The modern age is nothing like when we, the parents, grew up. Our own parents probably didn't have to worry so much about our online activity, but the present day is very different. With more time spent working and schooling from home, it's essential to have the right control over what your children are doing on the PC, and that's where these fine pieces of software come into play.
Built-in
Windows 10 Family
Staff favorite
What better way to protect kids than built-in parental controls right in the Windows 10 settings as you're able to set up a whole family within Windows 10 and monitor access per person. That's not just limited to what they can see online, either. You can set time limits for their PC use and which apps and games they're allowed to use, as well. And because it's linked to the cloud, you get regular parental reports on your kids' usage.
Social check
Qustodio
Qustodio is a highly-rated parental control application, and best of all, it's free. Or rather, it's free to a point. To get the most from it, you'll need to pay, but at least you can check out the core product first. What you pay exactly depends on what you want from Qustodio.
Particularly helpful is the ability to manage how much time your kids spend accessing social media, and it's also not just limited to your PC. Qustodio can help monitor what your kids are accessing on compatible mobile devices, too.
Well known
Norton Family Premier
Norton Family Premier has all the same key features as the other software mentioned here. Your reports will show you where your kids are spending their time online, and the tools in Norton Family Premier will also let you protect sensitive information as well as prevent access to inappropriate content. It's available for some mobile devices, too, so you're able to keep control of everything they're using.
Mobile focus
Kaspersky Safe Kids
Kaspersky Safe Kids has some excellent controls not only to restrict access to online content but also to limit access to specific applications and categories of applications. It comes into its own, though, with the mobile device features that you unlock with a paid subscription. These allow you to keep tabs on your kids entire activity, even check things like their battery life if they're out and manage their social media time.
Keeping watch
Content Watch Net Nanny 7
Net Nanny 7 is a paid product, but it's a robust parental control solution. One of its best features is a cross-device internet time allowance, meaning that the cheeky rascals can't play the system by moving to another PC to get around your time limits. It's configured in the cloud, has some pretty powerful filtering and a great notification system. For an additional cost, you can include mobile devices, too
Keeping the young ones safe
With so much of life now driven by interacting with a PC and the Internet, in particular, it's super important to make sure that what your kids are accessing isn't harmful and that they're not spending too much time glued to a screen. And fortunately, Windows 10 Family is built right into every Windows 10 PC, so there's already a quick and easy solution on hand.
It isn't perfect, though, and some parents may want a little more control or to expand beyond just the PC. In those cases you can run it alongside something like Qustodio or Kaspersky Safe Kids to add controls also to mobile devices, and limit time spent on things like social media.
It's a scary digital world out there, but it's still possible to have peace of mind when it comes to the most important people in your life.