When you are trying to control access to your PC to help keep your children safe and limit the amount of time they spend on the computer, this often proves to be a difficult task when you have multiple users. Additionally, most parental control solutions are easily circumvented by children who have almost any level of computer knowledge.

If you have been researching parental control software and reading reviews then you are probably aware that there are solutions available on the market that do not accomplish what they say they will do. While this is not true for all parental control software it is the case with some versions that claim to monitor your child’s access to the family computer.

Why Some Versions of Parental Control Software Do Not Work

If you have tried parental control solutions and found them to be ineffective this is due to a number of factors. First, if you have all of the members of your household using the same account on your PC this makes it difficult to limit access to applications you do not want your child to access or spend a lot of time on.

Secondly, another reason why parental control solutions can be ineffective is they are incapable of controlling more than one user account and they are designed in a way that allows your child to easily disable them when you are not present. This is because there is no method for hiding the application from view so your child can easily find the location where you downloaded the software and then either disable it or remove it from your PC altogether. This also rings true with parental control software that is designed for multiple users. If it is not hidden from view any child with a little computer knowledge can find away around the software if they really try.

How to Control Access

A high quality piece of parental control software will use Windows access control which means that the software is based on different Windows user accounts. This allows you to control access and limit the use of programs to specific users or user groups. It also makes the software more difficult for your child to circumvent. If it provides a way to hide the application from view this provides you with additional control.

That said if you have multiple users on a computer in your household it is important to set up different accounts before you install parental control solutions that operate through Windows access control. For the software to work properly you must have a way to identify the user accounts where you want to restrict or limit access.

The user accounts can be established by clicking on “Start” on the main toolbar of the desktop and then clicking on “Control Panel.” In the Control Panel window simply click on “User Accounts” to set up an account for each individual user of your PC and then create a password for each. Once you have accomplished this you can proceed to download the parental control software and install for use.

Once you install the software it is relatively easy to set up and there is a Setup Wizard that will walk you through the process of setting up rules and policies for each account user that you set up in Windows. There should also be a settings feature that allows you to choose the options you want to use for hiding the application from view such as in the Control Panel, Task Manager, Program files, Desktop Tray, and any other location where it can be easily accessed and disabled.

High quality parental control solutions should allow you to control access for what websites are visited, what applications can be accessed and for how long, when the computer can be used, and the length of time usage can occur at different days of the week. Once the time has expired the PC will automatically discontinue access according to the limitations you set. As each user accesses your PC a log of activity is recorded where only you can access it via a master password to review it and make any necessary changes to the configuration.