Keep your kids safe by making use of Windows Vista’s Parental Controls.

It is better to be safe than sorry. If you are a parent you know what I mean when it comes to kids using computers and the kind of threats available online. As a parent it is our responsibility to make sure our kids are not exposed to vulnerabilities. Windows Vista has some great support for Parental Controls to keep your kids safe. All you have to do is to configure and monitor the activities.

Before you setup parental controls in Windows Vista you need to make sure that you have created separate user accounts for your kids so that you can setup parental controls for certain user accounts or you can adjust the level of control depending on the user account (or kid).

Follow these steps to configure Windows Vista to keep your kids safe using computers,

Step-1: Launch Control Panel

Login as an Administrator on your Windows Vista computer and click the Start button and then click on Control Panel.

Step-2: User Accounts and Family Safety

Click on the User Accounts and Family Safety link.

Step-3: Setup Parental Controls option

Click on the “Set up Parental controls for any user” link.

Step-4: Choose the user whom you want to set up Parental Controls

Click thru the UAC prompt and click on the username for whom you want to setup Parental Controls.

Step-5: Turn on Parental Controls and Activity Reporting to keep your kids safe

Click on the “On, enforce current settings” option under Parental Controls and also “On, collect information about computer usage” option under Activity Reporting.

By now, you’ll have parental controls enabled for the selected user. There are so many settings that you can configure to fine tune the parental controls. Here are some suggestions,

Windows Vista Web Filter

Click on the Windows Vista Web Filter link to control the allowed websites and file downloads.

Leave the “Block some websites or content” option so that you can control what websites to block.

If you have a small kid using computer or if you are a conservative parent and wanted to keep a close eye on your kids’ computer activity then you can check the “Only allow websites which are on the allow list” option to make sure only the kid can access the websites that are allowed. You can add a bunch of websites that you are okay with your kid accessing. If your kid want to visit a new website he/she can request you to allow access and by this way you’ll have absolute control of what kind of websites your kid is visiting.

Click on the “Edit the Allow and Block list” link to specify which websites you want to allow and which websites you want to block.

In the “Allow or Block specific websites” window type-in the website name you want to allow and click on the “Allow” button to add the website to the “Allowed websites” list. Click on the “Block” button to add the website to the “Blocked websites” list. Once done click on the OK button.

Now, your kid can only access the websites that you’ve added to  the “Allowed websites” list. If you know of your kid visiting websites that you don’t want your kid to visit then add those websites to the “Blocked websites” list.

If you don’t want to specify any specific websites then you can uncheck the “Only allow websites which are on the allow list” option. Windows Vista will enable “Block web content automatically” section. Adjust the restriction level based on your preference. Check the “Block file downloads” option if you want to restrict your kid downloading any files.

Time Limits

You can also set time limits of when you want your kid to use the computer and when you don’t want your kid to use your computer. Just click on the “Time Limits” link at the main Parental Control window. When the above window pops-up mark the blocks with blue color on the time you want to block your kid from using the computer. Hit the OK button once done.

Games

If your kid plays games then you can use Game Controls to control if your kid can play games and if so the type of games that you allow your kid to play. Click on the “Games” link to bring up the Game Controls dialog. Configure if you allow your kid to play games on this computer and if you allow then control what type of game that you allow your kid to play.

Allow and Block Specific Programs

You can also restrict the applications/programs that your kid can use on the computer by clicking on the “Allow and block specific programs” link on the main Parental Controls window. When you see the above window you can configure to allow your kid to use all programs or you can choose to allow some of the programs. Use your common sense to restrict the programs that you want your kid to use on the computer. You can always adjust the list anytime you want.

Activity Reports

When you have configured all these settings, once in a while you can review the activity reports to make sure the parental controls you’ve set are effective and if you see any suspicious activities then you can fine-tune the parental control settings. Click on the “View Activity Reports” link at the main Parental Control window to see the activity report. The Activity Report gives you information on “Web Browsing”, “System Activities”, “Application Activities”, “Gaming Activities”, “Email Activities”, “Instant Messaging Activities” and any “Media Activities”.

Windows Vista’s Parental Controls feature offers you rich settings so that you can really keep an eye on your kid’s internet and computer activities. I hope this detailed article helps you get an understanding of how to use Parental Controls in Windows Vista to keep your kids safe. If you have any questions/comments regarding this please let us know in comments.