Childproof Your PC

Computers can be great teaching and entertainment tools for kids. Kids can use them to help with homework, draw pictures and play games. While you do want to allow them to use the family computer, let's face it, you don't want them to accidentally or intentionally mess it up. This article will take you step by step through the process of making your computer safe for them to use by 1) restricting the online resources that they can access and 2) keeping them from deleting important files from the computer. While these steps are specific to a Windows XP computer, they could be adapted to other versions of Windows. Child-proofing your computer using these steps require no extra software than what comes pre-installed on a Windows machine, and will thus save you money.

I divided this article into three parts, each containing a number of steps. In Part 1, you will create a restricted user account that will prevent the kids from modifying or deleting important system files. Part 2 shows you how to set up Internet Explorer to only allow pre-defined websites to be viewed. Part 3 explains how to create desktop shortcuts to the programs and files that they would use most frequently.

The screenshots were taken from a Windows XP Professional computer, please note in the comments below if you use Windows XP Home edition and the procedure is different.

Ready to childproof your computer? Let's get started.

Part 1: Create a restricted Windows user account. By creating a new, limited account for your kids, you can 1) password-protect the computer so that they can only use the computer when you say so (if you keep the password a secret), 2) prevent them from installing software or modifying system settings that could make the computer inoperable, and 3) limit the amount of damage a new computer virus could do to your computer if it became infected. There are also other benefits to using restricted accounts, which are not listed here.

To create a new, limited user account,

1. Open the Control Panel by clicking Start -> Control Panel. Figure 1 shows the control panel in a category view.
2. Click the User Accounts link, and click "Create a new account". Type the name that you would like to give this account. I chose "kids" as my new account name. Click the Next button when you are ready.
   
3. Select the Limited account type. We'll modify the settings so that this Limited account can't change or remove their password later. When you click the "Create Account" button, you will be taken back to the screen where you started.
   
4. Now, this new account needs a password. Click on the account that you just created, and you will see screen titled "What do you want to change about (your newly created username)'s account?" On this screen, click the "Create a password" link. You will be prompted to create a new password and password hint. Don't make the hint too obvious to your kids, or they might be able to guess the password and bypass the security that you are setting up. Click the "Create Password" button to continue and return to the previous screen.
5. Next, you will need to set up a password for your current, administrator user. Click the default account, sometimes named "Owner", from the list. Follow the instructions in Step 4 above to create a password for the administrator account. This will restrict access to the administrator account which can modify the settings and passwords for any other account.
   
6. Now we need to prevent the limited user from changing their password. Click Start (the start menu) -> Run and type "control userpasswords2" into the open box, without the quotes. Click the OK button, and you should see a User Acounts window. Click the Advanced tab, and then the Advanced button. You should now see this screen. Click the Users folder in the left window pane, and right-click the new account you just created. Click on the properties option, and in the Properties dialog box, select the General tab. In this tab, there is a checkbox labeled "User cannot change password". Select this checkbox, and click OK. Close the Local Users and Groups window, and click OK on the User Accounts window.
7. We now need to disable the auto-login feature of Windows XP. Click Start -> Run and type "control userpasswords2" (without the quotes), and click the "Run" button. In the Users tab of the User Accounts window, uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" checkbox. Click OK. Completing this step will now require anyone who uses your computer to know the password before the computer will log in.
   

Congratulations, you just set up a limited user. The next part will explain how to restrict Internet Explorer and only allow your kids to view the websites that you specify.

Part 2: Enable Content Advisor in Internet Explorer. In Part 2, we will enable a tool called Content Advisor in the Internet Explorer web browser to restrict the websites that your children will be allowed to view. The following steps will assist you in setting up Content Advisor.

1. Open Internet Explorer (if you haven't already), and click Tools -> Options.
2. Click the Content tab. You will see this screen.
   
3. Click the "Enable..." button. The Ratings tab will allow you to use the rating that the content providers (individual web sites) have provided. Not trusting that they would rate their sites correctly, let's set up a restricted set of approved web sites.
4. Click the Approved Sites tab. In the "Allow this Web site:" textbox, type in the address of the websites that you will allow your children to visit. For example, I allow my kids to go to http://pbskids.org. The PBS Kids website may have sub-level domains, so I would use a wildcard (*) and type http://*.pbskids.org into the textbox. Click the "Always" button to add the site to the list. You should repeat this procedure for each website that you will allow your kids to visit.
5. Click OK and you will be presented with a "Create Supervisor Password" window. Type in a password that you will use to temporarily allow your kids or yourself to visit, and that can also be used to disable the Content Advisor. Enter a password hint if you like. Click OK to save the password.
   
6. Click OK in the Internet Options window to save your settings.
   

Internet Explorer has now been set up to only allow your kids to access a small list of websites that you control. You may find that you will need to add websites to the list of allowed sites. To do so, repeat steps 1, 2 and 4 above. When someone tries to access a website that is not in the list of allowed websites, a Content Advisor window will appear, prompting you for a password. Typing in the correct password will allow you to browse the site. If you find that the Content Advisor is too restrictive, you can disable it. To disable the Content Advisor, follow steps 1 and 2 above, and click the Disable button. You will be prompted for the password and then you will be allowed to browse the web without restrictions.

Part 3: Now that we have created a limited user and set up Content Advisor, we should make it easy for our kids to access the programs that they will use most frequently. These steps will take you through logging in as the limited user and creating shortcuts to the programs and files they would use most frequently.

1. Log out of the computer if you are logged in as the administrator, by clicking Start -> Log Off, and then clicking the "Log Off" button.
2. You will then see the Welcome screen. Click the icon or text of the limited user. You will be prompted to enter the password for the limited user. Click the green arrow button or hit Enter on your keyboard to log in. It may take a minute or two to log into the new account. This occurs the first time a new account is accessed, to create the user permissions, folders and desktop.
3. Once you have logged in, take a look at the icons (shortcuts) on the desktop. Are there any icons for programs or folders that you may not want to give them immediate access to? If so, click once on the icon and press the Delete key on your keyboard for each icon that you would like to remove.
4. Are there any shortcuts to programs that aren't on the desktop that you would like to give them access to? To add icons or shortcuts to the desktop, click the Start -> All Programs menu. When your program list appears, find the program that they might use every time they log into the computer. For example, I choose to give them access to Windows Media Player. To create a shortcut, click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment. Right-click on Windows Media Player, and in the pop-up menu, click Send To -> Desktop (create shortcut). Repeat this step as many times as necessary. This step can also be applied create desktop shortcuts to music and other files.
   

Once the icons (desktop shortcuts) have been created, it give your kids quick access to those files and programs they use most often without having to open the Start menu and navigating the small icons.

Conclusion
This article demonstrates how to set up the family computer to prevent your kids and anyone else from logging in without a password, preventing them from browsing unapproved websites, and creating desktop shortcuts to the programs and files that they use most often. There are a number of software packages available which will automatically set up restrictions and passwords, but using the steps outlined in this article will restrict your computer the same way without you having to buy any extra software.

If you have trouble following any of the steps in this article, please post your question in the comments section below.

Pros:
Restricting access to your computer provides a number of benefits, such as reducing the number of tech support calls by reducing the amount of damage your kids can do to the family computer, preventing them from using the computer without your supervision, and preventing them from accidentally browsing offensive websites.

Cons:
Setting up restrictions requires that you create and remember passwords, and type them in frequently while you are using the computer. You may find this annoying and disable the Content Advisor while you are browsing the web.

Requirements:
Windows XP, Internet Explorer