9
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Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus

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9
Votes

Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus
Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus
2020-08-04 12:48:48
Model: Deco X20  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.2.5

1. Whitelisting - Parental Controls Filtering

Parental controls played a big part in our decision in selecting this mesh router, but unlike most parental control apps, this has no whitelist, so if a filter category blocks a site you need your child to access to for school or something else, you have to unblock the entire category which is counterproductive.

 

Previously in other parental control apps when I had to blacklist certain apps or complex sites  I would have to research the various servers involved such as cdns, apis, etc. on the flip side for whitelisting I would have to add those same individually to the whitelist to counter the blocking being done by a category to allow a website or app and all its features to be fully functional. I notice with the deco app you can block an app or website by searching for it without needing to list all the urls that are involved, but what else does that affect or block? For example, we blocked YouTube specifically and have the Teen filter on (see screenshot), but our child needs to be able to use Google Docs for school assignments and it seems to be blocked. I haven't figured out any category that would be blocking it. Does adding "YouTube" block apis and other services that are needed for Google Drive/Google Docs or other Google Services? 
 

 

 





 

2. Whitelisting for Antivirus

So I noticed in the report that the antivirus sometimes blocks a vpn or anonymizer. We utilize email services that go through VPNs, we have VPNs for work, and private VPNs for some of our mobile devices and a laptop. I use Cloudflare Warp VPN, Norton 360 VPN, I've tried a VPN through AT&T over my WiFi that continues when I leave the house, (  on some occasions I have used PhotonVPN though mostly testing. I get interruptions on these sometimes so I switch (mostly prefer Norton) when one goes down. I keep a VPN active on my phone and iPad, and my laptop uses my work vpn during the day.  Anyway it would be nice if, just like on the computer if I disagree when a file or site is blocked by my antivirus software I can add an exception or whitelist it. I should be able to do the same with a site being blocked by my router that could be a false positive or is something I want in spite of a triggered "malware/warning" due to various algorithms or rules.  This is not a common circumstance but there is almost always at least one or two permanent items on my computer over the life of my security software I end of whitelisting. 

 

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2 Reply
Re:Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus
2020-08-04 18:49:41

@ryeman 

 

The site filtering categories are powered by TrendMicro. You could visit their area where they categorize different sites to see which falls under what: https://global.sitesafety.trendmicro.com/

 

You can also make a suggestion as well regarding a site as far as classification.

 

Do you have a screenshot of the blocked event?

#2
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Re:Whitelist on parental controls and Antivirus
2020-12-05 02:06:15

@Tony I just got the Deco M5, and am happy about its performance and easy of use. But the lack of white list is making the product unworkable. 

 

It is impractical to add all the sites we want prevent the kids to go. This is whole point of automatically blocking by category, This is good. 

 

But as the original poster says, without white list, we can't explicitly allow certain sites. What makes it even harder is:

 - There is no log on which sites the parent blocked, for what reason (e.g., due to  the site belong to a blocked Category)

 - There is no way to find which category a give site belongs to

 

Is there a place to fill a feature request for the parent control for Deco product? Or can you send the white list request to the proper developers?

 

Right now, I had to disable all categories. If no solution is found in the comming week, I may have to return the product, and look for a solution that has both white list and black list.

#3
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