How To Set Up Parental Controls In Windows7
We all know that kids and teens today know more and more about computers and electronics than their parents. Everyone even parents have been guilty of looking something up that might have even been questionable. With that in mind, I figured I would show you how to set up the easy to use parental controls that Windows7 offers.
In the world we live in today, the computer is one of the greatest inventions. Most of us wouldn’t know what to do without it! It definitely has effects on our everyday lives from our work, our communication and our learning. We even use it for our play, from looking up what movie to go to, to what vacation we will take! You can’t deny the enjoyment you felt from that deal you got on ebay for half of what it cost in the store! J When used for education, it is one of the very best instructional tools used today! It has become a very important household item for families with kids in school and for all ages. The computer is used for reading and researching academic curriculum and it has been made almost manadtory to spread awareness about computer and internet use. As if you didn’t know… J The internet is used as a network of information on the computer; kids like to use it to get educational information because it is sooooo much faster than reading the amount of books you would need to read in order to get the same information!!! Kids also appreciate it for things such as games and social networking.
On the other hand, many kids (including my own!) get too caught up in the enjoyment of the computer and spend too much time on it while forgetting their school work. Because of this, they sometimes forget to study, get lower grades or may even fail the class they were on the computer to study for in the first place. If you are a parent dealing with that problem, you are not alone! There are also some elements on the internet that may harm our children. There are many, many websites that are NOT appropriate for kids. There are some videos games that are not suitable for them either! As parents, we should always supervise our children to keep them away from these elements, and also watch them from the overuse we talked about earlier. HOW, you ask… How do we do this when we are not around? How can we be expected to watch their every click?
Windows7 is the answer! Windows7 works with the needs of both the parents and the children. It has Parental Controls that you can set up time limits to control their log on the computer. Time limits will prevent your kids from logging on during specified hours. If you are a parent of a teenager, you know what hours I am talking about! Ahhh! Maybe late at night, or maybe even when you are at work, hours that you know they won’t be doing anything that is healthy for them anyway. With these time limits when they reach the end limits, they will be automatically logged off.
Windows7 also allows you to select which programs or games they can or can not use. You can also block specific programs which would not be suitable for their age. With all that being said, let’s walk through the parental controls together and get our kids on the road to saftey and succes …
(1) Click The Start Button
(2) Click Control Panel
(3) Click “User Accounts and Family Safety”
(4) Click On “Parental Controls”
Now go in and just follow the prompts. Like I always say, don’t worry because you can’t “break anything” in here so try one way, and if you find it is too restrictive, then try another filter level. Test test test! 
Disclaimer: If you’re a kid reading this don’t be mad at me! Its for your own good I promise you`ll thank me someday.
