Laptop security for 12 year old?

[singersgirl]

DS (12) has just got a laptop which he will need to use for schoolwork and take to school. He also wants to play games etc on it and no doubt watch Youtube and go on Instagram.

It's Windows 8 and pre-loaded with McAfee. II want to keep him safe from viruses, ban adult sites and limit his time online while allowing him to do his homework.

Any ideas of the best way of doing this?

Personally I'd uninstall McAfee and install a free replacement such as MSE. Otherwise you'll forget, it'll expire and start nagging or worse still leave you unprotected.

To limit your son's activities I'd suggest using a filter such as K9 Web protection which will allow you to ban specific categories eg. adult, gambling etc. and also set time restrictions.

However, please don't just let him loose with a laptop for long periods of time unattended. Kids are smart and there are a multitude of ways to circumvent security controls. Don't be the idiot who relies upon technology to parent for you. There is no substitute for proper parental supervision. A few weeks ago when there was all that hoo-hah about the government forcing ISP's to block adult sites, I enabled the block from TalkTalk. My 12 year old DS taught me how to bypass it using techniques the kids use at school. So don't think it doesn't happen.

Good luck

*niceguy is right school blocked Utube, I'm not sure they still bother. The teachers used to get the pupils to break the security because they forgot the official passwords.

First off, don't let him have an admin-level user account on the PC. I'm not sure how Windows 8 is set up out of the box but in general with Windows you can have standard user accounts and admin accounts. There needs to be at least one admin account but don't let him have the password to that. Without the admin password then he is quite limited in what havoc he can wreak.

Second, look into Microsoft Family Safety Center. This allows you to set restrictions on a user-by-user basis. Restrictions can be for things like how long they can use the computer for each day, what times of day they can use it as well as what applications they can use and which websites they can visit. It also sends you a weekly email of the sites he's been visiting and if he's attempted to get to any blocked sites. I use it at home for my DCs and it works as well as anything else I've seen.

And third, as NiceGuy says there's no substitute for in-person supervision. Only allow him to use it in open areas of the house and make sure you can keep an eye on what's on the screen.

Thanks all for suggestions of programmes. I started doing the set up on the laptop but haven't finished. I was intending to make me Admin and give me control of the times etc, but the Windows 8 was a bit different and ran out of time.

Have Family Safety on main PC.

Will try to make sure he uses laptop only in public areas.

Also, I'd read that Windows 8 actually has the functionality of MSE built into it already. Does anyone know about this? But my IT guy from work (small home business) says MSE isn't all that good, though that may be for us because we do lots of financial transactions etc.

MSE isn't the best but it's free, isn't annoying, doesn't slow your computer down and updates without fussing.

I'd say it's good enough for most home users unless you have a user who is regularly surfing the dodgier parts of the Internet.

Website loggers are useful. You can set them to regularly email you a list of ALL websites visited. It's good because it stops DCs trying to get around other security. It's a bit Big Brother'ish but if it stops your kids from looking at porn then I am happy to use it.