The internet can be a wonderful tool for your children, but it can also allow them access to many things you don't want them to see. In yesterday's tip, I discussed how you can set up a separate account for your kids that will keep them from installing software or making major changes without your approval. (If you want to read that tip, you can read it here.) Once you've set up that account, you can also use built-in tools to monitor and control what your kids are doing online.
In my tip yesterday, I mentioned that you could create a single account for all of your kids. However, some of these tools work best if you create a separate account for each child.
Once you have your user account/accounts configured, go to the Control Panel (Start -> Control Panel in Windows Vista/7 or Charms -> Settings -> Control Panel in Windows 8), look for "User Accounts and Family Safety", and select the option for "Set up Parental Controls" (Windows Vista/7) or "Set up Family Safety" (Windows 8). Then, select the first account you want to configure for parental controls.
On/Off - The first option is to turn these controls on or off. Since you are reading this tip, I will assume you want to select "On, enforce current settings". If you accidentally turn this on for an adult's account, you can come back here to turn it off again.
Activity Reporting (Vista/8) - If you want Windows to log the internet activity on this account, select "On". You will then be able to come back to this page and click on "View activity log" on the right-hand side to view the logs.
Activity Reporting (Windows 7) - In Windows 7, Microsoft moved the activity log and content filtering to a separate utility. To enable this, you will need to go here to download and install Windows Essentials. You can either choose to install all programs, or you can choose to only install the Family Safety program. Once installed, you can type "Windows Live Family Safety" into the search box to set up monitoring on specific accounts. The activity reports will be accessible through the Family Safety website.
Web Filtering (Vista/7/8) - The Web Filtering tool allows you to set filters on the content your kids can see. You can also allow or block specific websites to override the filter settings. This is included in the Control Panel utility on Vista/8, and it is included with the Windows Live Family Settings program in Windows 7.
Time Limits (Vista/7/8) - You can limit the amount of time each account can be logged in. This is very useful if you have several kids and need to make sure they are sharing one computer. You can also set curfew times so your kids are not able to sneak on the computer while you are sleeping.
Games (Vista/7/8) - This allows you to control the games (and Windows Store apps in Windows 8) that your kids can use. You can filter by rating, and you can also allow or block specific games.
Programs/Desktop Apps (Vista/7/8) - Like the Games section, you can limit the programs that your kids are allowed to use. Although this feature may only have limited uses, it can be very helpful for a computer that is used for both work and home purposes. If you have programs that you installed for work, you can block access so your kids are unable to get into them.
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