Many automatically pre-configure categories based on the child's age. Net Nanny 6.5 ($39.99 direct, 4.5 stars) (PCMag's Editors' Choice), Norton, and most others let parents pick and choose from specific categories to block. Keeping the kids from accidentally or deliberately visiting inappropriate websites is a primary feature of most parental control systems. Some, like Norton Online Family, also include an option to check for new settings on demand. Most products that offer remote configuration receive changes almost immediately-a much better result. Family Safety checks the configuration once per hour or at login. Another reboot cured the problem, but it was definitely a rocky start.Ī little experimentation showed that changes made online don't take effect right away. It even blocked the program that provides its own visible user interface. Family Safety's program control correctly blocked Firefox, as I had configured it to do, but also blocked many other programs. The Start menu would only stay open for a few seconds, so launching any program was tough. The problems that caused many parents to just give the kids Administrator accounts under XP are effectively solved in Window 7 and Vista.Īt first log-in, my brand-new user account didn't work correctly at all. The product strongly recommends using Standard/Limited accounts for children. Microsoft verifies parental permission using a small charge (50 cents) on the parent's credit card.īack on the test system, I created a user account for my child. On the flip side, if a child under 13 attempts to create that Windows Live ID directly then the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires parental permission. I'm not entirely sure I approve of that requirement-does a toddler really need a Windows Live ID? As part of this process, I had to create a Windows Live ID for my imaginary child. On another computer I logged into the Family Safety website and defined a child account. Luckily the product ran correctly after a reboot. I verified that was not the case I was definitely using an Administrator account. However, on trying to launch Family Safety I got the error message "Access is denied: Error 80070005." According to Microsoft's help website this is caused by attempting to run the program under an account without Administrator privilege. Installing just the Family Safety and Messenger modules from Windows Live Essentials was easy enough.
#Windows live family safety windows xp free
In this article, unless otherwise stated, I'll refer to features from the free edition of Norton Online Family, not the Premier edition.
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