A Review of Windows Vista's Parental Controls

I caught this via ActiveWin today:  Tommy from IMSafer Nerd Blog decided to give Windows Vista’s Parental Controls a closer look.  He outlines the Parental Controls features and explains what parents can do with the features.  He puts in bold his opinion regarding each Parental Control feature, and although he's rather critical of the breadth of control afforded parents, I think he's off base and that parents will ultimately grow to appreciate and use many or all of the available controls, especially when  they work together to better understand them via online forums and communities.  He does seem to like parents' ability to log everything their child is viewing, downloading, reading, etc.  He also mentions the ability for third party developers to tap into Windows Vista’s Parental Controls API, which is another key aspect of the functionality that I think will ultimately make these controls very compelling for a large number of parents.

Take a look at Tommy’s Windows Vista Parental Controls Review.


Comments

  1. Posted on: June 30, 2007 at 3:12AM  

    Hi!

    I have just bought a computer in France and when I try to enter random websites (eg Facebook, University of Oslo) it stops me and says Parental Controle. So I was wondering if I can turn it off in some way? I have an Orange Livebox, i think its called, and it always pops up Orange Parental Controle. Maybe that's "who" stops me?

    Hope you can help :)

  2. Posted on: June 10, 2008 at 12:39PM  

    The Vista Parental Controls help with blocking some pages, but they do not give you complete control over the computer. I use Sentry Parental Controls: Total Family Protection and it works great on Vista. It allows me to monitor what my kids are viewing, block sites from them and control their computer and internet usage. I really suggest this product to any parent who wants a better way to control their kids computer and to stop them from visiting innapropriate sites. Here's the site to find out more about it http://www.sentryparentalcomtrols.com

  3. Posted on: October 22, 2008 at 8:59PM  

    ok these parental control features are available on Vista. AllowBlock software http://www.allowblock.com adds the same vista-like filtering options to Windows XP. It even loks like Vista parental controls

  4. Posted on: March 12, 2009 at 6:51AM  

    I'm a teen so my point of view will be different.

    It blocks almost everything! Everyday I go on I will see a Windows Parental Controls has blocked this page. It limits your computer usage on the internet by A LOT! I hate Windows Parental Controls. It blocks Google sometimes even if it is appropriate and with in the Parental Controls guidelines.

  5. Posted on: April 10, 2009 at 10:53AM  

    very informative post indeed,keep sharing dude!

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