Microsoft has released the final version of Windows Live Essentials 2011 to everyone on a supported Windows based PC, which comes loaded with very useful and helpful everyday programs that make our lives a little easier and more entertaining. Over the next couple of days, Neowin will be taking an in-depth look at Windows Live Essentials 2011, covering a new program each day.
Windows Live Family Safety
In the second last installment of our review, we'll be taking a look at Family Safety, one of the programs that comes featured in Windows Live Essentials 2011. As there are some concerned parents and family members, we want to keep our children safe while browsing online. It's impossible to monitor your children every minute they are on the PC, and sometimes you may be distracted or busy, so Windows Live Family Safety can help put your mind as ease.
Restricting
The neat feature about Windows Live Family Safety, is that you configure your settings for each computer online, through https://familysafety.live.com. Through this website, you can manage what sites people are allowed or not allowed to visit, view, accept or reject requests and see what your kids are currently doing.
Family Safety works with all browsers, so there isn't any need to worry what your kids are browsing on the web. From the control panel, you can view what websites your kids visit, how often they visit and what pages in the website they were viewing. Depending on what you want your kids to view and not view, you can allow or block websites through an array of filters, or use one of the pre-set levels of safety for your children.
The great thing about Windows Live Family Safety, is it works with any Windows-based PC in your house, with any account. So if your children have moved to the family computer, Family Safety will use the same permission group for that account, when they are away from their own computer.
Blocking and Monitoring
After you set your level of security, that account will either be warned that the site they are about to visit may potentially be dangerous, or have to email or send a request to visit the website. Once your child has sent their request, you can accept or decline the suspected website, after you have verified if the website is secure or not.
Make sure to check back tomorrow on our final day of coverage, when we review Windows Live Writer 2011!
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