Parental Controls

Category: New User Account Features | Comment 0 Comments | Read 2113 Read | Posted Posted: VistaTrick | 17 November 2007

Although Windows XP was the first version of Windows to make user accounts truly usable, Windows Vista is the first to make them safe for children.

Now, it’s possible to apply parental controls on your children’s accounts that will keep them away from the bad stuff online and off, and give you peace of mind that was previously lacking when the kids got on a computer. Vista’s parental controls are available on a per-user basis, and you might be surprised by how well they work.

Tip: Parental controls are available in Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, and
Ultimate, but not Business or Enterprise.

Configuring Parental Controls

To set up parental controls, you first need to configure one or more user accounts as stan- dard user accounts. Then, from an administrator account, you can configure parental con- trols. To do so, navigate to Control Panel➪User Accounts and Family Safety➪Parental Controls. Then, select the user to which you’d like to add parental controls. You will see the window shown in Figure 9-6.

Figure 9-6: Parental controls enable you to configure various restrictions for your children.

Tip: You can only configure parental controls on one account at a time. If you have three children to which you’d like to apply identical parental controls, unfortunately, you will have to repeat these steps for each of your children’s accounts. Also, note that you can-
not apply parental controls to an administrator account.

Activity Reporting

When this feature is enabled, your children’s parental control-related activity is recorded and presented to you periodically in report form. The reports are available from this Parental Controls window and include such things as top 10 web sites visited, most recent
10 web sites visited, logon times, applications run, instant message conversations, link exchanges, web cam usage, audio usage, game play, file exchanges, and SMS messages, e-mails received and sent, and media (audio, video, and recorded TV shows) played. A sample report is shown in Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7: With parental controls, you can view reports that summarize your children’s recent activities on the PC.

Reports are available for each standard user account. There’s also a different report type, called General System, that logs such things as when parental control settings, accounts, or the system clock are changed, or when users fail to log on correctly because of entering an incorrect password (or when attempting to log on during a time period that is forbid- den because of parental controls).

Web Restrictions

The web restrictions parental controls determine what web content your children can access. As shown in Figure 9-8, this control gives you fine-grained control over web access. You can block web content using web restriction levels (plain English ratings like Low, Medium, and so on) or by content type (block sites related to alcohol, bomb making, gambling, hate speech, and other categories). You can also completely block all file downloads.

Figure 9-8: Windows Vista’s web restrictions will keep your children safe online.

Time Limits

The time limits parental control uses a graphical grid to let you configure exactly when your kids can use the computer. By default, Windows Vista users can use the PC on any day at any time. But by dragging your mouse around the grid shown in Figure 9-9, you can prevent your children from using the computer at specific hours, such as late at night or during school hours.

Figure 9-9: This simple and effective interface helps you configure when your kids can and cannot use the PC.

Games

The games parental control determines whether your children can play games on the PC and, if so, which games they can access. By default, standard account holders can play all games. However, you can fine-tune that setting using the screen shown in Figure 9-10, which appears when you click Set game ratings.

Figure 9-10: With the games restrictions, you can control which games your kids play.

Here, you can set acceptable game ratings using the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s (ESRB) rating system, or block games based on content (online, blood and gore, drug reference, and so on). You can also block or allow specific games, which is surpris- ingly helpful because many Windows games do not digitally identify their ESRB rating.

Allow and Block Specific Programs

This final setting lets you manually specify specific applications that you do or do not want your child to use. By default, standard users can access all of the applications installed on the system. However, using the interface shown in Figure 9-11, it’s possible to fine-tune what’s allowed. If you don’t see an application in the list, click Browse to find it.

Figure 9-11: Choose the applications your children can access from this list.

One of the most unique features of Windows Vista’s parental controls is that they don’t need to be used only with children. Indeed, many security-conscious users will find that it’s actually worth setting up a standard user account for themselves, apply- ing various parental controls to it, and then using that account for their normal PC operations. Why would you want to do such a thing? Well, you might want to protect yourself from some of the nastier things that happen online for starters. Something to think about.

Running as Standard User with Parental Controls

You may be wondering what the experience is like running a standard user account to which parental controls have been applied. For the most part, it’s just like running a stan- dard account normally. However, certain actions will trigger parental control blocks, depending on how you’ve configured parental control restrictions. For example, if the user attempts to log on to the system during a time period in which the parent has restricted that, you will be prevented from doing so. And if you try to run an application that is not explicitly allowed by parental controls, you will see the dialog box shown in Figure 9-12.

Figure 9-12: No Microsoft Word for you. Sorry, but this application is being blocked by Vista’s parental controls.

Note that you can ask for permission to run individual blocked applications. When you choose this option, the User Account Control credentials dialog box appears, giving the parent a chance to come over to the machine, review what is happen, and decide whether to give their permission.

The Web experience is similar. If you use Internet Explorer to browse to a type of site that is forbidden via parental controls, IE will display the page shown in Figure 9-13. Again, you can click the Ask an administrator for permission link to get an override. When you do so, the User Account Control credentials dialog box appears as you might expect.

Figure 9-13: Web restrictions work in a similar manner thanks to parental control integration with Internet Explorer 7.,

If you attempt a web download, and web downloads are restricted with parental controls, you’ll see the dialog box in Figure 9-14. In this case, there is no administrator override: Downloads have been explicitly restricted with parental controls.

Figure 9-14: When downloads are prevented, there’s no way to get an override.

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