Kidz CD 1 - small review

Downloaded (and installed) the "Kidz CD 1" program - something age appropriate for Kids up to 6 years old.

Warning - upgrade your Flash an Macromedia players before actually running the program. Most of the sites for games use one or the other and if you attempt to update from within the program, you'll have problems. I had to open the program again (fortunately on the desktop) and exit it normally.

Kid review:
Eliana loved it. She was able to use the mouse to play with the various sites that are pre-defined. She spent a good 30-40 minutes making lemonade with Elmo and Zoe. She learned how to control the mouse pretty well during this time. She's able to easily switch to other components within the software and seems to enjoy exploring the different options.

Parental review:
Great program overall. This program stops kids from using special keys, alt-tab, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and everything except Ctrl+L which is used to exit the program. The program also keeps them from going to other sites easily and from printing within the site for most sites. Right-mouse-clicks are disabled as well. If you have special buttons on the mouse, they may still function so be watchful. (Logitech App Launcher still works, for example.) The same holds for anything that may be forced to "stay on top" such as toolbars or other helper apps.

Special key combinations are disabled so even Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't work while the program is running. This makes it really safe for kids to use.

The links are pre-defined - both good and bad. They are categorized under 4 categories - Games, Stories, Television, and More. That doesn't necessarily mean that you won't find some under the other categories, but it's a good general guide. The good part with this is that you don't have to add a lot of different sites to the program (and the authors do take suggestions). The bad is that you can't add/remove anything on your own.

Personally, I would have liked a little more information on exactly what I'm about to hit. The only hint you get is a picture that grows very slightly when you hover over it. I had no idea if Eliana would choose something too old or young for her, though she's able to switch away without too much trouble if she doesn't like the link.


Overall - great program. The company makes several other products for different age-ranges - all free. They have different sites set up for each age range, but block things like social sites, chat rooms, and other things with forums. The website describes the programs relatively well, but I'd still urge parents to check out the program before the kids start using it.

RootKits & Sony Music

Quick note - Sony has agreed to stop making these CD's (not that they will stop forever or even pull the ones already out there from the market). Microsoft has stated that they will include something in their December 2005 update to their Anti-Spyware software to remove this rootkit if it has been found.

In the meantime, return those CD's to your retailer if you've just bought them. Don't give them to anyone else and be careful. The response from Sony in this case was pretty awful, even going so far as to say that most people don't know what a rootkit is so they shouldn't be concerned. The same could have been said of computer virii for some time. You may not have known what a computer virus was, but if you were infected, you cared quite a bit.

RootKits & Sony Music

While I don't really buy a whole lot of music from Sony, this article raised quite a few concerns about what Sony is doing to "protect" their content with DRM. As most of the comments agree, this is going way too far. The writer includes all of the steps he went through to remove the malware installed by inserting this CD into his computer. Another great argument against using Autorun on your machine. If you're using it now, disable it. Also, take a good luck at the CD's you buy and where you get them from.

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html