CHILD-PROOF WINDOWS 10 @ FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS
TO SECURE YOUR CHILD’S HOME COMPUTING EXPERIENCE
Setting up a computer for
a child’s use? You have a lot to consider. From inappropriate content on the
internet and even on your desktop to screen usage limits, it’s important to
make sure your kids have a safe environment on their computer.
We’ll show you how to
find and set up Windows 10’s parental controls. We’ll also share some tips for
making your PC as childfriendly as possible using third-party parental controls
for Windows 10. Of course, nothing can replace parental guidance, but these
will make your job a lot easier.
The most important tool:
Child accounts
If you only use one
Windows 10 parental control, you should make it this one. Child accounts allow
you to set restrictions on computer usage as well as monitoring their use, and
they’ve seen a great boost in utility since Windows 7.
You must sign in to
Windows 10 with a Microsoft account (not a local account) and navigate to
‘Settings > Accounts > Family & other people’. Select ‘Add a family
member’, then proceed through the steps to create a Child account. You’ll need
to add your child’s email address or create a new one for them to sign in.
Adding child account
restrictions
Once they’re set up,
you’ll see an entry for their email on the ‘Family & other people’ page.
Click ‘Manage family settings online’ below that section or just visit the
Windows 10 family settings website directly to manage your children’s accounts.
Click their email address and you can manage various categories of their
computer usage. On the Activity page, you can see what they’ve searched for,
websites they’ve visited, and apps they’ve opened.
Select ‘Screen time’ to
set a Windows 10 time limit; you can choose specific hours when your child can
use the computer and set a maximum number of usage hours.
Choose the ‘Content
restrictions’ tab to only allow apps and games that are appropriate for a
certain age level. You can select any age from 3 to 20 or disable this feature.
For instance, if you select 12-year olds, your child will only be able to watch
PG-rated movies, games rated E10+, and so on. Of course, this only applies to content
in the Microsoft Store. This wouldn’t stop your child from opening iTunes and
watching a movie or buying an inappropriate game on Steam. Under ‘Web
browsing’, you can enable a slider to ‘Block inappropriate websites’. Microsoft
doesn’t explain exactly what websites this blocks, but the important thing to
note is that it only works with Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. You can
also block individual websites; you might want to block YouTube, for example,
or Reddit.
Enabling this setting
also blocks the account from opening common alternate browsers like Chrome,
Firefox, and Opera. If your child is tech-savvy, they could simply install any
number of alternate browsers to work around this, requiring you to manually
block them all in the ‘Always blocked apps’ section above.
Block inappropriate
websites with DNS filtering
Windows 10’s parental
controls are great for a first line of defence, but they don’t do much if your
child opens a browser other than Edge or Internet Explorer. For that, we
recommend enabling DNS filtering on your entire home network to block thousands
of inappropriate sites.
This will ensure that
your children can’t access explicit sites, no matter how they get online. One
of the best DNS servers, OpenDNS, offers the pre-configured Family Shield for
easy filtering, or you can use the Home package to select exactly what sites
you want to block. It only takes a few minutes to enable it on your router, so
there’s no reason not to give it a try!
Use UAC and a standard
account for your child
Not all of making a
computer child-friendly is about internet safety. It’s also important to make
sure that your child’s account doesn’t have permission to make major changes to
your computer. This includes installing potentially dangerous software.
You can perform two quick
checks to make sure that your child’s account can’t do much damage. First, head
back to ‘Settings > Home > Family & other people’ and click your
child’s account name. Choose ‘Change account type’, and make sure it’s set as
Standard User, not Administrator.
Second, you should make
sure you have User Account Control (UAC) enabled. This security feature prompts
standard accounts for an administrator password when they try to make changes
to the computer. Type ‘UAC’ into the Start Menu and select ‘Change User Account
Control settings’.
The default level, second
from the top, is the best mix of security and convenience. You may want to turn
it all the way up to prevent children from making most changes, but this can
quickly get annoying for you.
The non-software rules
A few non-technical
limitations can go a long way in making your Windows 10 PC a safe place for
your kids. For instance, you might want to keep their computer in a shared room
so that they aren’t going online without anybody around. Additionally, it’s
smart to set some basic rules about what you expect from their computer usage.
Perhaps you’d like them
to check with you before they download anything. Or you might consider not
giving them an email address to prevent them from signing up for various
websites.
Source | Mumbai Mirror | 12th February 2017
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library & Information Science (NET
Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Wonderful post for child safety.
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