How to Set Up Parental Controls on Mac

In the recent years, there has been a steady rise in violence due to wide usage of Internet. Apart from the violence danger, there are other dangers, that parents have to protect their children from. Some children also simply spend their time playing different games on the computer. Therefore, it is important to have parental controls installed on the computer. It will help in monitoring the websites visited, emails sent to various people, chats, the duration your child spends on the Internet or also the amount of time the child spends on the Mac, etc. All this while, since the child was small and was not using the computer, you were not bothered about setting up different controls on the system. However, since the child has grown up and accesses the Internet, both when you are around and not around, you would want to know how to set up parental controls your computer. Before we read about setting up parental controls on Mac, we will see the advantages of having parental control on computer usage.

Advantages of Parental Control on Mac

Mac has one of the best parental control software. With this software, it is rather easier to create certain settings for Internet applications. A list of safe email addresses can be set up. It is only with these addresses will the user be able to exchange emails. Similarly, a list of 'permitted' websites can also be set up, so that the pornographic or harmful websites are out of bound for children. Parental controls can also be set to restrict the people the child can chat with. The applications that the child can use on the system can also be restricted. Having parental control in place also ensures, that the different settings are not changed even accidentally. Many times parents lose important data on the system, when the child deletes files from the system, however, once parental control is in place, this can be prevented.

Setting Up Parental Controls on Mac

We will now see how to set up parental control software on Mac operating system, namely OS X 10.5.x. Although parental control is also available on the previous versions of the operating system, the steps mentioned here are specifically for OS X 10.5.x. Before you can set up the parental control, you will need at least one managed user account on the system. If there is only one account, it will naturally be the administrator account. So that you can set up the parental control, you will have to log onto the system as an administrator.

• Click on the Apple icon located in the Finder menu bar and scroll down to go to 'System Preferences' and click on 'Accounts'.
• If you see that some of the settings are dimmed, then you will have to enter the administrator name and password after clicking on the lock icon.
• The next step will be to select the user account on which you would want to set up parental control.
• Then click on 'Parental Control'.
• Now go to 'Finder & System' in the family controls list and then click on Configure.
• Once you are in the 'Finder & System', you will also be able to configure other user accounts as well.
• Then you will want to set 'Limits' for the operating system, which will help in making the interface a little more interactive, which the young children will find easy to go around with.
• After which you will have to select each individual feature on which you will want to set parental control. Some of the features, where the parental controls are set is Safari browser, which will restrict visiting certain websites and 'iChat', by which the child will not be able to chat with all and sundry. Similarly, in the 'Mail' option email addresses can be filtered out.
• After the limits have been set, click on OK, so that the parental controls will be applicable on your Mac.

I hope now you know what are the steps, you should take to install parental controls on Mac. It is best to set up a number of filters, so that your child is better protected. It is important to note that even if you block certain websites, email addresses, etc., at this stage you will be able to restore them and add them to 'safe' later. It is best to keep monitoring the parental controls from time to time to make changes as required.