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I have 4 kids so the battle for time on the living room computer never ceases, I am also implementing an attempt at some level of control over how much time the kids get based on their behavior etc during the week. Ideally I would like to be able to set each profile up to have only a certain allotment of time, say 2 hours that they can use and once that two hours is nearly up it warns them and once complete it automatically logs them out.

I know the family control stuff can limit the time frames during which they can login but it does not seem to allow this quantity based control I am looking for...

Any other options in the market that you know of?

daviesgeek
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keithwarren7
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8 Answers8

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What you are looking for is a Parental Control software that limits the time each user uses the PC. The problem is that there's tons of "programs" out there that supposedly offer this service. My suggestion is to do some research and see what will work best for your situation. I did find this: TimesUpKids. It appears to provide what you are looking for, but again, do your research, because most of these products are paid services and you don't want to buy a crap piece of software.

James Mertz
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K9 Web Protection is a child's (or children's) web filtering and blocking software that is extremely configurable. It offers: web-page filtering, word block, site block, category block, and the Internet time feature. You can set what hours of the day you want the Internet on the computer to be blocked, and can customize each day of the week. All settings are accessed via the web browser, and are protected by a password, which you could give to someone else and not know yourself if you wanted to completely block access. It works cross-browsers; one configuration covers Internet Explorer, Firefox, and others all one the same machine.

As for managing it for each child, I would recommend setting up separate user accounts, and then configure K9 Web Protection in each account to how you want that child to access the internet...

A big point is that you can turn off different aspects of the program, like turn off the webpage filtering, and just use the time feature, or whatever...

Have used the program myself with great success, highly recommend! absolutely no crapware or trialware or anything, just plain free! all you have to do is give them your email for a product key, and it works...they don't send any spam, or bug you about anything...

K9 Web Protection: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

Did I mention that it is FREE?

studiohack
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You might want to try a program called TimeBoss. It allows you to set not only blocks, but brakes and flexible limits, and it’s really helpful in managing one’s time.

soandos
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Leonora
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Try these two (both are free):

Children Care

K9

Mike
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Windows 7 has these features built-in. Try looking in Control Panel > User Accounts & Family Safety > Parental Controls.

From Windows Help & Support:

You can use Parental Controls to help manage how your children use the computer. For example, you can set limits on the hours that your children can use the computer, the types of games they can play, and the programs they can run.

Cypher
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Your best bet would be to set up a scheduled task that starts upon login. Here are the steps I would use:

  1. Create Basic Task (Name = whatever you want)
  2. Trigger: When I log on
  3. Action: Start a program
  4. Program/script: shutdown.exe, Arguments: /l /f
  5. Click "Open the Properties dialog..." before you click "Finish"
  6. Click "Change User or Group"
  7. Type "Users" or type or search for the name of the user you want to apply this to.
  8. Click "Check Names" to make you didn't mistype it.
  9. Click "OK"
  10. Go to the "Triggers" tab and edit the trigger
  11. Change it to "Any user" or click "Change User..." and select the user you want it to apply to.
  12. On the bottom part, Click the "Delay the task for" box and using the examples they give you, put in how long you want your user's session to be. For example, if you wanted "2 hours" type "2 hours"
  13. Click "OK" twice to complete the task.

You can repeat this process for individual users if you want to give different users different time limits. Or, you can use the "Users" and "Any User" options to have it to apply to everyone, indiscriminately.

The more familiar you are with Windows local user management, the more you can tweak this system.

You have have noticed a button to hide the task. Don't bother. In the view menu, you can choose whether to see hidden tasks or not.

The only way to defeat this is to know how to run Task Scheduler and delete or disable the task before it runs. There is no process or application running in the background that can be seen or killed.

Slogmeister Extraordinaire
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You can use the shutdown command, implement it as a script to be executed at logon, by admin.

The script content for a 2 h session is as follows.

%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 7200 -f

You may try just logging out.

This solution is not bullet proof but simple and effective.

daxlerod
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franks
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See Microsoft Family Safety at http://account.microsoft.com/family

at https://account.microsoft.com/family/faq it writes:

Screen Time changes Set multiple screen time limits per day for your kids' devices. You can also view the allowed time in a calendar. When your child runs out of screen time on a device, enter your password and give them more screen time on the same device. This works even when you don't have internet access.

btw, it also writes

One Microsoft family for Windows PC , Windows Phone and Xbox but this is not accurate, at least for Xbox One. You can't (yet) set a screentime limit via Microsoft family and have it apply for Xbox too, you can only for Windows and Windows Phone

George Birbilis
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