Windows 8, the next version of the world’s most used operating system is due out later this year and it’s parental controls are looking different from the current options available in Windows 7.
The current set of parental controls focus more on Filtering what your children have access to on the internet. The new version focusses more on monitoring what they’re up to and reporting to you.
I’ve talked about filtering your home internet connection on this site before, and mentioned that in the end it probably comes down to educating your kids about what is appropriate and what isn’t.
The new features offered by Microsoft are taking a “Monitor First Approach”. Giving you a dashboard of information about your family’s computer habbits. Items include which websites each user has visited and the amount of time spent on the computer (helpful if you want to limit your kids to a certain amount of “screen time” per day).
We expect you’ll find activity reports a great tool for teaching your kids about responsible computer use. Of course, you can also easily add restrictions by just clicking a link in the activity report. With the simplicity of activity reports, we believe more parents will adopt Family Safety, resulting in a safer computing environment for children.