Restrict downloading a file

[omidkamangar]

Hi,
I have a PC running Windows XP which is directly connected to internet. There are four other PCs with windows XP and all connect through the first one to internet.
Is there anyway to restrict downloading for the other four PCs so that they only be able to view web pages and not to download other kinds of files?
I can change the OS of the first computer to Linux if needed.
Thanks in advance.

[mechdave]

You could set up the forwarding on the box exposed to the internet to only forward port 80 to the other machines on your network. Or maybe you could set up a transparent proxy to only allow files of type *.html to enter the internal network.

[omidkamangar]

You could set up the forwarding on the box exposed to the internet to only forward port 80 to the other machines on your network. Or maybe you could set up a transparent proxy to only allow files of type *.html to enter the internal network.

Could you describe in more detail please?

[Schotty]

Read up on squid and transparent proxies for more info.

[elizalde]

This might help..
linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch32_:_Controlling_Web_Access_with_S quid

Another one..
cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-rhel-centos-fedora-squid-installation-configuration.html