HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Microsoft family features (includes family safety features formerly known as Microsoft Family Safety, formerly Parental Controls in Windows 7 and Vista) is a free set of features available on Windows 10 PC and Mobile that is bundled with the
Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...
, Home edition operating system. On July 17, 2020, Microsoft released Microsoft Family Safety on
Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...
and
App Store (iOS) The App Store is an app store platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS Software D ...
as well. Starting in Windows 10, a Microsoft Account is required to use the Microsoft family features. A parent can manage settings for a child if both of their Microsoft Accounts are in the same family. When parents turn on settings for their child, these settings are applied to every device that the child logs into with that Microsoft Account. Other changes to family safety features in Windows 10 include Windows Store purchase controls and the ability to find a child's
Windows 10 Mobile Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10. Wind ...
device on a map.


History

Microsoft has offered family safety features since March 2006 when a preview of Windows Live OneCare Family Safety was first offered to 3000 beta testers. After over a year and a half of testing, the final version was released on November 6, 2007. On December 15, 2008, Microsoft released an updated version 2009 of the software, and rebranded it as Windows Live Family Safety, removing it from the discontinued Windows Live OneCare family of products. Web Filtering and Activity Reporting were previously features in Windows Vista Parental Controls. They were removed from the
Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...
release when they were moved to
Windows Live Windows Live is a discontinued brand name for a set of web services and software products developed by Microsoft as part of its software-as-a-service platform. Chief components under the brand name included web services (all of which were expose ...
. On September 30, 2010, Windows Live Family Safety 2011 (Wave 4) was released as part of Windows Live Essentials 2011. On May 14, 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows Live Family Safety will be renamed to ''Microsoft Family Safety'' and will be built-in as part of its
Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
operating system. In August 2015, Microsoft Family Safety was renamed Microsoft Family Features and the family features offering was expanded beyond that of just family safety to include Windows Store funding. On December 16, 2015, Microsoft added new features to Windows 10 which included screen time extensions and the ability to manage settings for both Windows 10 PC and Mobile in one place. In addition, Microsoft added a unified management center for recent activity, browsing history, app and game purchasing and downloading history and made it possible for a parent account to locate their child's Windows 10 phone.


Windows 8 features

* Web Filtering – Family Safety has a
Windows Filtering Platform Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) is a set of system services in Windows Vista and later that allows Windows software to process and filter network traffic. Microsoft intended WFP for use by firewalls, antimalware software, and parental controls ...
driver to filter web browsing. The service filters in 18 different languages and contains the following levels: ** Allow List Only – Only allows websites that a parent has added to the Allow list. ** Warn on adult content – Allows all websites but warns when the site contains suspected adult material. This setting was designed for older children who are trusted to make good decisions when the web filter incorrectly categorizes a site. * Activity Reporting – Parents can obtain a list of the websites visited. They can also obtain a list of the following: computer usage time, programs run, files downloaded, and games run, which will be reported via
Windows Parental Controls There are a number of security and safety features new to Windows Vista, most of which are not available in any prior Microsoft Windows operating system release. Beginning in early 2002 with Microsoft's announcement of its Trustworthy Computing ...
. * Enforce the adult filter of
Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the List of most visited websites, most-visi ...
,
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
,
Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...
, and other popular search engines. For Google, this means locking
SafeSearch SafeSearch is a feature in Google Search and Google Images that acts as an automated filter of pornography and potentially offensive and inappropriate content. On November 11, 2009, Google introduced the ability for users with Google Accounts to ...
. * Control of Family Safety settings to set time limits, and game restrictions ala
ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Ass ...
as well as general application restrictions. * Control of which programs a user is allowed to run. * Family Safety allows remote access to its features via the web interface. Windows Live Family Safety 2011 added support for using the web filtering/blocking controls without the child having a Windows Live ID. * Family Safety blocks InPrivate browsing in
Internet Explorer 8 Windows Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on March 19, 2009, as the eighth version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Internet Explorer 7. It was the default browser in Windows 7 (later def ...
and 9. * Image Filtering – When Family Safety's SafeSearch is enabled, this filter looks for adult content in images. The filter is only run on websites which do not do an adequate job of filtering the images and only on computers with sufficient performance capabilities. When an image is blocked, Family Safety blurs it out. *Family Safety for Windows 8 Mobile will be discontinued in the following months.


Windows 10 features

* Partial Web Filtering – Web filtering is restricted to
Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
and
Microsoft Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems (in W ...
browsers (excluding Windows 10 Mobile). Turning on web filtering for a child blocks access to adult websites and enables safe search, which filters out adult content in search results from Bing, Google, Yahoo! and other popular search engines. When Web Filtering is enabled, the safe search setting blurs out adult content in images. The web filter provides blacklisting and whitelisting of websites by a parent account. Web Filtering blocks InPrivate browsing in
Microsoft Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems (in W ...
and
Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
. When the child is blocked from visiting a website, they can send a request to the parent asking for permission. Upon approval the child can visit the website. Most other commonly used browsers are automatically blocked, but can be enabled if required. * Activity Reporting – Parents can obtain a list of the websites visited, device usage time, and apps used for any Windows 10 PC or Mobile devices. * Screen time - Parents can restrict the amount of time a child can use the PC, and specify the time intervals that PCs can be used as well as a maximum time allowance per PC. A parent can approve extensions when time runs out. * App, games & media limits (Store only) - In Windows 10 it is no longer possible to block non-Windows Store applications. Only Windows Store apps can be restricted. Parents can set an age rating for content that a child can acquire in the Windows Store. This applies to apps, games, music, and movie content that a child can browse or acquire in the Windows Store. Parents can explicitly block Store apps or games but only after they have been used by the child. * Purchase & spending features - Parents can add money to their child's account that the child can then use to buy content in the Windows Store. This feature allows parents to give their children spending allowances without having to attach a credit card to the child's account. Parents can see a child's recent purchases in the Windows Store. * Find your child - Parents can find their child's Windows 10 Mobile phone on a map.


References


External links

*
(Windows 7)(Windows 8, Windows RT)FAQ

Arstechnica: Family Safety is compared to Mac OS X Parental Controls, and it wins hands down

Wired: 7 Things to Like about Parental Controls in Windows 7

Softpedia: Microsoft Introduces Windows Live Family Safety Beta

Microsoft Family Feature Complete Beginners Guide
{{Windows Components Family Safety Content-control software Family Safety