Windows 8 tips: Setting up Family Safety

Once you set up a user account for your children, it's a good idea to set up the Family Safety options. They're not foolproof but they do give you more control over the websites children can view and when they can use the computer.

The quickest way to do this is to press the Windows key and C to show the Charms menu. Click on Search and type family safety in the box at the top. There won't be any apps so click on Settings and then 'Set up Family Safety for any user'. Click on the child's account.

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Remember that you must have a password on all the Administrator accounts on the computer otherwise these restrictions will be easy to avoid.

You can see that Family Safety is currently on and Windows is also collecting activity information about how Victoria is using the computer.

Below this are the four different parts of Family safety: Web filtering, Time limits, Windows Store and game restrictions and App restrictions.

Click on Web Filtering and make sure that it is set so that Victoria can only use the websites that I allow. Click on Set web filtering level and choose from the list that appear. We are going to select Child Friendly. so only website on this list will be allowed. Click on the up arrow.

it is also possible to allow or block specific websites. Enter a website such as www.clubpenguin.com into the text box and then click on Allow to add it to the list of websites that child can use.

Blocking a site is just as simple. If you wanted to block Facebook for example, enter www.facebook.com into the text box and click on Block. The lists below this text box shows the websites that you have allowed or blocked. To remove one from the list, click on it once and then click on the Remove button.

Click on Up twice to return to the family safety settings.

Click on Time limits and then Set time allowance. Click on the option 'Victoria can only use the PC for the amount of time I allow' and then set daily time limits for weekdays and the weekend. Click on the up arrow

can also set a curfew. Click on the Set curfew link to see a grid representing the hours of the day. By default the computer can be used at any time. Click and drag on the grid to change when the computer can be used. Click on Up arrow twice when you're happy to return to the Family Safety screen.

The Windows Store and game restrictions let you restrict apps by their PEGI age rating. Click on the option 'Victoria can only use games and Windows Store apps I allow' and then click on the Set game and Windows Store ratings link. The option at the top lets you block any game that doesn't have a rating. Select a rating in the list below and then click on the Up button.

It is also possible block or allow specific games much as we did with websites. Click on the up arrow.

Finally there's App restrictions where you can block particular apps on the computer, maybe the webcam software for example. click on up to return to family safety.

There's a quick summary on the right along with the activity reports. These show popular pages, when the computer has been used and any blocked websites that they have tried to access.

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