Vista Parental Controls

If you're concerned about what your kids can see on the Internet as well as how much time they spend browsing, you may be interested in how Vista expands parental control of their PC. The parental controls built into Windows Vista are designed to help parents manage what their children can do on the computer.

In Vista's parental controls, you can not only block inappropriate Websites, but also limit time spent playing games, using instant messaging software and browsing the Internet, as well as limit access to software applications such as Quicken. Plus, you can monitor how your kids use the PC through via activity reports.

I recommend that you set up a user account for each child (older kids have different permissions from younger ones) and then administer each through a main account that is run by the parent using a difficult password with more than 8 characters and numbers to dissuade your child from discovering the administration account.