How to Set Basic Parental Controls on Your Computer

You hear it over and over all the time “know what your kids are doing online“. But how? So many kids set up the computers in households and we as parents can be at a disadvantage in our efforts to keep up. One of the simplest things you can do is set basic child controls on your computer.

Did you know that on your Windows PC, they are build right in? All you have to do is set up a separate user profile for your child on the computer they use (if they have their own you should set up an administrator account for yourself and give them a child user account so you are still in control and DO NOT share your password with them).

Setting up user accounts

First you want to create your account(s). Having a separate one for each child allows you to track what they are doing individually and gives them a little bit of privacy from each other. Newer versions of Windows require Microsoft registration and an email address, so if you make email addresses for them keep them safe by knowing their passwords and having the password reminders/password change notices sent to your own email address.

You can create the accounts through your control panel. For older Windows versions: Start –> Control Panel –> Users. For Windows 8: Start with the “File Folders” Icon –> “Control Panel” –> “User Accounts”

 

If you haven’t set up the accounts yet, you need to do that. Once you do, you can then go in and set restrictions.

Setting Restrictions

There are many options for setting restrictions. You can make them as loose or tight as you want and as the administrator you can change them and view the reports at anytime once you are logged in as the administrator.

Make sure your enforcement options are “ON” or they won’t be in effect for your child. Then, go through each option, read and set the controls you want in place. You can set limits on what hours they can use the computer as well as the total number of hours they are allowed on the computer.

There are also options to restrict downloads. This will require the parent/administrator password for ANY downloads to the computer from the child’s account.

And rating levels can be set to restrict access to games, websites and apps that might be too old for the child.

Stalking Your Child – Getting Reports

In order to see what your child is doing, you will need to log into the administrator/parent account on the computer to view the report (really would be nice if there was an option to get it emailed to you, but currently there is not).

Once you are logged in you can go to the control panel and users where you set up the account and view the reports under “View Activity Reports”.

Tips

• Set reasonable limits and restrict further if needed.
• Read the reports, don’t just set it up and leave it. There are plenty of things that don’t have ratings on them.
• Check out the websites your child uses – especially non rated websites, you never know what it contains until you check it out.
• Pay attention to time spent on sites. If you child accidentally ends up on a site after a search and is only there 2 seconds before they realize it’s a bad site and takes themselves off it, it’s probably not worth getting them in trouble for. It proves you taught them well!
• Need to restrict further? Do it. You can change the settings for summer and school and if you need to cut off access altogether for a while, YOU have the power to change the password from the administrator account! Use it.