Parental Control: How to Keep Your Child Safe at the Computer
The task of every parent is to protect their child from the dangers that may be waiting for him on the Internet, as well as from computer and game addiction. If adults are still able to control themselves when using PCs and smartphones (not all of them) and distinguish between the malicious content of all kinds of sites from the acceptable, then the child is not able to do it. Parental control programs allow you not only to monitor your children's activity on the computer but also to limit it by certain parameters.
Basic features
The most accessible means that do not require special configuration are the selection in the search engine and in the operating system itself. Among the search engines to filter content based on automatic restrictions is provided by Google. There is one "but": you can only configure the degree of filtration, and the types of content are not defined. Only porn sites are effectively removed from search results.
You can also set a password on your account with security settings. In this case, children can't change the search settings and remove restrictions.
If your child has a social network account, be sure to study its security settings and set the highest possible level of protection. There are following possible measures suggested by the write my paper service: setting up a minimum visibility page for outsiders, disabling the ability to find your child via email address, phone number, dividing friends and followers into groups according to the level of access to information from the page. It's also a good idea to take a personal interest in the content of your child's friends' posts. If any of them are posting inappropriate content, limit the ability to show news from that person on the social network.
Windows
If you own a Windows computer, you can use the Family Safety utility. It can be downloaded from the official site of Microsoft if you have an account and an OS version starting from Vista. Create a separate account for your children on your computer and enter restrictions for it - the settings here are flexible.
Features:
- Activity log with data on when and how long the child has been sitting at the computer;
- Limit time spent at the computer (e.g., two hours a day);
- Prevent using the computer at night;
- A list of visited sites and open programs;
- Query system: When a child tries to visit a prohibited site or program, the parent (account owner) is prompted to allow or block this action;
- Built-in Internet filtering on the principle of whitelisting sites and notifications of inappropriate content.
MacOS
Parental controls are available here since version 10.5. It has less options than in Windows:
- Allowing or blocking sites, e-mail recipients, messenger subscribers, apps;
- Setting a schedule for working at your computer;
- Limiting the duration of computer use and access to certain devices.
Additional options
A win-win option is to limit visits to certain sites from your computer and phone that are connected to your home Wi-Fi network. To do this, you need to enable content filtering in the router settings. Most serious manufacturers include this feature in their devices. You should enter the MAC-address (the address of the network card) of the parent computer into the router's memory, and after that you will be able to change the filtering settings only from it. Ideally, exclude all unnecessary sites, and prioritize educational sites such as write me my essay service. In order to configure the restrictions only for the devices of the child, add their MAC-addresses to the base of the router.
Parental controls for smartphones and tablets iOS, Android, Windows
The most serious parental controls are available for Apple devices:
- AppStore does not allow explicitly inappropriate apps.
- There is an option to set additional restrictions on launching a browser and installing new applications.
Android mobile devices have fewer built-in options for total control - at least because apps can be downloaded not only from the Play Store, and it's harder to keep track of all sources. In the app store, you can adjust the level of content acceptable to children based on what the system offers for a certain age. The Application Protection feature is good for prohibiting the installation of unknown apps.
Android versions 4.3 and higher on tablets and some phones have built-in parental controls.
Features:
- Create a separate profile with restricted access (no Internet content filtering);
- Disconnection of the Internet on the smartphone remotely;
- Complete list of visited sites and applications;
- Banning new apps from downloading.
Windows smartphones and tablets boast the ability to connect to the same Parental Safety account as home computers.
Control options:
- Filtering Internet addresses in the browser;
- Requesting access to launch games and applications;
- All parental controls created for PCs.
If you are not satisfied with the functionality of the built-in parental control on the child's gadget or computer, you can supplement it with one of the many programs for child safety. They are divided into programs for protecting information on the parent's smartphone, which allow children to "play", and applications for devices belonging to the children themselves.
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