Families with an in-house internet connection are inevitably going to have curious children who are dying to explore the internet. For those times when parents are not available to supervise or when parents need time away from their children, computer parental controls can help mitigate the lack of parental supervision. There is a wide array of dangers on the internet wherein even uneducated adults can become victims. This includes but not limited to inadvertently installing spyware onto a computer, divulging personal information that criminals can take advantage of in a variety of ways, and becoming the target of child-predators. Parental controls can take on many shapes, colors, and have a variety of features — the following parental control options and settings are just some available options and are available in most family-owned computers:
- Website blocking
- Content Blocking
- Control Lists (allowing websites that may be used)
- Blocking File Downloads
It all starts with setting up a separate user account for the child to be given internet restrictions. Once the new user account is set up using the computer administrator’suser account, the computer administrator can begin making the needed changes to the child’s new user account. There is no exact science as to how setting up parental controls on a computer can be done — most computers have built-in software to accomplish the task but third-party software can also be purchased to use instead of the built-in software.
Website-blocking implies that explicitly marked websites cannot be accessed by the supervised child. Content-blocking allows for tighter and more detailed control of what the child can do. Control-lists are lists of websites that are marked as “safe” for the child’s viewing, or vice versa. Blocking files from downloading prevents the child from downloading files and/or limiting the types of files that may be downloaded.
Supervising and restricting what a child or minor is allowed to view and do on the internet can make the difference between a safe experience or becoming the victim of various types of internet crime. Please contact us for assistance in setting up parental controls.
