said by Quaoar:The new releases of Linksys N routers have FIRMWARE that provides, essentially, parental control of linked computers. As a default, the router is set to prohibit access to web sites that are not suitable for children. These sites include many very popular sites: Gawker.com is a case in point.
The problem with these routers is that the supplied network management software HAS NO CONNECTION TO THE PARENTAL CONTROL FEATURES. So, out of the box, when the linksys network management program is installed from CD, the user has no ability to modify the parental control defaults.
Now comes Network Magic, the only way that one can turn off the parental control configuation set in the firmware. It works quite well once one gets beyond the registration phase.
Note, that in my experience with this disaster of firmware defaults in the Linksys N routers, is to
1) download Network Magic free version and install.
2. Run Network Magic to reduce the web security to zero.
3. Uninstall Network Magic.
4. Uninstall the router management package and reboot.
Unless steps 3 and 4 are done, web browsing speed will not be restored. Rebooting the computer after step 2 does nothing to restore web browsing speed.
Cisco/Linksys should be ashamed to have instituted parental controls without providing a ready means of modifying this security.
This is because that firmware predates Cisco's acquisition of Pure Networks (and thus Network Magic). Further, NM is also available for routers that do NOT have parental controls set in the firmware (example - any Linksys G router).
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