Parental Controls is a feature that enables parents to help manage how their children use the computer. As a parent, you can set restrictions (different for each child, if you like) on which programs your children can run and which games they can play, and you can set hours of use for the computer. With the addition of controls from Microsoft and other providers, you can specify which websites your children can visit and you can view activity logs that detail each child's computer activity.

The requirements for using Parental Controls are simple:

• You must have at least two user accounts set up on your computer-an administrator account for the parent and a standard account for the child. (More adults? More kids? Create a separate account for each person. Be sure that each child to whom you want to apply Parental Controls has a standard account because parental controls can't be applied to administrator accounts.)
• All administrator accounts on the computer should be protected by a password. (This isn't an absolute requirement, but without password protection, anyone can bypass or turn off Parental Controls. Note also that you need only one password-protected administrator account to manage Parental Controls. Other parents with standard accounts can use the administrator parent's credentials to run Parental Controls.)
• Your computer cannot be joined to a domain. On domain-joined computers, the Parental Controls feature is disabled, even when you're connected to your home network (or no network).

To begin using Parental Controls, open it in Control Panel. (It's in the User Accounts And Family Safety category.) After consenting to the User Account Control prompt (or entering an administrator password if you're logged on as a standard user).

To set restrictions for a child, click the child's account name and then click On, Enforce Current Settings.

• Time Limits
• Game Controls
• Block Programs