Using Parental Controls to Restrict Computer Usage in Vista

If you have children who share your computer, or if you're setting up a computer for the kids' use, it's wise to take precautions regarding the content and programs that they can access. Locally, this might take the form of blocking access to certain programs (such as your financial software), using ratings to control which games they can play, and setting time limits on when the computer is used. If the computer has Internet access, you might also want to allow (or block) specific sites, block certain types of content, and prevent file downloads.
All this sounds daunting, but Windows Vista's new Parental Controls make things a bit easier by offering an easy-to-use interface that lets you set all of the afore-mentioned options and lots more. (You get Parental Controls in the Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista.)
Before you begin, be sure to create a standard user account for each child that uses the computer. When that's done, you get to Parental Controls by opening Control Panel and selecting the Set Up User Account link (or by launching the Parental Controls icon directly if you're using Classic view). Click the user you want to work with to get to the User Controls window. You should activate two options here:

• Parental Controls Click On, Enforce Current Settings. This enables the Windows Vista Web Filter, and the Time Limits, Games, and Allow and Block Specific Programs links in the Settings area.
• Activity Reporting Click On, Collect Information About Computer Usage. This tells Vista to track system events such as blocked logon attempts and attempted changes to user accounts, the system date and time, and system settings. Activating this option also enables the Activity Reports link in the Settings area,

The User Controls window gives you four links to use when setting up the controls for this user:

• Windows Vista Web Filter Click this link to display the Web Restrictions page. Here you can allow or block specific websites, set up general site restrictions (such as Kids Websites Only), block content categories (such as Pornography, Mature Content, and Bomb Making), and block file downloads.

Tip
To make your life easier, you can import lists of allowed or blocked sites. First, create a new text file and change the extension to Web Allow Block List (for example, MyURLs.Web Allow Block List). Open the file and add the following text to start:

   <WebAddresses>
   </WebAddresses>

Between these lines, add a new line for each site using the following format:

   <URL  AllowBlock="n">address</URL>

Replace n with 1 for a site you want to allow, or 2 for a site you want to block, and replace address with the site URL. Here's an example:

   <WebAddresses>
   <URL  AllowBlock="1">http://www.goodcleanfun.com</URL>
   <URL  AllowBlock="1">http://www.wholesomestuff.com</URL>
   <URL  AllowBlock="2">http://www.smut.com</URL>
   <URL  AllowBlock="2">http://www.depravity.com</URL>
   </WebAddresses>

Note
If the user is logged on when a restricted time approaches, an icon appears in the notification area to let that user know. If the user is stilled logged on when the restricted time occurs, the user is immediately logged off and cannot log back on until the restricted time has passed. Fortunately, Vista is kind enough to restore the user's programs and documents when he or she logs back on.

• Time Limits Click this link to display the Time Restrictions page, which shows a grid where each square represents an hour during the day for each day of the week. Click the squares to block computer usage during the selected times.
• Games Click this link to display the Game Controls page. Here you can allow or disallow all games, restrict games based on ratings and contents, and block or allow specific games.
• Allow and Block Specific Programs Click this link to display the Application Restrictions page, which displays a list of the programs on your computer. Click the check boxes for the programs you want to allow the person to use.