Configuring Your Child’s First PC
Face it: It’s only a matter of time before your kids want their own computer, if they haven’t asked already. Particularly with the rising popularity of touchscreen interfaces, children and teens will be more attracted to PCs. According to a study by the Michael Cohen Group, touchscreen devices are now many children’s favorite plaything.
But parents are hesitant about providing their young ones with their own PCs, and for understandable reasons. The Internet can be a dark, scary place, and if not properly educated on safe browsing and downloading practices, it can be difficult for kids to maintain a virus-free, clean PC. Once they hit their teen years, however, it will be hard to keep saying no. Here’s how to outfit a PC to be kid- and teen-friendly.
- Browse through parental control software and find the right fit for your child. Windows 7 and 8 come with free downloads of their own child-protection software, Family Safety, which you can download from the Windows Store.
- Set up a user profile for the child, but keep the administrator account – and its password – to yourself. If your teen is set as the system administrator, as PC World pointed out, they have the power to disable all parental controls, or even uninstall crucial programs like the computer’s antivirus software.
- Protect your child’s PC from viruses and slowdown by installing iolo technologies’ System Mechanic Pro. This software is an all-in-one way to make sure your child’s computer is safe from malware and runs smoothly by automatically repairing slow program access, declines in RAM, slow boot times, bloatware, decreased web speed, registry errors, fragmented hard drives and more.
The rest of the road to a kid-ready computer is up to you. Set boundaries, determine time limits and mandate some “outdoor time.” Giving your teen his or her own computer doesn’t have to be a nightmare – do it right, and everyone in the family can browse the Web happily.
