How to Keep Your Child From Messing Up Your Computer

1. Password protect the log-on screen. I suggest to people often that children and teens not be allow to use adult computers; work and play don't mix well. When adults get a new computer the children can mess up the hand-me-down computer and it won't affect the adult's business.
2. Install FireFox with the Adblock Plus add-on.
3. Make a user account with limited privileges. Go to Control Panel, User Accounts, Add/Remove User Accounts, Create a New User Account. Set as Standard User.
4. Contact your Internet provider to learn how to block sites in your router. If you know your child is visiting sites like Limewire, Myspace, Funwebproducts and Kazaa, then by all means block them.  At my work, we block all these (plus many more) and a box pops up that says "this site has been blocked."
5. Make sure pop-up blocker is on when your child is browsing the web. Many infections start as pop ups. 
6. Teach them to never open anything they receive in the email without scanning it first and to delete files from people they don't know. Tell them not to accept file transfers in social networking sites, and insist of any file to be emailed so that it can be scanned by your email system prior to opening it.
7. Monitor their activity on social neworking sites. Right now I'm logged into a computer that was infected through a social networking site.

Take care!