Once you've secured your system against malicious software and online attacks, it's time to think of the children. There might be content on your computer that you don't want them to see, such as details of the family finances; you might enjoy the odd game of Doom 3 but want to make sure your seven-year-old doesn't play it; you might want to make sure your children don't see unsuitable Internet sites; or you might just want to prevent the kids from spending all day every day in front of the computer. The parental controls in Windows Vista cover all of these issues, and they couldn't be easier to use.
Share your system
To create a new account, so that someone else can access your PC, simply launch the Control Panel, click on User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click on User Accounts. You'll see a list of all the accounts on your PC – yours, and a guest account (which is disabled by default).
It's a good idea to have a separate user account for everyone who will be using your PC.
Set the limits
Click on Create a New Account and enter the name of the person who will be using it. As you can see from the screenshot you now have a choice: you can give that person a standard user account, or you can give them an administrator account. Unless you want to give the person the power to uninstall software and change your Windows Vista settings, stick with the Standard account.
Edit the account
Congratulations – you've created a new account. The next step is to set a password – so that nobody else can use the account. To do this, click on the new account name and then click Create a Password. Once you've done this, nobody will be able to log on to your computer using that account if they don't know the password.
Complete control
Now you've created the account and given it a password, you can use Parental Controls to limit what the user can and can't do with your computer. Click on Set up Parental Controls to continue.
Pick a password
The first time you attempt to run parental controls, you may see this warning. Click on the yellow box and enter your administrator password to continue. When you've done this, you'll be returned to the Set Up Parental Controls screen and this time, the warning will have disappeared.
Set the standards
When we created our new user account, we chose a standard account – that's because you can only set parental controls for standard accounts, not administrator ones. To see the available parental controls for your new account, click on the account name (in this example, Dylan).
No limits
As you can see, parental controls are switched off by default. Switching them on is simple: just click on the "On, enforce current settings button".
Watching the action
Immediately below the Parental Controls button you'll see that Activity Reporting is now on. This means that Windows Vista will keep an eye on this user – whenever they're logged in it will record what programs they've used, what games they've played and whether they've attempted to do things you've blocked them from doing. If you'd rather not record such details, just click on the "Off" button.
Stop the clock
One of the best parental controls are time limits, which enable you to specify when the kids can use your PC and when they can't. If you click on Time Limits you'll see an empty grid, which you can colour in using the mouse: if the user attempts to log on to your PC during a blocked period of time, Windows will politely but firmly turn them away. Click on OK to return to the Parental Controls screen.
Safe surfing
Now we'll make sure that the Internet is safe for our little 'uns. Click on Windows Vista Web Filter and you can specify whether this user can access the entire Internet, or if Windows Vista should block potentially dodgy sites and downloads. For maximum security you can create an "allow list" of safe sites – if you do this, the user won't be able to access any websites that aren't on the list.
Safe software
You can also prevent users from launching specific programs, which is handy if you don't want family members to see your finances in Microsoft Money (or if you've banned your grumpy teenager from using chat software for a week). Simply click on Allow and Block Specific Programs to see a list of the software on your PC.
Essentials only
You now have two options: let the user launch any program, or restrict them to specific software. If you choose the latter option, any programs you don't tick in the list won't be available to that user. If he or she tries to load a program you haven't approved, Windows Vista will say no unless you come along and provide your administrator password.
Gore-free gaming
The parental controls mean you don't need to worry about young children playing gory games such as Doom 3 or F.E.A.R. From the parental controls menu click on Games and you'll see this screen. You can block games altogether - good for very young children - or take a more flexible approach by blocking or allowing specific games, or by limiting games by age rating.
Age appropriate
Restricting games according to age ratings is one of the easiest ways to ensure that children don't play unsuitable games. Simply click on Set Game Ratings and then choose the appropriate classification, so for example you might allow games rated 3+, Universal, 7+ and Parental Guidance. Not all games are rated in this way, though, so make sure you also tick the "Block games with no rating" box.
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