Child-proof the web

Written by Narmad

Last weekend, I gifted a Samsung NC20 to my younger brother on his fifteenth birthday. Since he needs to do a lot of web research for his studies, I also installed a wireless data card in his mini-notebook. However, I was worried that he might have access to adult content on the web. From a ‘generous brother’ I transformed myself into ‘human radar’ to make sure my kid brother is safe on the web. I used the service of Windows Live Family Safety. See how.

Windows Live Family Safety is a free parental control software that allows users to set restrictions and guidelines for family members surfing the internet. This program allows you to control, manage and monitor your child’s web activity from anywhere. You can restrict web searches, and block or allow websites. You can also decide who your children can chat with in their Windows Live Messenger. Most importantly, you can monitor the websites they are visiting while they are online. The advantage of Windows Live Family lies in adjusting your child’s safety settings in the Family safety website, accessible from any computer.

As an administrator of Windows Live Family Safety, you need to install Family Safety software on every computer your family members use. If you do not install this software, the safety settings cannot be enforced on your child’s computer. To install Windows Live Family Safety, you need to download ‘wlsetup-web.exe’, a 1.08MB file on your mini-notebook. Windows Live Family safety is a separate application, which is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. During the installation process, a window will pop up, and ask you to choose the programs you want to install. Ensure you select only Windows Live Family Safety among the list of Windows Live Essentials.

Before getting started as an administrator, you need to make sure that you have a Windows Live, MSN or a Hotmail email id. As an administrator, your email id is the “Primary account”. You have to create a ‘secondary account’ (Windows Live ID) for each family member. Until you or your family member has signed in to the ‘Family Safety Filter’ on the computer for the first time, the Family Safety Filter is turned off and does not enforce any safety settings from the administrator’s end.

To customize settings for your family members, you need to click the ‘Go to the Family Safety Website’ link on the Windows Live Family Safety software, which will direct you to the Family Safety Website.

If you are trying to add or block specific web pages for your secondary member, click the ‘Web filtering’ tab. In the ‘Allow or block a website’ section, type the URL of the website that you want to block or allow for the secondary member and then click ‘Add’. After you click ‘Save’, the website is allowed or blocked for the accounts that you selected on computers that have Family Safety Filter installed. Ensure that you ‘Sign out’ from the Family Safety website after you apply the settings. If you don’t, a family member who is accessing the Internet on the same computer will be able to change their own ‘child safety settings’. One of the limitations with Windows Live Family safety is that it might not support websites in different languages.

Using ‘Activity reporting’, you can see the list of websites that your children have visited or tried to visit. Activity reports are available for both parents and children. To see the list of websites, you need to click ‘Web activity’. If you want to see the websites accessed by non-browser programs click ‘Other internet activity’. The Family Safety Filter reports the activity to these non-browser programs, but does not filter them because it might cause unexpected problems.

The ‘Contact Management’ option Safety enables you to limit, who your children can communicate online. You can decide who can add or remove contacts from your children’s contact list and allow them to communicate only with people on their contact list via email or Instant Messenger. To allow only yourself to add or remove contacts from your child’s contact list, clear the ‘Allow child to manage their own contact list’ check box. Contact management works on any computer even if it does not have ‘Family Safety Filter’ installed.

As a free software, I am impressed with ‘Windows Live Family Safety’, as it enables me to keep track of my little brother’s activities on the web , even if am out of the town for a long duration.

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