HOW TO SETUP PARENTAL CONTROLS

We all know that the computer and the Internet are very useful tools to everyone including children. It helps them amass knowledge, do their assignments etc. But it could also be a nightmare when your kids start visiting pornographic sites, adult dating sites, sorcery sites and even demonic sites.

Windows has a feature which can help you restrict the sites that your children access on the computer.  You don’t have to call a computer guru to help you do that, I will provide you with a step by step guide on how to set it up on your home computer (the childrens’ desktop computer that is always in your living room) or their personal computer.

To get started,

Ø Go to control panel on your computer (this is found on your start menu, the right side as shown in the screen shot below)

When you are in your control panel make sure you set your view to large icons like mine is (shown in the screen shot below) this will help you find “Internet Options” easily.

Ø  Click “Internet Options” as indicated by the red box in the screenshot above

Ø  After clicking “Internet Options” the Internet Properties Window will appear as shown below

Ø Now go to the content tab in the internet properties window and you will see this (screen shot below)

Ø Next, click “Family Safety”

Ø A new window will open showing you the user accounts available on your system. (see screen shot below)

Ø You need to select a user in order to set up Parental Controls. If it’s your kids system there should be only one account on it i.e. your kid’s name. Select that account.

Ø In my case I just created another account, I named it “Students” just for the illustrations here. (see screen shot below)

Ø After you select the user account you want to set up Parental Control to (in my case “Students”) a new window will appear like the one below.

Ø For now Parental Control is set to “off”, so we will click the “On, enforce current settings” radio button. After it is turned on, you will see a message similar to this (screen shot shown below)

Ø Next you can set time limits, game access, and block or allow specific programs.

Ø To set time limits click on “time limits” and a screen appears (like the one below) then you can click in the boxes the times of each day of the week the user will be blocked from using the computer. Note this time is indicated by the blue colored boxes.

Ø To set game access click on “Games” you will be able to control the user’s access to games by rating, content or title. (see the screen shot below)

Ø After clicking “Games” it takes you to another page, shown below

Ø You can now select if you want to allow the user play game or not, since we are looking at children in this case, we will allow them access to some games but block adult games totally.

Ø To do this we click on “Block or Allow specific games” as indicated by the red box in the screen shot above.

Ø Next, another page presents itself (as shown in the screen shot below) here the games installed on the system will appear and you can select either “User Rating Settings”, or “Always allow”, or “Always block”. I did that since this game is classified as “M” or “Mature” because of some violence and sexual content in it. I advise you to do same for such games, don’t allow your child (who isn’t up to 17 years of age) play it.

 If you leave it at “User Rating Settings” it means that it will follow the ratings as defined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). On my screen shot you can see Grand Theft Auto and to the right of it, I selected the radio button “Always Block” as indicated by the red box on the screen shot above.

Ø You can also select the game ratings that are okay for the user to play, all by yourself. To do this click on “set game ratings” as indicated by the red box in the screen shot below.

Ø  Next, another page appears as shown by the screen shot below. On this page you can control specific games the user (students in this case) can and cannot play. 

Ø Next you should block games with no ratings as indicated by the red box in the screen shot above and also set which ratings are ok for the user (your child) to play.

Ø Scrolling down the page reveals six ratings; EARLY CHILDHOOD, EVERYONE, EVERYONE 10+, TEEN, MATURE and ADULT ONLY. Therefore select the one that best suits your child,

o   EARLY CHILDHOOD is suitable for ages 3 and older

o   EVERYONE is suitable for ages 6 and older

o   EVERYONE 10+ is suitable for ages 10 and older

o   TEEN is suitable for ages 13 and older

o   MATURE is suitable for only adults

See the screen shot below

Ø Scrolling further down the page shows more options, you can block certain types of contents even if a game has an allowed rating. See the screen shot below.

Ø On this page (as indicated in the screen shot above) you will find check boxes that you can click on to block particular contents. Check the contents you want to block and click “ok” and “ok” again and again till you are out of the Internet Properties window.

Ø To select the programs accessible to this user click “Students can only use the program I allow” (note “Students” is my own account name)

See screen shot below.

Ø Next a list of programs will be generated, but this will take time (10 – 20 mins) so you will wait (see screen shot below)

Ø After which all programs installed on your system will be listed like in the screen shot shown below.

Ø Next select all the program you want the user to use. Then click “ok” and “ok” again and again till you are out of the Internet Properties window.

That is it, it is done. Now your kids system is safe. You do not need to be at home all the time monitoring them.

I hope this helped.

Let me get your comments on this.

To get daily posts from this site, subscribe to my daily email alerts by typing your email address below.