Intro to PC Parental Controls

Lately my strong-willed 4-year-old has been driving me crazy over using the internet. She’s had her own educational software (a discontinued product by Sesame Street) since she was a toddler, so she’s really good with a mouse. Then last summer I introduced her to Tumblebooks to which she immediately became addicted. Then a couple of weeks ago Elmo or Curious George let it slip that there are cool games for preschoolers available at PBSkids.org. Now, she – the same child who forgets what she’s supposed to be doing almost as soon as I’ve told her – is badgering me with perfectly recalled web addresses. But Nick.com is a can of worms I’m not ready to click on yet.

So, I need to set up some Parental Control software for Windows XP (no, I haven’t upgraded to Vista – still waiting for more of the bugs to be resolved). I found a really useful site that describes how to set the Content Advisor (for Internet Explorer only) that comes with Windows (Note: the appearance of the icons has changed but the names are the same). So that would take care of light web usage, but would be cumbersome for managing heavy online browsing and completely useless for limiting computer time. For that, I plan to try Kids PC Time Administrator, one of several free 30-day downloads ($18.95 to keep after the trail period) available from PC Home Software. It claims that I can specify the times my child can use the computer, which is just what I need to end school-morning and bedtime battles. I know: keeping firm boundaries and a close watch does the same thing, but I’m tired of the arguments and grief.

Anyway, if the (free!) Windows’ Content Advisor and relatively inexpensive Kids PC Time software work well together, I should be all set to manage a preschooler’s blossoming internet habit (assuming I set a password on my grown-up no-restrictions user account! More on that later.). But if they don’t give me the control I need then I may have to shell out more cash for something more powerful like Net Nanny (a free 14-day trial is available, $39.99 after that) or BSafe Online ($49.95 for basic protection).

However, my plan is to wait until my child’s online skills are more developed before purchasing a more sophisticated internet filter. By the time I’ll need all the features included with those more expensive software suites, the same money will be able to buy a product that has evolved to handle whatever online dangers exist at that time. At least when it comes to software, I believe it’s better to save the money and buy only what you really need. Otherwise you waste money, disk space and start-up time. Just my 2 cents.

OK, I wish you and your family happy (and safe!) surfing until next time!

Tara

MomTech has moved to WordPress

Not many people will be aware of the change, but I have moved this blog from GoDaddy to WordPress. I started with GoDaddy’s QuickBlogcast product because it seemed like it would be simple to use. But I was spending so much time “fighting” with the editing software, that I couldn’t spend enough time creating content. But the WordPress features are sooo much easier to use and navigate. I’m relieve that I’ll now be able to spend more time on writing, and less on formatting.

It just been a few hours, but I already love my brand new site. I hope that you’ll enjoy it, too.

Easy Help For Slow PCs

I subscribe to a newsletter written by Ron Douglas, owner of RecipeSecrets.net, which specializes in copycat recipes for dishes at popular restaurants (e.g. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Boston Market). Well, today’s message included a tip on speeding up your PC that I thought I’d pass along. They key is two handy-dandy tools that come with Windows. The first is the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) with which you can select which programs load when your PC boots and reduce the number of icons that appear in the system tray (which is on the far right of the task bar). The second is the Disk Cleanup tool (cleanmgr.exe) which allows you to free hard disk space by reducing the number of unnecessary files.Before you begin make sure you are logged in as a User with Administrator access, then proceed as described:

. . . here’s a cool tip I recently learned when my computer began running slow. The reason it was so slow was because I had many different programs which were automatically loading and using up the PC’s resources whenever I started the computer. Once I configured my computer start up, these programs now only load when choose to open them. Here’s what I did to fix it (for Windows users). Disclaimer: this is only my experience and not to be considered professional or technical advice.
1) Click the Start button and then click Run
2) Type in msconfig and hit Ok
3) Go to the Startup tab to view the list of programs
4) Type the name of each item in Google to see what it is if you’re
not sure *
5) Uncheck any program that you don’t need to automatically load
upon startup
6) Restart your computer **
7) Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools and click Disk
Cleanup.
Run Disk Cleanup to Remove all temporary files That’s it – now you’re running more efficiently.

* I prefer to look up each program at processlibrary.com, rather than Google as suggested here. ProcessLibrary gives a description and recommendation for each program. And, yes. It’s free.

** Windows XP Note: If there is an HP printer or certain firewall or anti-virus software (i.e. ZoneAlarm, McAfee, or Nortons) installed on your computer, you may receive an error message that reads “An Access Denied error was returned while attempting to change a service. You may need to log on using an Administrator account to make specified changes.” If you are already logged in as a User with Administrator access, then don’t worry – your changes will take effect anyway. Click “OK” and restart the computer. Once the computer has re-booted and you have logged in again, you will see another, larger message box notifying you that “You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts.” Check the box that appears to left of “Don’t show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start” and click “OK.”

Steps 1 – 6 took me about 15 minutes, plus the time it took to restart my computer. Steps 7 & 8 took less than 5 minutes to get going, but required quite a while to process. However it can run in the background, while you’re doing something else.

Good luck!
Tara

P.S. Check out The Secret Recipe Blog where you can score recipes to some yummy and familiar foods!