Ten years ago, the Internet was a small extension of the desktop that was available to a select few. With today’s pervasive Internet, the risk are higher, we have seen cases of teenagers and much younger being solicited in chartrooms, over instant messaging and most recently with the advent of popular social networks young children being lured away from home to take part in wrongful activities. Of course, Parents have a greater role to play, and Parental Control’s in Windows Vista and 7 is one of the tools there to help them regulate and control their child’s experiences on the PC and Internet.

What can you do with Parental Controls?

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.

When Parental Controls blocks access to a game or program, notification is displayed that the program has been blocked. Your child can click a link in the notification to request permission for access to that game or program. You can allow access by entering your account information. Lets take a look at setting up Parental Controls in Windows 7.

Click Start, type: Parental

Hit Enter on your Keyboard

As you can see, the Parental Controls Explorer features a clean design with well explained options. Our intention is to setup Parental Controls on one of the accounts on this computer. You will notice that you can apply Parental Controls only to accounts that are Standard User or Guest. The reason for this is quite logical, of course considering that the Parent Controls are intended for could log in to your account is easy bypass these settings. Also, ensure that your account has a strong password on it. I created a Test Account just for the purposes of this article. Lets click on that to begin.

Here you will see the list of settings available for managing this account with Parental Controls, right now, it is turned off. Select the On, enforce current settings radio box and immediately you can start adjusting settings for Time limits, Games, Allowed/blocked programs. If you have the free Windows Live Family Safety add on installed, you can further control your child's experiences on the web, we'll take a look at that a little later in this article.

Setting Time Limits

Save your work kids, its time for bed ;)

By default, Game Ratings, Time and Program limits are off. As an uncle, I have witnessed the problems associated with managing a child's time on the PC. My little nephew is always on on the computer playing games at his favorite website's, a bit too much if you ask me. Time limits allow you to set a mandatory schedule for when your child can use the computer. So, instead of coming home from school and going straight to the computer, you can have set schedules by hours or days when they can log on using a simple grid based layout. Its especially useful for school nights when you want your kids to go to bed early or focus on their studies. :)

Authorizing what types of games your children can play.

Games

As I noted earlier, games are a favorite past time for my nephew. Controlling which games are allowed is a feature of Parental Controls. Options include by age, content, a combination or all games. Blocking and rating games suitable for children are based on the Entertainment Software and Rating Board, which categorizes those that are already installed on your computer. If you select a game in the Windows 7 Games Explorer, you will notice in the Task Pane a tag describing its appropriate audience, which can range from Early Childhood to Adults only. Windows 7 is very thorough about gaming on all levels, you can even choose to block all types of content with certain subject matters, whether its profanity, blood, alcohol, crude humor and other mature subject matters.

Applications

Parental Controls goes beyond games, you can even have certain applications blocked from being used. You might say, I don't have any unsafe applications to begin with! Not really, I am not talking about Microsoft Word here, but programs such as Instant Messaging and even web browsers can be unsafe depending on how they are used. They could be used for communication with strangers or activities you would rather not have your child involved in such as social networks or chartrooms. Hey, if you want your child to go easy on the number crunching in Excel, you can do that too :) When you click the Programs link, you are asked if you would like the account to use all your programs or only programs you allow. If you want to set restrictions, select only use the programs I allow', then click ok.

User notified when an application is blocked from use.

A wizard will then scan your PC for all the applications you have installed on the system. Prepare to be a bit overwhelmed, depending on how many applications you have installed, you might see a lot of files listed. Personally, I would have liked if the wizard only scanned what's available in the All Programs group instead of scanning the entire system, leaving the user administering the Parental Controls to browse for unique files or programs they don't want access to by browsing and adding to the program list. I gotta admit though, its a very thorough list.

Windows Live Family Safety

I personally thought that Windows Vista's web filtering capabilities in Parental Controls were not robust enough. There was still the slip of adult content in Internet Explorer or Firefox in addition to reports not reporting the activities at times. Since the release of Windows Live Family Safety, a lot these problems have been resolved. Parents can appreciate a more thorough and informative experience that spans the desktop and provides tight integration with Firefox. Windows users should know that the Activity Reporting interface from Windows Vista is not available and lacks functionality such as integration with the Notification Area, Family Safety instead uses the web interface for this which requires that you sign in to get the latest reports.

Windows Live Family Safety is installed as a free add on when you install the free Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com). With Live Family Safety Filter, you can choose who they communicate with online and generate reports of their online activities, other features include:

• Categorize and block unwanted web content for yourself and your family.
• Create your own list of allowed or blocked sites.
• Monitor Family Safety users' Internet activity.

The Windows Live folks recently updated Family Safety featuring tighter integration with Windows user accounts for storing settings. There is no need to have a Windows Live ID for each child who needs their own settings. Windows Live Family Safety scans the Parental Control settings on Windows Vista and Windows 7 providing Parental Controls activity reports from any computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7. These reports include time spent on the computer, browsing history, games and applications run. This monitoring is transparent to the end user, as a notification is displayed once on Windows account login when monitoring is enabled.

Conclusion

Windows 7 and Windows Live creates a cohesive experience for Parents to help manage and provide a safe experience for their Child on the PC and the Internet. Of course, you as a parent must play a significant role to help implement these tools. A tip I would offer parents is to make sure you are the Administrator of the computer. Kids these days are extremely computer savvy, so its best you restrict your child's account to a limited user so your child does not change settings in the User Accounts Control Panel or turn the tables on you. :)

 Resources

 Windows Live Essentials

• [ Kill the Process, Use Killbox if your Access Denied ]

[In Windows Vista Run As Administrator, After Execution System Will Restart]

• %Windows\System32\dllcache\cdaudio.sys
• %Windows\System32\olhrwef.exe
• %Windows\System32\nmdfgds0.dll
• %Windows\System32\nmdfgds1.dll
• %Root of Windows installed drive\060ptrm.com
  [ No Exact Information about Files, search above related files in Program files Folder ]
  If you have any of these files in running process from task manger, end the process before removal.
  Note: if task manager is disabled, Download the following file, Click to Download - Enable Registry.reg [ Right Click - Save Target As/Linked Content As ]
  Open it with Regedit.exe [%system32\regedit.exe], then it Confirms Add to registry Yes or No, Confirm Yes, then click Ok.

Since Windows Home Server is a new addition to The Windows Blog, we thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a refresh on what exactly Windows Home Server is and what it can do for you.

Windows Home Server was designed for households and home-based offices that have more than one personal computer. It was created to help you simplify your digital life, and provide an easy way to access your media and files from any computer, inside or outside your home. The leading benefits of Windows Home Server will help you “Share, Protect, Organize, and Grow” all of your digital content on up to 10 PCs through three basic services. These include automatic PC back-up, restoration ; document and file sharing ; and remote access capabilities. Windows Home Server software will typically be sold with new server hardware from companies like Acer and HP.

The great news about this product is that you don’t have to be computer savvy to set it up or to use it. To get your home server up and running, it only takes three easy steps: plug in the power, connect an Ethernet cord, and install the Windows Home Server connector software.

Starting to sound pretty cool? Let’s take a closer look at each of these features.

Organize:

Let’s pretend that you just got back from an amazing vacation and uploaded all of your new photos to one of your home PCs. Now, your family is over and wanting to see them, but you forgot which computer and folder you put them on. Instead of spending the time it takes to search through multiple locations, you could be using Windows Home Server and enjoying your picture slideshow. Windows Home Server provides an effortless way to organize and manage all of your media including the vacation pictures. After installation, a pre-defined set of shared folders will be shown: Photos, Music, and Videos. Windows Home Server will organize your family’s files and media, by storing them in one of the shared locations. Since all of these files will be stored in a central place, they can easily be found and accessed from any computer on your home or office network. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter which computer you put your pictures on since you can see them on any computer that is connected to your Home Server. Furthermore, if you enable user access, everyone on your network will have the ability to add and view media that is located in the Shared Folders.

*Organize devices

Protect:

I think we have all experienced the feeling of losing important files or pictures we love, and it is absolutely devastating. Everyone is aware that you should regularly back-up your computer in order to prevent loss of these valuable things. However, how often do you really find yourself doing it? With Windows Home Server, you will no longer need to run around your house with USB hard drives doing manual backups. Instead, Windows Home Server enables you to rest easy knowing that all of your irreplaceable videos and pictures are safe with Windows Home Server’s daily, automatic image based back-up and restoration feature.

The ability to restore individual files or even your entire computer is what makes backing up significant. Restoration can include accidentally deleted files (documents, music, pictures, videos), or complete computers. If your vacation pictures or crucial financial information accidentally get deleted, they will not be lost forever since you can restore to a previous point in time. You can also increase protection of certain files with Windows Home Server with since you have the ability to duplicate your shared folders. When you have more than one hard drive in your Home Server, your memories and files can then be stored and copied across multiple hard drives.

Share:

Windows Home Server helps families and small offices centralize and connect their digital experiences. It provides an easy and reliable way to store, access, and share whatever is most important through remote access. Like other features of Windows Home Server, remote access is fast and simple to use!

When using remote access, Windows Home Server lets you stay connected with friends and family. Once installed, your Home Server will automatically assign you an uncomplicated web address such as “yourname.homeserver.net”. You will then be able to share pictures, music, and documents through the password protected web address. From this site, you can upload media to the Shared Folders on your Home Server when using PCs that are not on your home network. This will give your friends and family the ability to log in through the personalized web address and download any pictures or files that you may have there. It is also simple to locate, view files, and even run applications from your home PC just as if you were sitting in front of that computer.

Grow:

With Windows Home Server, storage space grows as your digital life grows. The ability to increase the number of drives in your Home Server is one of the biggest innovations for Windows Home Server. You can very easily add internal or external hard drives of any size so that you will have an unlimited amount of storage for your collection of files, photos, and videos. Once you have two or more drives plugged in, the server will see this additional storage as one large drive instead of many individual drives. This will result in a much easier process when locating and storing files since you will only be searching through one virtual drive.

*Acer Aspire easyStore H-340

Your Home Server is also fully expandable meaning you have the option to download extra features to help customize your Home Server. The development community has created “add-ins” for Windows Home Server that extends its capabilities in fun, exciting, and useful ways. There are currently over 100 add-ins available for download including “Whiist” for photo sharing, and “Lights Out” for power conservation.

For more detailed information about Windows Home Server, check out the product guide at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/support.mspx.

To purchase and learn more about Windows Home Server, please visit www.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver.

- Nicole

The Windows Home Server team is pleased to announce our move to a new home on The Windows Blog.  With our product growing up we wanted to be closer to family and friends.  As you can see, we now share the street with the Windows 7 Blog,  the Windows Mobile Blog and other extended Windows family members.

During the transition, archived Windows Home Server team posts will still be accessible at http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver. 

Please add our new blog address to your RSS feed.  http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowshomeserver/rss.aspx 

- Steven

Last month Microsoft discontinued the Public beta of Windows 7 Ultimate Release Candidate. A lot of person's still managed to miss out on the opportunity to download and test the software. Here is a second opportunity to check out Microsoft's latest version of Windows for 90 days.

If you do not have access to licenses through one of the above means, this release will provide a means to have the final released code for evaluation and testing. This evaluation release is specifically intended for IT professionals responsible for desktop administration; consumers will be able to purchase Windows 7 on October 22, 2009

A few things to be aware of before you download the Evaluation code.

• A limited number of licenses are available, so the download will only be available while supplies last.
• Following the 90 day evaluation period, IT Pros who wish to continue to use Windows 7 Enterprise will be required to purchase and perform a clean installation of Windows 7, including drivers and applications.
• Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 90-Day Trial is the final Released-to-Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. This is the same software that is available to Volume Licensing (VL) through Software Assurance (SA) and is feature-complete.
• Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese in both 32 and 64 bit versions.
• Activation of Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is required within 10 days after installation, or the product will shut down every hour. Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial is valid for 90 days after installation. After expiration, your computer will shut down every hour.

Learn more here

Windows 7 Enterprise does not contain all the features of Windows 7 Ultimate, but it contains a majority of features you will find in that SKU. Again, if you didn't get to download the Windows 7 RC last month, here is a great chance to take Windows 7 for a spin.

Resources

Click here to get the Windows 7 Enterprise evaluation download.
Update: Windows 7 Beta and Release Candidate

Last month we made Windows 7 available to customers with Software Assurance and to MSDN and TechNet Subscribers. Today I am happy to announce two more ways for businesses to get Windows 7 for their deployment and evaluation.

Volume License Availability, at a Discount
Starting today, businesses can order upgrades to Windows 7 from a Microsoft Volume License Reseller. This option is for businesses that don’t already have Windows Software Assurance and want to upgrade their existing business PCs to Windows 7. There are two editions of Windows 7 available through Volume Licensing:

• Windows 7 Professional: Designed for small and midsize organizations, Windows 7 Professional provides a PC experience you can count on, helps you get more done, and helps safeguard your work. Today, we are also starting a 15% discount on Windows 7 Professional upgrade licenses that will run until February 28, 2010. Contact your Microsoft reseller to take advantage of this offer and confirm availability in your area (discount is offered on Microsoft pricing to its channel partners; pricing offered by partners may vary).
• Windows 7 Enterprise: If you have an active Software Assurance agreement or purchase one with your Windows 7 Professional upgrade licenses or new PCs with Windows 7 Professional, you can deploy Windows 7 Enterprise. Designed for enterprises and businesses that want to optimize their desktop IT infrastructure, Windows 7 Enterprise will help make users productive anywhere, enhance security and control, and streamline PC management.

Windows 7 will run on most PCs businesses have today. More information on tools to help with your upgrade to Windows 7 is available at www.windows.com/business/upgrade. Additionally, we recommend that customers with Software Assurance purchase the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) to aid in their enterprise OS management. The MDOP subscription currently includes six technologies that help reduce the TCO of a Windows 7 desktop. MDOP simplifies application deployment and lifecycle management and provides a solution for resolving application incompatibility through virtualization. MDOP also increases IT responsiveness and user uptime through robust diagnostics and monitoring capabilities, and increases IT control by providing asset tracking and group policy change management.

Keep in mind that Windows Volume Licensing upgrades are only available for PCs that already have a qualifying Operating System, such as Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional. For a list of qualified versions of Windows 7 operating system licenses, download the Windows 7 and Optimized Desktop Volume Licensing Guide available on http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/how-to-buy.aspx.

Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial
If you are an IT Pro who does not have a Software Assurance Volume Licensing agreement and are not an MSDN/TechNet subscriber, you can download the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-Day Trial. This is something many of you have asked for as a means to continue evaluating Windows 7 in your environment prior to deployment, and I am pleased to announce that you can download it starting today from the from the Springboard Series site on TechNet. Read all the details about this trial edition in Stephen Rose’s post.

Businesses now have access to multiple resources they can use to plan their deployment or begin upgrading their PCs to Windows 7. Beginning October 22, 2009 all customers will be able to purchase new PCs with Windows 7.