If you go to control panel - user accounts family and safety - parental controls you will see that web filtering and activity reports are not included. in windows 7, but no worries we will fix that by installing "windows essentials"to your computer. To do so go to official Microsoft website and download the installer.
Once you have it downloaded go ahead and install it. If you chose "express install" that will install following:
- Microsoft SkyDrive
- Writer
- MSN
- Photo gallery and movie maker
- Family Safety
At this time our concern is family safety and if for some reason you don't want to install rest of the apps than while installing choose advanced installer and have unchecked everything but "Family Safety".
Once family safety installed you will see additional options available inside parental controls - control panel.
You will be asked to input your Microsoft account user name and password to start. You can use your Hotmail, Live or any other Microsoft user name and password.
After successful login you will be asked to chose account that you would like to monitor. If you didn't create standard account to your child now its time to do it. It is recommended to create standard accounts for your kids and other users.You can find out more on how to create account and account differences in my previous post for User Account Settings.
To approve/block websites or get online activity go to familysafety.microsoft.com login with same account that used for family safety and you will see options where you can block websites for specific users, block file downloads, activity reports time limits, app and game restrictions. Also there is Requests tab, if monitoring user wants to visit website, play game or open any apps request will be sent to you for approval or denial.
Now you are ready to do some real parental control. Thank you for reading my blog posts.