How to set up and manage parental controls on Windows for a safer online experience for your kids?

Microsoft offers a range of parental controls for Windows users who are looking to enforce Digital Well-being by monitoring their kid’s screen time and online activities. While Windows 10 offers parental control settings via its Control Panel, Windows 11 offers a dedicated Family app to tackle all kinds of scenarios. The internet is expanding at a speedy rate each day. Because of this, it is now crucial to impose regulated access to the wide world of knowledge, especially for the younger generation. The good news is that Windows has a variety of parental settings that make it simple for users to protect their kids online.

The next part explains how to activate and manage parental control settings to protect a child's online safety.

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How users can set up parental controls on a Windows PC and manage them

On Windows 11, the standalone Family app not only lets parents keep track of their children’s activities on the web, but it also offers extensive planning features to aid the family's digital well-being. Windows 10 users can also download the app for free from the Microsoft Store. Here’s how you can use it:

1. Search for the app on the Start Menu’s search bar and open it, then log in using your Microsoft account.
2. Next, click on the Add a Family Member button.
3. Now, type the email ID or phone number of the member you want to add to your family space. Note that it has to be a Microsoft account. Once done, click on Next.
4. Choose a role for the member you want to add. For a child, choose Member and click Next. The child will receive an invite via email, which they will have to accept to join your space.
5. Once they accept the invitation, open the Settings app and go to Accounts > Family & other users. Select the child’s account you want to add and click on Allow sign-in. This allows them to sign into the device using their credentials.
6. Now, you can open the Family app and the child account you added should appear in the dashboard.

The Family app offers multiple control features for your children. You can set up screen time limits and content filters, control their spending on Microsoft-distributed products and video games, monitor their online activity, get weekly activity reports, set up consent requests, and track their location if needed.

Note that while your child should have a “child account”, you should have an “adult account”. You must add your child’s Microsoft account to the Family app before you can start monitoring them.

Open the Family app, click on the three dots on the top-right of your child’s profile, and select Go to overview to start setting up controls. Here, you can adjust screen time and spending, as well as set up content filters.

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If you don’t want to use the app, you can also set up parental controls from the Microsoft Family Safety website. Just log in and begin adding accounts as you would with the Family app. The interface on the website is identical to that on the application.