Computer help

I don't see a computer help forum and I'm at a loss as to where to post this.

I was wondering if any of you know or have had to do this...how do I go about making it so my 23 yr old mentally/phsically disabled daughter can't sign up for various things? Today I got my Verizon phone bill and on the back page was a charge for ILD telecommunications for voice mail. $17.17 was added to the bill. She isn't authorized to make any changes to our phone bill, yet she CAN. She's also signed up for AOL, changed another service on the phone bill, bought magazines in hopes of winning the $10 million prize....Most people understand and are sympathetic to my plight and remove any unauthorized charges. ILD will not remove the charge. I don't want to stand over her whenever she's on the internet, so is there something I can do? Anything? The guy I spoke with at ILD told me that because she was over 18, she was authorized. Verizon isn't open on Sat or Sun, so I can't speak to them till Mon, and I had the discussion with Verizon on how she was not authorized to make any changes. We use Mozilla firefox, I have ad aware.....is there anything I can do to stop these people? I do hope you understand that I do tell her about NOT signing up for these things, but she doesn't always remember, due to her mental disability.

Any help anyone can give me would be appreciated,

Terry

Certain companies will allow you to make a verbal password necessary for any account changes, you could try that. Make it very clear to any company that won't put a password in place that the account is in YOUR NAME ONLY, and you will not be held responsible for any unauthorized expenses.

If she is getting on the computer without permission, have a boot password installed. The computer won't boot up without the proper password.

Otherwise, place the computer in an area where you can see the screen while you watch TV or read a book etc. All you have to be able to do is glance at the screen occasionally without her being aware of it every time.

BTW, there is a great forum called "Caregivers", you might want to check it out here: http://davesgarden.com/place/f/caregivers/all/

hope this helps,

mg

terry, we also have a computer talk forum here: http://davesgarden.com/place/f/computer/all/

Thanks! I didn't see a computer forum.....I saw computer crafts, but not help. She isn't using the computer without permission and it is in a room where I can see.....but it doesn't take long to sign up for these things. I just don't get why anyone can do anything they want on a computer.....heck I can probably go to that site and "pretend" I'm somebody else and add things for them! It's just very frustrating........

Thanks again,
Terry

How is she getting your account numbers? Maybe they need to be better secured than the computer?

mg

She isn't getting account numbers. She's signing up for things from other phone companies. All she does is put in our phone number, address, her name and voila, they accept it. Same with AOL. She went there and clicked on sign me up, put her name and our address....all the things she signs up for, are bill me later. Then these people call, wanting a credit card and I have to explain to them.......or something comes in the mail. She doesn't go to our phone company and add things on....internet and phone are both Verizon. She goes to these other companies that offer voice mail or long distance. She went to Publishers Clearing House and "ordered" about 5 magazines. I don't know why...she doesn't know why or how she gets to these various sites. Go to some of these sites and see how easy it is to add things on or buy things for other people. No money needed now, no credit card needed. Just tell them what you want, add your name, address and phone number. We don't do internet banking or anything like that. She hasn't figured out how to get into our accounts. No account numbers are stored on the computer.

Terry

Ok, sounds like maybe she is clicking on Pop-ups then. A great Pop-up killer is available from Google as part of their toolbar, and it is free.
http://toolbar.google.com/

Just don't enable the part that automatically fills out forms, lol.

There are others available also, with this search I got 47,200 results. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Free+Pop-Up+Killer%22

mg

Sounds like you need to set up a very limited user account for your daughter and she should only be logged in with that. You can put on parental blocking software and put in a "whitelist" of sites she's allowed to go to -- anything else will be forbidden without your master password.

mg, I installed the google toolbar. Thank you. After I got myself under control last night, I asked her what she was doing. She said she thought she was signing up for a cell phone. So...we had the talk....again....she has 50% loss in both ears, will only wear 1 aid and doesn't like talking on the phone. And neither her dad or I have a cell phone! I told her again, to not sign up for anything without my permission. And yes, it was a pop up. I thought I had all of those blocked. I checked the different browsers, they all say pop ups are blocked. Yet I still get them.

gardenwife, I'm not very computer literate. I can probably have my dad come over and help me to set her up with her own account. I know that's how his computer is set up for her.

Thank you all,

Terry