The Internet seems like a harmless place, but there is danger lurking everywhere such as adware and spyware. When children are using devices with an internet connection, it can be very easy to open a website which is deemed non-age-appropriate, and this happens all the time. However, you can stop this from happening by making use of the powerful parental controls built-in to Windows 10. Today, I will guide you through the setup and configuration of these controls, to ensure both the safe online experience your child will have and your own peace of mind.

Child accounts

To take parental control of a child’s account, one needs to exist in the first place. To do this, left-click the Windows icon in the bottom left corner, and then the Settings icon above (see Figure 1.1 below).

You should now be in the Settings, left-click ‘Accounts’, and then left-click ‘Family & other users’ (see Figure 1.2 below).

You should then left-click the ‘Add a family member’ button and then follow the on-screen instructions to create a child account. (See Figure 1.3 below).

Microsoft Family Safety

As you can see I have created a dummy account for the purpose of this guide to give you an inkling of how the Microsoft Family Safety control panel functions. Microsoft provides on-screen instructions to configure different settings, a few of which I will list below:

• Content Restriction (block specific websites)
• Set screen time
• Set limits on various apps and mobile games
• Set buying permission (i.e. require the child to ask the parent to purchase items online)

Administrator Permission

By default, a Child account will be considered a ‘Standard User’, meaning they do not have access to administration features. A Standard User has access to nearly everything in Windows 10, such as browsing the internet, changing the desktop background, downloading files and images, watching dog videos on YouTube, and so on so forth. However, if a child wants to download software to the PC, or they want to remove the software or make any other major changes to the system, this will require the parent’s/guardian’s (administrator) permission, just to ensure that no malicious software is being downloaded.

Thank you

If you’re having issues with your computer or any other device, please phone 01329 535 001, contact us via our contact form or visit our workshop based in Lee-on-the-Solent (Address at bottom of the website) and we will fix your issue. Stay safe.