeproject.com/Answers/89784/Download-limiter-method.aspx#answer1[^]
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. Stephen Hawking
