How to block the use of SMS and data usage via Kaspersky Safe Kids?

[Rick_Liu]

Dear experts,

I am the parent who is grounding my kid by only allowing the ‘Call’ function on his smartphone, however, I was not able to find out how to block him from using SMS (I was able to block WhatsApp) and prevent him from using any data (yes, I am so regretful for giving him this birthday gift, a Smartphone with unlimited calls and data).

I am wondering if I could block the use of SMS and data from Kaspersky Safe Kids instead of calling the cellular provider to cancel the subscription.

By the way, any idea why I blocked the ‘Spotify’ but he is still able to open and listen from ‘Spotify’?

Thanks in advance!

Rick

[Flood and Flood's wife]

I am wondering if I could block the use of SMS and data from Kaspersky Safe Kids instead of calling the cellular provider to cancel the subscription.

Any idea why I blocked the ‘Spotify’ but he is still able to open and listen from ‘Spotify’?

Hello @Rick_Liu, 

Welcome!

1. Which type of ‘smartphone’, android or iOS & which OS version (makes it very hard to test anything & give advice without this info)? 
2. By data, does that mean mobile data or wifi? 
3. In Kaspersky Safe Kids (KSK), is Phone, Settings BLOCKED? 
4. On our test androids we successfully blocked the messaging app  Link

    

5. How is your son accessing Spotify? 
6. Has Spotify been uninstalled? 
7. Has KSK been configured to BLOCK the Google Play Store & or other app stores →  if he uses other app stores? 
8. Which Application CATEGORIES are BLOCKED?
9. We successfully blocked Spotify:  Link

10. Is KSK Premium or Free? 

Please let us know? 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

Resources:

How to set up Kaspersky Safe Kids

KSK cross platform online help

[Rick_Liu]

Sorry for the delay in response as we have been busying with ‘how to deal with adolescence’. Here are some updates:

1. It’s a Huawei P30 using Android;
2. by data I meant cellular data provided by the cellular service provider (when he’s outside), but also the WiFi (at home);
3. In KSK→ App: all APP categories have been Forbidden; under ‘Exclusions’, all the APP under his PC have been Forbidden except for the ‘Wireless Keyboard’; all the App under his smartphone have been Forbidden (including ‘Setting’) except for the ‘Camera’; I even limit his PC usage time to 1 minute and smartphone to 0 minute; however, we often found him playing with both devices without any problem (Spotify, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Soundcloud, YouTube, Chrome,…… you name it!!! 
4. Regarding Spotify, he has previously installed the App on both his PC and Smartphone, but the Spotify App only appears under the list of PC Apps (frankly I have no access to his smartphone so I am not 100% sure whether Spotify is still on his smartphone);
5. Both ‘AppGallery’ and ‘Google Play Store’ have been Forbidden under ‘Exclusions’ - I hope I did block them correctly?
6. ALL APP categories have been blocked;
7. I activated the Free trial of KSK Premium today after being so frustrated, but again, I knew he turned on the phone in order to connect with his friends, but the Map was not able to locate him - I will try tonight once he’s back home when he definitely turns on the phone to see if KSK Premium could track his phone. By the way, the KSK Premium trial version was able to easily track my another child and report to me his activities regularly.
8. FYI, the ‘bad’ one did learn some ‘phantom programing’ and I remembered he asked me about KSK was built on what kind of language---- I always have a doubt that he managed to do some Google search and find a way to ‘crack your code’, e.g. I received an email report that ‘New app was found on child’s device’ and the new App was ‘Norton App Lock’ on his phone.
9. Worst case, and even without any clue, is it recommended that I simply remove his devices (PC and phone) from KSK and then ask him to re-install the KSK App?

Thanks for all your efforts!

Rick

[Rick_Liu]

Updates:

1. My other kid confirmed that the ‘bad’ one did something on his PC, which would affect the smartphone; the ‘bad’ one tried several times to ‘force’ the good one to do the same but the good one refused.
2. I am still able to receive ‘Alerts’ about the ‘bad’ one, e.g. ‘Your child’s device has been offline for more than 3 days’, continuously ‘Receiving location...’ but eventually failed ‘Still could not locate these devices’;
3. I am afraid after removing the devices and re-installing KSK on his devices to re-connect, the ‘bad’ one would be able to do the same… again, I have blocked the ‘Setting’ from Day One, what could possibly happen?

[Rick_Liu]

More updates:

1. Finally I had access to my kid’s PC and clicked on both the KSK shortcut on desktop and in the program, it showed ‘Problem with Shortcut: The item ‘safekidsui.exe’ that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly. Do you want to delete this shortcut?’
2. I then found a list of KSK files in his ‘Recycle Bin’ and they were deleted about 3 months ago;
3. I then officially uninstalled KSK and downloaded again the App for Windows trying to re-install completely; however, after several initial steps I reached ‘You need to start Kaspersky Safe Kids and log in to continue the installation’ and clicked on ‘Continue’, it always led to ‘! Unknown error    Close’! 
4. Please: 1) how could he manage to delete/ move KSK program files when I blocked almost all the App including ‘Setting’? 2) why I was not able to re-install the KSK? If a 13-year old was able to easily crack your code, what else could we as parents do because he could have done that again and again?

[Flood and Flood's wife]

Hello @Rick_Liu, 

• This has nothing to do with cracked code.
• “why I was not able to re-install the KSK?”

🛑 KSK has not been installed correctly in the first place.

• Let’s do this one step at a time; one device at a time, first Windows. 

1. Which Windows OS version & build is installed, refer: How to find the version of your operating system? 

Please let us know? 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

[Rick_Liu]

Hi @Flood and Flood's wife ,

I think I did install the KSK on the PC correctly at the beginning because I was able to monitor his activities and grant extra hours upon request; then the kid did something.

The Windows version is:

Microsoft Windows

Version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1466)

FYI, some additional updates:

(I have disconnected this PC from the KSK parent App. After warning him that I would cancel the mobile phone subscription if the mobile phone is still ‘disconnected’ from the parent App (it actually shows the device but simply unable to monitor and track), the kid definitely did something on his smartphone because I finally could track him on the map yesterday and get alerts about his mobile phone activities, e.g. he tried to open KSK website. However, this morning I received an alert stating that ‘Important app functions were turned off        The following permissions were revoked on xxx (Mobile), which is used by XXX: Location in the background, Location in the background. The following app features will no longer work: Location monitoring. Edit the device settings.)

Thanks again for following up!

Rick

[Flood and Flood's wife]

Hello @Rick_Liu,

• We are going to work on one device at a time, first Windows. From this point forward, we do not wish to read any more android updates - you can collate all of the android information & when we’ve finished working on the Windows aspect, you can share the android  information with us. 

1. Is KSK still unable to be installed, on this Windows device? 
2. In KSK, which Age template, has been configured for your son? 
3. Post an image of the Windows, Family & other users screen, hide your son’s name, but mark it so we know which account is his?
4. Also, does your other child have a Windows account on this computer? 
5. In (your) MyKaspersky account, select KSK, select the Applications tab, select Application monitoring, select Settings for application categories, select Change, screenprint the whole APPLICATION CATEGORIES screen & post back please?  
6. In the same Application monitoring screen, screenprint the installed apps & post back, if necessary, zip the images, upload to cloud & post a share link in your topic please? 

 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

[Rick_Liu]

Hello @Flood and Flood's wife ,

1. I followed the instructions again and again on his PC, including logging in to parent account and trying to add device, but the result is the same, maybe I didn’t fully understand ‘You need to start KSK and log in to continue the installation.’? How could I start KSK when I am in the middle of installation?
2. Age group is 13
3. On his PC, Windows, Family & other users, I only found me (administrator, adult) and my another child; the ‘bad’ ones account was not listed; should I try ‘Add a family member’ to invite the ‘bad’ child? I have just sent the invite and I think it would need his acceptance.
4. My another child, the good one, has his own PC, as mentioned above, I could also see his account under ‘Your family’’ as ‘Child’ on the ‘bad’ ones PC;
5. Attached is the ‘Application Categories’;
6. The list of installed Apps only reflects the Apps on the smartphone, as previously mentioned I have disconnected his PC device from the parent KSK app, that’s why I was trying to re-install the KSK child’s app on his PC. If necessary I could share the list of installed Apps on his mobile later.

Best regards,

Rick

[Flood and Flood's wife]

Hello @Rick_Liu, 

Thank you for the information. 

Please stop trying to fix things. Do not add anything. Do not send invites. Do nothing except follow our instructions only *please*.

💥At the moment we are *trying* to gather information to see where things have gone wrong💥 

1. Post an image of the Windows, Family & other users screen, hide the child’s name only,  we need to see the accounts? 
2. In KSK, is the 2nd child’s profile assigned to the device - post an image - hide the child’s name? 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

 

[Rick_Liu]

1. Attached is the picture showing ‘Family & other users’ in the problematic kid’s Windows PC; mine is ‘rickliu’ and the other kid is ‘Tonyo’.
2. Not quite understand the 2nd question; the 2nd child has its own PC device, which is also connected to the parent KSK independently from the problematic child’s devices; I also attach the picture showing ‘Family & other users’ on the 2nd child’s PC, which has no family members at all. 

[Flood and Flood's wife]

Hello @Rick_Liu, 

Thank  you for the information. 

1. Lets start calling the children - child a & child b, or child 1 & child 2 please - is the 13 year old a or b / 1 or 2? 
2. Why have Microsoft accounts been configured? 
3. On the device with 2 accounts (first image), but no account for the 13 year old, select the child account, select REMOVE. 
4. After the account has been removed, shutdown the device using Shutdown, not Restart, power on, login as parent, check to make sure you are the only account on the device? 
5. Does the 13 year old know your Microsoft password, the PC admin password, & or (your) MyKaspersky account password? 
6. From the images, it appears as tho you’re telling us, on the the 2nd PC, (dark image) no child account has been configured, is that correct? Note, we really do not wish to start working on a 2nd windows device, given the issues on the first windows device are still not resolved. IF there’s problems on the second device, it will be better to wait until the first device is fully resolved. 

Let us know when this is done, we’ll provide the next steps. 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

[Rick_Liu]

1. The 13-year old is child 1 (first image with white/grey background).
2. No clue, maybe because we have several Microsoft Office 365 accounts, and I then tried to group them under Microsoft Family Safety -- I am a bit lost, sorry;
3. Done, however, when I selected child 2’s account under ‘Family and other users’, there was no ‘remove’ button but ‘block’ or ‘Change account type’, I have blocked it (Can’t sign in). But do you actually mean ‘Family and other users’ or ‘Email & accounts’ → ‘Accounts used by other apps’? Because I do find under ‘Accounts used by other apps’ there are 2 Microsoft accounts, one is child 1 and anther is me, and when I clicked on child one’s account, there is a ‘Manage’ button below, whereas ‘Manage’ and ‘Remove’ under my MS account. I got confused by ‘Windows account’ vs. ‘Microsoft account’ and apparently we used the Microsoft accounts as our Windows accounts.
4. Done, but I could do that again if Step 3 is further clarified;
5. The child 1 doesn’t know my MS account password or my KSK parent app password;
6. Correct and let’s ignore the child 2’s PC (dark image)

May I suggest a quick and dirty solution that Windows 10 be completely reinstalled on child 1’s PC and set me as the admin? Currently the child is the administrator of his PC/ Windows.

Best regards,

@Rick_Liu 

[Flood and Flood's wife]

1. Currently the child (child 1) is the administrator of his PC/ Windows.

Hello @Rick_Liu, 

Thank you for the information!

As we said previously, this has nothing to do with cracked code, KSK has not been installed correctly. With Admin authority, he has the same authority as the parent. 

Let’s keep moving forward.

Reinstall Windows, you as Admin and you as the only account, then do nothing else.

When you’re done, your Windows account should look like:

 

 

Let us know when it’s done please? 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋

[Rick_Liu]

@Flood and Flood's wife 

I can definitely re-install Windows and set me as the Admin, however, and just to be clear, is that (making the parent as the Admin of the Windows account) the prerequisite to run the KSK App properly on the kid’s PC? I was curious to check my child 2’s PC and similar to child 1, and to be fair with child 1, my child 2 is also the Admin of the Windows account on his own PC. Is it because child 2 is better behaved and did not ‘abuse’ his Admin right to interrupt the KSK child’s App installed on his PC?

Frankly, when we provided the PCs to our kids we did not intend to be the Admin; moreover, I followed all the steps to install the KSK parent App on my devices first, and then asked my kids to install the KSK kid App accordingly, and I also blocked the use of ‘Settings’ to prevent them from uninstall the KSK App……

If KSK requires parents to be the Admin of the kids’ Windows PC accounts, would the parents also be required to have passwords of their smartphones? I don’t think that would work for today’s adolescence teenagers.

Having said that, I will follow your instructions to re-install child 1’s Windows and be the admin.

Thanks for your patience!

Rick

[Flood and Flood's wife]

Hello @Rick_Liu,

• For KSK to work properly, children cannot be assigned Windows Administrator profiles.
• Each child must have a Windows standard/local account. 
• Blocking KSK Settings, with the Admin auth you’ve granted (for your child) is useless, you’ve seen the results. 
• Re-install Windows, create your Windows Administrator, Local account only, there is still a lot of work to do. 
• We’ll discuss Android when this mess is sorted out, suffice to say, it’s different. 

Thank you🙏

Flood🐳+🐋