Net Nanny Nonsense

by Raz

Net Nanny is one of those many Internet "surveillance" programs for Windows that is designed to allow parents to monitor and restrict their children's computer usage, and children are pretty much the only people who will be restricted with this.  This program is so shoddily made I don't now where to start.  So I'll just walk you through a tour.

Internet Monitoring

Net Nanny is supposed to watch web browsers, and any other programs parents define, for any content that is deemed offensive to kids.  It has a list of web sites, newsgroups, and words or phrases that it looks for, plus the parent can add anything they want.

First of all, as of Net Nanny 3.10, it doesn't even work with Netscape 4.5 or higher, so if you plan on using that, don't even think twice about this program.  It does work, however, with Internet Explorer (I tested it with version 5).

Getting into Net Nanny

If the default installation settings were used Net Nanny will be in C:\NetNanny and there will be shortcuts on the Desktop and in the Start Menu.  If you run Net Nanny, then it will prompt you for a password.  Type it in wrong and it goes into the log.

In the folder where it was installed, you will find six programs (one to monitor, one to administer, one to remove the program, and a few others), help files, READMEs, DLLs, and then some files needed by Net Nanny to run.

After a little experimenting with time stamps, I found that WNN3B.DEX is the important file.  It contains all the lists of words or sites to look for, usernames, their passwords, and the administrator password.  Uh oh, I accidentally deleted it.  Will Net Nanny now crash my computer, or lock me out of the system?  Of course not.  Net Nanny is user-friendly.  Just run it and instead of asking for a password it will tell you there is none, and ask you if you would like to set a new one.  Sure you would.

That will work for getting into Net Nanny to administer.  If you just want to browse the web without being restricted or logged, just do the old Ctrl+Alt+Del and close the program named Wnldr32.  Also, by simply moving or deleting WNN3B.DEX from the Net Nanny folder, it stops Net Nanny from blocking or logging any Internet connections, be it web sites or IRC channels or whatever.  This all could be fine for some people - just delete the file or close the program and you're done.  But others of you out there may want to be a little more discreet about your computer usage, or actually change the Net Nanny settings.

First, I suggest copying WNN3.LOG to another folder.  This is the log file, and keeps track of everything relating to the Net Nanny program with time stamps.  Now, there are a few ways to get into the Net Nanny program.

The hardest way is to move the file WNN3B.DEX somewhere, then start Net Nanny.  Then make a password and exit.  Move the new WNN3B.DEX and do it all over again, but this time with a different password of the same length.  Now you have twoWNN3B.DEX files of the same size, each with a different password.  Everything within the files is encrypted, so you can't just open it up and change the password.  But, if you open up the two files in a comparison program, you can see where in the file the difference is, thus what part of the file the password is kept in.

Once you know where it is, you can open up the original WNN3B.DEX in a hex editor, go to that part, and replace it with the same part of one of the other files.  You now have a copy of WNN3B.DEX with the original settings, but a different password.  Just move it back to the Net Nanny folder and you're on your way.  It would probably be best to also keep a copy of the original file, so you can replace it if your parents or whoever administers it has to get into it.  

An easier, and probably the best way, to get into Net Nanny would be to move WNN3B.DEX somewhere, start Net Nanny, and make a new password.  Now you have two WNN3B.DEX files: one for your use, and one for the person who thinks they're in control.  You could just switch them whenever you want to use it, and then change it back when you're done.  I say this is the best way because now you can control it to your liking, but still easily change it back when needed.

By far the easiest way to take control of Net Nanny is to just reinstall it.  If you don't have the disks your parents used to install it, you can just go to www.netnanny.com and download their 30-day evaluation.  Reinstalling Net Nanny resets everything back to the original, so it's just like when your parents first installed it.

Surveillance Programs in General

I did not intend this article to be solely about Net Nanny.  It is by far the worst of these types of programs I have seen yet.  I really just wanted to give people an idea of how it worked, and perhaps other programs out there work the same way.  Here are some things that will work with any of these programs, simply because they rely on human weakness instead of the program's faults.

A funny trick to see how gullible your parents are is to open up the administering program in a hex editor and change words like "OFF" to "ON", "Enabled" to "Disabled", and vice versa.  When they open up the program and see that it's off (but really on) they might try to turn it on, not knowing that they e actually disabling it for you.

Another good one your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to print on the screen that the monitoring program is in serious error, and failure to remove it will most probably lead to hard drive failure (or something along those lines).

Finally, the oldest tricks are sometimes the best.  A key logger hidden in the background will tell you the password the next time someone tries to get into the program.  

If you do find that whatever program your system is running has a main file where it keeps all its information, and if you get into the program and change the settings and/or password, you should copy it somewhere safe and set your system to copy it to the program's folder at start-up.  This will insure that your settings will always be there, untouched.  Good luck!