- Image by dannysullivan via Flickr
Everyone knows that the Internet can be a wonderful tool. You can look up almost anything and find an answer. The answers aren’t always appropriate though, and since children are infinitely curious and the Internet is a huge place — it’s ever-so-easy for a child to stumble onto something a parent might not want them to see.
It’s important for parents to know what their children are viewing on the web. Here is a guide to setting the parental controls in Windows Internet Explorer, which in turn controls the settings for your computer.
While running Internet Explorer, open a new window. Click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options.” This will open a new window. Along the top, click on the tab that reads “Content.” The first option is called “Content Advisor” with a button below saying “Enable…” Clicking on the enable button will take you to the “Content Advisor” controls.
Just select the content you want to restrict and move the sliding bar to either “Limited” or “Unrestricted.” Limited will only block content in a news or artistic sort of way while Unrestricted will block all negative content.
Clink on the “Approved Sites” tab next. This is where you can block or allow websites. Just type in the website address and click on “Always” to allow them or “Never” to block them. If you make a mistake, just select the address in the box below and click “Remove.”
The “General” tab allows you to pick supervisor settings and when you click “OK” it opens the password settings popup. After you click “OK” it will open another window to set your supervisor password. You should change your password every month and make it something your child wouldn’t know just to be on the safe side, and then click “OK.”
Your work is done. Your child can now safely browse the Internet. Remember that you will have to re-set the controls every time you restore your computer.
