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Pilgrim
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 10:49am | IP Logged
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Anyone know of a browser that works well and is easy to set up that will ONLY allow kids to visit pages you specify? We're setting up a school computer for our kiddos, since we had to update to a newer one ourselves, and would like them to only be able to access a couple of sites. Any help is very appreciated!!!
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Barb.b
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| Posted: May 16 2014 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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Well, I have an iMac ds uses. I have it set up in parental controls which sites he can use. On the mac it was easy in parental controls to specify he can only use certain sites.
I also have net nanny but couldn't rely on it completely. It is great for the most part. But ds likes to google images of animals he likes. Once he google "baby lemurs" and then clicked images on the browser - he got a terrible image! I contacted net nanny and they said they could only filter text only and not images! SOOOO - in parentally controls I blocked "google.com/images" or something like that but also now only have a handful of sites he can even go on!
Barb
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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We have a PC that we've set up with Windows Parental Controls. Both my younger kids have their own Google Chrome accounts (and their own accounts on this computer), but I set up and control everything through my own account, and it is *very* effective. Almost too effective -- right now my 11-year-old can't access Minecraft, which I have allowed, and I can't figure out how to get the system to let him in!
One feature I like very much is that I can set up an "allow" list of approved websites, and they can go *only* to that list. Ours is very limited right now, though if they want to, say, search for something on Google, I can let them do it via my account or my own computer, under supervision. I have had trouble with one child, in particular, trying to do an end run around our screen-use rules -- "accidentally wandering away" with his Kindle while playing a game, "not hearing the timer go off," etc -- so have been extremely strict about use of this computer.
I like Chrome a lot and am glad the kids can use it to access approved things. But I'm also grateful for the parental controls that are part of the computer itself. They have made life much easier.
Sally
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Pilgrim
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 9:48am | IP Logged
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So, in Google Chrome you can set it up where a user can only visit websites you allow?
That's what we're looking for, since, like you said, our list of allowed websites is *very* limited. I read that you could do that with Safari, but it looks like that's only for Mac or other Apple devices. It would be easiest to be able to just set up parental controls on the windows side of things, and set up Chrome if that's what you're saying is possible. So many of the kids browsers I was finding charge a fee or don't really work how we want it too. I'm hoping you're way of it will work, because I need to stop wasting time trying to figure it out.   
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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No, not in Google Chrome. You do it through the computer's own Parental Controls system. We have controls on both the PC and my Mac, and although the setup is slightly different, the idea is the same: you follow the various commands to set up controls for apps, games, and internet access, which can range from none at all to wide open, with various scenarios in between.
For both our computers we have chosen to go with "approved list" configurations. For the web, we entered in sites they're allowed to go to, and that's *all* they can connect to when they go online, in any browser. The list includes things like Khan Academy, Sheppard Software, PBSKids, etc. If they want to access something else, it's password protected, so cannot be accessed without my letting them in.
The same is true for games. There are also time limits features, where you can establish how long a given child can be on the computer at all. When his time runs out, his account shuts down. I have a night wanderer who would come down and play a particular game in the middle of the night when the rest of us were asleep, the discovery of which is what really made me get serious about putting controls on to begin with. (it wasn't a bad game or anything -- he just doesn't need to be playing *any* computer game at 3 a.m.!).
To set up parental controls on a PC, you go to the control panel and select the function for . . . I think it's security. I set up a separate account for each child who would be using that computer, each with its own password which the child knows but cannot change without permission. Actually, once you set up a "standard" account (as opposed to an "admin" account, which you set up for yourself), then you can access parental controls from there.
On a Mac, you click the apple in the top lefthand corner of the screen, choose "System Preferences," then "Parental Controls." From there you get prompts to guide you through setting things up.
This way, even if your child was able to download another browser (as could conceivably happen), you have controls in place that affect *anything* they do on that computer.
Honestly, for years I had no idea controls like this existed as part of the computer, or I would have put them in place long ago. It really was a) having Kindle Fires for my younger kids, and seeing what kind of controls they had, that made me think, "Hm, is there anything like that on my computer, I wonder?" and b) having this child who would be on the computer or any other device. behind my back All. The. Time. -- not doing anything actually bad, just losing his whole life to the screen if I wasn't there physically preventing him at every moment. He's old enough really to hate the parental controls, but I don't care -- they do a better job of maintaining limits than I have ever done myself.
Sally
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 19 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged
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I will say that it takes a little time to get things configured the way you want them. I would wait till the kids went to bed, then sit up with the computer experimenting. From your own account you can change things as you see fit, but unless they're master hackers, kids cannot alter anything you set up.
Sally
PS -- The controls you set on their accounts don't in any way affect yours. On both computers, I have my own password-protected account that's labeled "administrator," and it's wide open -- I can do anything I want (bwahaha . . . ). I just have to remember to log out of it, so that the kids then have to log into their own controlled accounts in order to be on the computer.
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krygerzoo
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| Posted: May 27 2014 at 7:29am | IP Logged
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Will using the parental control prevent "incognito mode"?
We just started using Qustodio premium. Pretty good controls.
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 27 2014 at 4:11pm | IP Logged
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The way I have ours set up, the only way a kid can use it is to log into his own account. I can opt to have a "guest" account which is not password protected, or not (obviously I chose "not"). As "standard" account-holders, they can't change their own passwords. As Admin, I can change any password I want, and nobody can do anything about it.
Thus far there hasn't been a way for anyone to fly under the radar. I'm not so tech-savvy that I think they couldn't eventually find work-arounds, but they haven't yet. Mom and Dad do have to remember to log out of the admin account, however . . .
Sally
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Topic: Browser for kids????
