Windows 7 : Keeping Your Family Safe While Using Your Computer (part 2)

3. Configuring Time Restrictions

Time restrictions control the times when a user can use the computer by blocking or allowing specific hours of the day. If you’ve turned on parental controls, allow hours are permitted by default. You can configure time restrictions by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Parental Controls.

2. Click the account you want to restrict.

3. On the “Set up how…will use the computer” page, click “Time limits” under Windows Settings.

4. On the “Control when…will use the computer” page, shown in Figure 5, you can specify what times you allow and what times you block.

5. Click and drag over allowed hours to change them to blocked hours.

6. Click and drag over blocked hours to change them to allowed hours.

7. Click OK to save your settings.

Figure 5. Configuring time restrictions

4. Configuring Game Restrictions

Game restrictions control whether a user can play games and the types of games that this person can play. If you’ve turned on parental controls, users are allowed to play games and no types of games are blocked by default. You can configure game restrictions by completing these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Parental Controls.

2. Click the account you want to restrict.

3. On the “Set up how…will use the computer” page, click Games under Windows Settings.

4. On the “Control which types of games…can play” page, shown in Figure 6, “Can…play games?” is set to Yes by default and the user is allowed to play games. To block game playing, click No under “Can…play games?”→OK, and skip the remaining steps.

5. To block or allow games by rating and content type, click “Set game ratings,” choosing which game ratings are OK for the user to play, and then click OK.

6. To block or allow games installed on the computer by name, click “Block or Allow specific games,” choose allowed or blocked games, and then click OK.

7. Click OK to save your settings.

Figure 6. Configuring game restrictions

5. Configuring Application Restrictions

Application restrictions control the types of applications a user can run while using the computer. If you’ve turned on parental controls, users are allowed to run any programs installed on the computer by default, and no programs are restricted. You can configure application restrictions by completing these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Parental Controls.

2. Click the account you want to restrict.

3. On the “Set up how…will use the computer” page, click “Allow and Block specific programs” under Windows Settings.

4. On the “Which programs can…use?” page, the “Use all programs” option is selected by default. To restrict program use so that only programs specifically allowed can be run, select the “…can only use the programs I allow” option. You’ll then see a list of every program installed on the computer, as shown in Figure 7.

5. You can now control the allowed programs. Select the checkbox for a program you want the user to run. Clear the checkbox for a program you don’t want the user to run. Alternatively, click Check All to select all programs and then selectively clear the programs the user shouldn’t be able to run.

6. Click OK to save the settings. Whenever you install new programs on the computer that you want the user to be able to run, you’ll need to repeat this procedure to allow running the program and its related executable files.

Figure 7. Configuring application restrictions

6. Configuring Additional Controls

In addition to the basic controls, you can install additional controls that restrict the websites a user can access, control who your child can talk to, and generate activity reports. These additional controls are available from some service providers. If you download Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com), one of the available programs is Windows Live Family Safety.

After you download and install Windows Live Family Safety, you can run the program (Start→All Programs→Windows Live→Windows Live Family Safety) to specify the Windows Live ID and password of the parent who will be the primary Family Safety administrator. You can then access the Family Safety area of the Windows Live website, shown in Figure 8, to configure web filtering, choose permitted contacts, and view activity reports about where your child went on the Web.

Figure 8. Configuring additional controls

Once you enable Windows Live Family Safety, everyone using your computer must start Windows Live Family Safety and log into Windows Live. From then on, the websites that a person can visit are controlled by the child safety settings you’ve established. You also can set up the computer to log in automatically for a child.

To stop using Windows Live Family Safety, you must uninstall the Family Safety filter on your computer. To do this, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to Windows Live Family Safety and access the Family Safety area of the Windows Live website.

2. Under Your Computers, click the “Remove computers from this list” link.

3. On the Remove Computers page, shown in Figure 9, select the computer or computer to remove from filtering and then click Save.

4. When prompted to confirm, click Remove.

Figure 9. Removing a computer from filtering