Using Parental Controls in Windows Vista
Fat Drive Warning
Windows Vista comes with built-in Parental Controls that provide parents with power and flexibility to allow them control and monitor the activities of children on Windows Vista computer systems. With the Parental Controls, parents can define the time of day that the computer is available, block unapproved games or programs, and filter Web sites to restrict access to inappropriate content.
To open the Parental Controls console, follow these steps:
- Click on the Start icon at the lower left of the screen
- Select Control Panel
- Click on Parental Controls
If there are any drives on your computer that are formatted using FAT or FAT32, you will receive a warning box. The FAT warning explains that parental controls do not work for restricting access to data or programs on any drives or partitions that are not formatted with NTFS.
Parental Controls Main Console
If you don’t have any FAT or FAT32 drives, you will arrive at a windows listing the user accounts on the computer system where you can Choose a User and Set Up Parental Controls. If you do receive a FAT Warning message box, simply click OK and this window will appear. Once you select a user account to manage, you will arrive at the main Parental Controls console where you can configure access and restrictions for the user account.
Windows Vista Web Filter
The first thing you might notice is that most of the controls are grayed out. Select the On, enforce current settings radio button at the top under Parental Controls to enable parental controls on this user account.
If you click on Windows Vista Web Filter, you will see the display shown here. One of the great features of Windows Vista Parental Controls is that you can choose whether to block everything and list only the sites or applications you want the account to have access to, or you can allow everything and just list the sites or applications that you definitely do not want them accessing.
For younger children, I highly recommend selecting the Block some web sites or content radio button at the top and then checking the Only allow web sites that are on the allow list checkbox under it. Then you can add the web sites that you are willing to let your child visit to the Allow list. It is much simpler to list the sites that are OK to visit than to try to block every site with inappropriate content one at a time.
The default web restriction level of Medium is probably good for most children that are old enough to be surfing the Web, but again you may want to set the web restriction level to High for younger children.
At the bottom of this screen, I recommend that you check the Block file downloads checkbox. This will prevent any files from downloading either intentionally or maliciously and protect your computer from a variety of malware attacks.
Edit the Allow / Block List
If you click the Edit the Allow and Block list link on the Windows Vista Web Filter console, you will see the window displayed here.
You can type (or copy and paste) web site URL’s into the Website Address box and choose whether to Allow or Block the site. Below the Website Address box are the lists of Allowed and Blocked sites that you have already added.
You can manage the lists by selecting sites from the list and clicking on the Remove button at the bottom. If you have more than one user account that you want to manage with Parental Controls, you can also Export your list of sites once you have it created and Import it to other user accounts rather than having to re-enter all of the web sites one at a time.
There is also a checkbox at the bottom to Only Allow web sites that are on the allow list, providing another means for ‘whitelisting’ or restricting access to only the sites you designate up front.
Restricting Time For Using The Computer
By clicking on the Time Limits link on the main Parental Controls console, you will bring up a grid window like the one displayed here.
Some parents may want to control how much time their child spends playing computer games, or may want to ensure that the child is not going online in the middle of the night without the parents’ knowledge. If you want to restrict a user account so that it can only use the computer during certain timeframes, you can define the Blocked or Allowed timeframes here.
Simply fill in the blocks with the Allowed or Blocked timeframes and click OK
Controlling Access to Games
Windows Vista Parental Controls allow you to control the games that a user account can use.
The first setting at the top of the Game Controls screen lets you choose whether or not to allow the user account to play games at all. Assuming that you will allow at least some games to be played, you should leave the radio button selected for the default setting of Yes.
Below there, you can choose to restrict access to games based on their ratings, and / or by specific program names. It is a good idea to set the ratings level for the level you deem appropriate for the user account. Click on Set game ratings and then choose the radio button for the ESRB rating level you find appropriate. At the top, you can select the radio button to Allow or Block access to any games that appear not to have a rating.
Some games may not conform with the ratings settings, or you may not agree that it is appropriate for your child. For these games, you can click on Block or Allow specific games and enter the offending applications there.
Restricting Access to Other Programs
If you share a computer with your child or children, you may not want them randomly clicking around and opening programs. You may have applications that are simply inappropriate for children, or you may want to ensure that your child doesn’t open your financial software and scramble all of your banking and investment data.
Click on Allow and Block specific programs to open the Application Restrictions window. The radio button at the top lets you specify if the account can Use All Programs, or Only Use The Programs I Allow.
If you select the Only Use The Programs I Allow radio button, the box below will populate with the applications that are instaled on the system and let you select the specific application or programs that the user account is allowed to use.
To block only certain programs, you can speed things up by selecting the Check All button at the bottom and then simply deselect the checkbox next to the programs or applications that you want to block.
Viewing Activity Reports
On the main Parental Controls console, you can select whether or not to collect information about computer usage for the user account. Under Activity Reporting, select the On or Off radio button.
If you have Activity Reporting turned on, the computer will collect information you can use to monitor the activity of the user account. Perhaps there are inappropriate sites or applications you did not think to block. Maybe the user account is spending more time playing games than you would prefer. By using the Activity Reports, you can monitor the usage and ensure that your Parental Controls settings are effectively protecting your children as you intended.
Windows Vista Parental Controls lets you set a frequency to be reminded to view the Activity Reports and Vista will alert you when the time comes.