USING PARENTAL CONTROLS
Earlier versions of Windows had rudimentary parental controls via Windows Internet Explorer; however, Windows Vista goes several steps beyond that, offering the following:
- A Web filter that enables you to control what Web sites and downloads can be accessed
- Computer usage limits on a per-user basis, which enables you to let a certain user log on only during certain times
- Game restrictions that prevent certain users from playing certain games
- Program restrictions that allow or block any program on your computer from a certain user
- Activity reporting that enables you to see what a user has been doing on the PC
To configure parental controls, perform the following:
- Set up a user account for each person for whom you want to specify separate limitations, and then assign passwords to each account. (This prevents one user from accessing another user's account and changing content they shouldn't.) To do this, use the User Accounts and Family Safety section of the Control Panel.
- From Control Panel Home, under User Accounts and Family Safety, click Set up parental controls for any user.
- Select the user for who you want to set restrictions. A configuration screen appears for that user, similar to Figure 4-13.
- Under Parental Controls, click On, enforce current settings.
- Under Activity Reporting, click On, collect information about computer usage.
- For each of the Windows Settings, click the hyperlink and then configure the setting.
- Click OK.
To view the activity report for a user, repeat steps 1 through 3 in the preceding list, and then click View activity reports. The activity report tells you the top 10 Web sites that the user visited, the most recent 10 Web sites that were blocked from the user, any Web overrides and file downloads, which applications were run, e-mail and instant messaging activities, and more.
The next section covers transferring data from one computer to another and synchronizing music files with a portable music player.
