Are Windows vista parental controls too restrictive?
Parental control software is useful when kids are surfing the internet
Computer parental control gets easy with Windows Vista. Microsoft has developed parental control in windows
vista for controlling the computer activity of your
child. Here is one typical situation in day to day life
where you will require it. Check out the conversation
between Johnny and his mom.
“Johnny! Come and do your home work…”,
“Mummy… I will do it later… I am on
my computer… Doing something… Don’t
call me now…” “Johnny! Will you do
it or should I …??!...”
You might be thinking Johnny is doing some useful work
on the computer and might think that, why his mother
behaved like that. If you think like that, you are wrong.
Johnny uses the computers only for playing games. He
does not know anything about computers. He is a boy
of 8 years. His father just brought a new computer for
doing his office work in home. Johnny used to play computer
games without doing his homework or studying, when his
father is not in home. When mother calls him to do the
home work he says something like as you saw above.
Control Your Kids with Parental filter
How to control these type of kids???... One solution
to this Johnny problem is punishing him and makes him
to do the home work and make him to study. If the same
thing continues for many days, then, his father might
be forced to shift the computer from where Johnny can
access it or even sell it out, which will affect the
work.
No, you don't have to worry. With Windows Vista, net nanny is always active. Keeping the above situation in mind, Microsoft, strategically
developed a Parental Control. The Parental control
is a new option available in Windows Vista that allows
parents to control and monitor the activities done by
the children in a computer.
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings
Most of the children like to play games, rather than
doing any other things, especially in a computer. Previously,
in computer, one can play the games at any time, they
wish to play. Playing the games of course, gives good
mental exercises, but, playing it too much, again and
again, could cause the leave the child, addicted towards
games. So, in such cases, parents can allow their child
to play the game during stipulated time by using Parental
Control option. In older operating system, such as Windows
9x, Windows XP, different games were installed in different
start menu folders. In Windows Vista, the game programs
are installed in one common folder, there by making
search option easier. They will be displayed along with
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings,
which appear on the right hand side of the game logo
icon. The ESRB rating enables one to analyze how popular
the game is, and how many times a child wishes to play
the game in a day etc. Depending on the situation, parents
can allow or disallow the access for the particular
game.
Before, one can use the parental control option one
must create an account for the child. This can be done
through the user manager in the control panel. Only
then parental control option will be enabled. Remember
to change the password of administrator account if the
child knows it, keep it secret, and keep changing it
regularly. Assign a different password other than administrator
account to the child account. Through parental control,
one can allow or disallow the games depending on the
type of words used in the title of the game. For Example,
if the game contains a word “War”, then
the parent can disallow the game to the child. The parent
can block any other programs also to the child. One
can set the time limit for computer usage by the child,
after which the child is forced to logout automatically.
A warning will be issued to the child 15 minutes before
time expires. This helps the child to save the work
done. For example, suppose the child is playing a game
of spider solitaire. If the child has not finished playing
the game, then child is alerted to save the game, with
only 15 minutes remaining for a forceful logout or shutdown.
No guessing will be allowed, It is not easy to bypass parental control
These days, Children are becoming smart users of computers.
As the days passes on, there is a possibility of playing
with guessing tricks for password of parent. Once, a
child guesses the password correctly, and logs in to
the system as parent, the child can take control of
the entire system, by changing the parental password.
So, in order to avoid such things from happening, Windows
Vista informs the parent, how many times the child tried
to guess the password. Just change the password, if
the number of guess is more. Don’t tell the child,
that, he is guessing, because, the child can try some
other methods to find the password.
Block the specific software program like games
One can block the programs such as financial accounting
packages, auditing reports generator, etc. from reach
of children. The User control menu will have the option
“Allow or Block specific programs” option.
Using the option one can block the programs shown in
the sub menu, which bring up a list of all installed
programs. By clicking check boxes appearing against
the program names, parents can control the access to
children.
Check out more topics on windows from here,
Advantages and Disadvantages of Windows 7
16 Reasons Why Should You Select Windows Vista
Advantages and Disadavantages of Windows Vista
Advice on Upgrading to Windows Vista
All about Windows Vista Migration
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Change Windows Vista Appearance
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