Using Parental Controls

If any children will be using the computer, you may want to turn on Windows 7's Parental Controls, which give you a way to limit when and how the computer can be used. By turning on Parental Controls for a particular account, you'll be able to decide when that person can use the computer, whether they can play games (and if so, what kind), and designate certain programs as off-limits.

Note that you must use an administrator account to turn on Parental Controls, and you can apply Parental Controls only to users with standard accounts.

To set up Parental Controls, follow these steps:

1. Type user parental into the Start menu's search box, and choose Set up parental controls for any user to display the window.
2. After you've selected the account you want to set up Parental Controls for, click the On, enforce current settings option. Now you can customize each of the items listed under Windows Settings.
   You'll want to make sure the guest account is turned off before setting up Parental Controls. That's because you can't set up Parental Controls for the guest account (and remember, you can't password protect it either), so leaving it turned on gives kids a way to bypass your restrictions.
3. Click Time Limits. A grid is displayed with the hours that are allowed and blocked.
   By default, all hours are allowed. Use the mouse to click and drag over the grid to indicate the specific hours and days of the week you want to block. Note that you can configure the grid with noncontiguous blocks-such as to permit computer use between 3 and 5 p.m. and then again between 7 and 9 p.m. Clicking a box in the grid toggles the setting between block and allow.
4. Click OK when you're done with these settings to return to the Parental Controls settings for this account.
5. Click Games.
   In addition to blocking access to games entirely, you can use the Set game ratings option to block games that have a particular Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating, games that lack a rating, or those that contain certain kinds of undesirable content such as violence or drug references. You can also use the Block or Allow specific games option to disable access to any of the games installed on the computer.
6. Click OK when you're done.
7. If you want to have control over not just games but other kinds of software as well (such as instant messaging or file-sharing programs), click the Allow and block specific programs option, and then click <account name> can only use the programs I allow.
8. Within a few moments, a list of all the programs available on the computer will appear. Select the box next to any program you want the account holder to be able to use. Then select the check box for each program you want to allow access to, and then click OK when you're done.

When using the Block or Allow specific games option, the list of programs can be pretty extensive, so finding a specific program you want to allow may take some digging. Also, remember that when this option is selected, only the programs you selected will work.