MONITORING YOUR CHILDs PC USE
School is back in session in much of the world , and for kids these
days that means more computer use.Increasingly, schools expect and in some cases require projects and homework to be completed using a computerand most kids are only too happy to comply, since computers are also an endless source of their entertainment.
For parents , though the challenge becomes determining how much computer time is appropriate for kids-and how can they make sure that their kids dont surf the net or play games.
The answer to this question will depend in great part upon which operating system you have installed. Those who have upgraded to
Windows Vista are in luck. Vista comes with a new
parental controls feature , accessible by operating the control panel and clicking User Account and Family Safety and then clicking
Parental Control (PC).
You can use Vista s Parental Controls to set up a separate account for each of your children. Note that you have to set up yourself as administrator in order to this. You define the administrator account when you first install Vista.
With Vista s Parental Controls, you can impose limit to all sort of activities , including the hours they can log in and use the computer, whether they have access to the internet, which sites they can and cannot use. You can tell Vista to give
activity reports whta your children have done while on the computer.
If you are using Windows XP or an earlier version of Windows , you can turn to one of the highly -rated parental monitoring programs avialable. Cyber patrol (http://www.cyberpatrol.com) and Safe Eyes (http://www.internetsafety.com) have both received high marks from independent testers. These tools provide many of the features found in Vista s Parental Controls. The downside is that these applications focus on intenet activity alone. Both programs cost 40 dollars direct from the manufacturers.
Overall , Vista s solution is the most elegant and comprehensive , and since the products will cost you at least 40 dollars each, Parental controls may be compelling enough reason to spring for an upgrade to Vista.
Similarly if you are a Vista user, Vista s parental controls allow you to control games by rating, content or name. If you have an older version of Window and dont want to upgrade to Vista , you can make use of more thorough monitoring software package such as Spectorsoft s Spector Pro (http://spectrosoft.com). Prorams such as these dont block the programs being run rather they report to you all the activity that occured on a particular computer. If your kids break the rules, you will know.