IN THIS CHAPTER
Setting up Windows 8.1 Family Safety
Setting limits to computer usage, games, and apps
Controlling web browsing
Viewing activity reports
Keeping kids safe online isn't always easy for parents — especially for the parent who hasn't exactly been riding the crest of the tech wave in recent years. Parental safety controls are a great first step to keeping children safe online. You don't need to be a computer guru to set parental controls using the Microsoft Family Safety features of Windows 8.1. After you've set up standard user accounts for the children, the rest is fairly easy. In this chapter, you see just how easy it is to set up controls using the Windows 8.1 Family Safety tool and how to view reports and options online.
For more on setting up user account for children, turn to Chapter 4.
To use the Family Safety features in Windows 8.1, your computer must be set up with at least one password-protected administrator user account. If you set up multiple user accounts with administrative privileges, make sure that they're all password protected. And make sure the kids don't know the password. Otherwise, the kids can easily go in and change any parental controls you import.
With Windows 8.1, each child is given his or her own child user account. Creating and configuring a child user account is easy to do. Here are the steps:
The child account is now added, as shown in Figure 5.4.
With Family Safety, Windows 8.1 provides four options for controlling how your children (or anyone) can use the computer:
Family Safety setting can be saved on the Microsoft Family Safety website or locally on the computer the child will actually use. The following section manages and stores the Family Safety data on the computer the child will use.
Fortunately, you don't need to be a computer guru to set up parental controls in Family Safety. After you've set up appropriate user accounts, the rest is easy. Here are the steps:
Now you're in the parental controls page shown in Figure 5.6. Any options you choose are applied to the account shown in the page. For example, in Figure 5.6, we're setting up Family Safety options for a user named Esther.
To activate Family Safety for the account, choose On, Enforce Current Settings under the Family Safety heading. After you turn on these parental controls, you can choose which controls to apply for the selected user.
To control which websites a child can view, click the Web Filtering link. You can allow or block access to specific websites, or specify that Windows should block web content automatically. Figure 5.7 shows the Web Filtering page. If you use the former feature, manually specify which sites can be visited (for example www.disney.com
) and which are blocked (for example, sites that are suspected as being adult-related sites). If you use this feature, you can limit your child's web activity only to those sites you specify in the Allowed list. This provides you absolute control over the sites your child can view.
Click the option <username> Can Only Use the Websites I Allow to be able to set web filtering options. Click Set Web Filtering Level to choose the web restriction levels. The Web Restrictions page (shown in Figure 5.8) opens. On this page, you can select the Allow List Only option, which enables you to specify a list of sites that a user can access. All other sites on the web, including suspected adult sites, are blocked.
The other options on the Web Restrictions page relate to content areas that Family Safety monitors automatically. If you choose to let Windows block web content automatically, you have the following categories from which to choose:
To edit the Allow List Only option, click Allow List Only and then click the Click Here to Change Allow List link. The Allow or Block Websites page appears. Figure 5.9 shows an example of this page, with some sample websites listed in the Allowed Websites and Blocked Websites lists. On the Allow or Block Websites page, enter the web address of a site you want to block or allow. Click the appropriate button — Allow or Block — for the site you enter. The site will appear in the Allowed Websites or Blocked Websites list.
Click the back button at the top right of the window when you finish. This returns you to the Web Restrictions page.
Click the User Settings breadcrumb on the address bar to return to the User Settings page when you're finished setting Web Restrictions.
To specify times when the child is allowed to use the computer, click Time Limits on the User Settings page (refer to Figure 5.6 to see what the User Settings page looks like). The Time Limits page (shown in Figure 5.10) opens. This page has the following two options:
Use the Following steps to set a time allowance for a user:
Another way to regulate user access on a computer is to specify the actual time of day a user can be on the computer. Family Safety provides the Set Curfew option to control time-of-day access. Click Set Curfew on the Time Limits page to set a computer curfew.
In Figure 5.12, you can see the Curfew page. On this page, you see a grid of days and times. Initially, all squares are white, meaning there are no time restrictions. You can click any time slot for which the child isn't allowed to use the computer to turn it blue. Blue indicates that the time is blocked and the specified user (in our example, Esther) is not allowed to be on the computer during that time. You also can drag the mouse pointer through a longer stretch of time to block more time.
Optionally, you can place the mouse pointer in the upper-left corner of the grid and drag down to the lower-right corner to block all times. Then drag the mouse pointer through the times that the child is allowed to use the computer. For example, in Figure 5.13, the user is allowed to use the computer from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday; 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday; and 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Click the back button after setting allowable times. You can change those settings at any time by clicking Time Limits. For example, if the child needs a “time out” from the computer, you can block out all the times so that the child can't use the computer at all!
Family Safety enables you to control access to the Windows Store and to downloading and/or playing games on a computer.
To control access to the Windows Store and to the type of apps that can be downloaded, return to the User Settings page and click the Game and Windows Store Restrictions link. Click the <username> Can Only Use Games and Windows Store Apps I Allow option. Figure 5.14 shows the Game and Windows Store Restrictions page after selecting that option.
To allow or block games and Windows apps that can be downloaded by the selected user, follow these steps:
To control the child's game play, return to the Game and Windows Store Restrictions page and click Allow or Block Specific Games. Doing so opens a page for controlling if your child is allowed to play games on this computer. If you don't want the child to use the computer for game play at all, choose No; otherwise, choose Yes.
If you want to allow or block games that are installed on your computer, click the Allow or Block Specific Games link on the Game and Windows Store Restrictions page. The Allow or Block Games page appears. Then you can scroll down the page and block more games based on content type. To block games based on content, select the type of content you want to block. When you get to the bottom of the list and have blocked all the content that you feel is inappropriate, click the back button.
With Family Safety, you can control the apps and programs that a user can run on the computer. Clicking Desktop App Restrictions on the User Settings page displays the App Restrictions page. By default, all users have access to run all apps. To limit the apps that a user can run, click the <username> Can Only Use the Apps I Allow link. When you do this, as shown in Figure 5.16, a message appears that indicates that the selected user can run only the apps and programs needed by Windows. Also, after a few moments, a list of apps and programs appear at the bottom of the page, which shows all installed apps and programs.
You use the list of apps to specify which apps are allowed by the selected user. Select the apps that you deem OK for the user to use. After you select the first app, notice that the warning called This Person Can Only Run Apps Needed by Windows disappears.
If you don't see an app or program that you know is installed on your computer, click the Browse button next to Add an App to This List. You then can navigate to the app or program file (programs usually are .exe
files), select it, and click Open. That app or program will be listed in the Check the Apps That Can Be Used list.
When you finish with the App Restrictions page, click the back button to return to the User Settings page.
Windows 8.1's Family Safety tool provides user activity reports. User activity reports provide a summary of user activity as it relates to Family Safety settings, including the following items:
To see this report, click the View Activity Reports on the User Settings page.
A feature available with the Windows 8.1 Family Safety tool is access to an online Family Safety website. This website includes additional reports about Family Safety settings and allows you to modify Family Safety settings. To access the Family Safety online site, follow these steps:
The changes you make online will copy down to your local version of Family Safety. The next time you open the User Settings page for a user, your online changes should be reflected.
You can view these online reports and options for any user at any time as long as you have Internet access. This comes in handy if you're away from your home computer and you want to view your child's online activity and see if any requested sites have been added to the Requests page.
When you sign onto Family Safety online, Microsoft starts sending you e-mails with tips, additional information about Family Safety, and a link to the Family Safety website. You can opt out of these e-mails by clicking the Change Email Frequency link on the top of the Microsoft Family Safety e-mail. This connects you to the Family Safety website, on which you can change the frequency in the Email Notifications area. You might want to keep these notifications turned on until you become more familiar with Family Safety.
Technical approaches to online safety, such as parental controls, are a good thing. But they can't cover all possible risks. Kids can get involved with instant messaging and chats in which people aren't always who they claim to be.
Children should be taught some basic ground rules. For example, children should never give out personal information, such as where they live or go to school. If anything makes them feel uncomfortable, they should report it to their parents. They should never agree to meet with anyone you don't know.
As a parent, you have many online resources for sharing your concerns with others and getting advice. You don't need to be a technical whiz to take advantage of these sites. Here are some you might want to add to your Favorites:
www.cyberangels.org
www.kids.getnetwise.org
www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-internet.aspx
www.safekids.com
The Internet is here to stay. Today's children will likely use it as their main source of information and communication throughout their lives. The Internet is also very much a public place, a direct reflection of the world at large. Although most people online are perfectly normal, the Internet has its share of wackos, just as the real world does.
Knowledge is a parent's best defense against Internet dangers. A parent who has been out of the loop in terms of technical advances over recent years will feel some helplessness and insecurity about keeping kids safe online. Setting up user accounts and parental controls is a great way to get started in taking control of kids’ computer use. Monitoring their activity is another. Here's a quick wrap-up of the main points covered in this chapter: