For parents looking to cultivate a safe computing experience for their children while attempting to avoid the association of being overbearing, the Windows team has just offered a brand new set of tools to aid in that effort.
Announced today, August 19, 2016, are a set of Microsoft Family features that are rolling out to users of Windows 10 Anniversary Update that help offer a more refined set of browser permissions, usage notifications, time limits and more. For anyone who manages multiple Microsoft Accounts (MSA) across various devices, the new update to Microsoft Family may be reason enough to go through the process of getting the Windows Anniversary Update.
On Microsoft’s Family Account change log page the Windows team covers the new granular controls being updated and added to the account management tool that include:
One Microsoft family
- Go to account.microsoft.com/family to manage your family in one place. You can see all your family accounts for Windows and Xbox, see the settings for each child in your family, and make changes to their settings.
Multiple time limits per day
- Set multiple time limits per day for your child’s Windows PCs. When your child runs out of time on a Windows PC, you can also give more time on that device even when it’s not connected to the internet.
Keeping your kids safe while browsing the web
- Choose which websites your kids are allowed to visit. As long as they’re using Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, they’ll be blocked from any other websites you haven’t allowed. Since other commonly used browsers don’t have this feature, we will block them on your child’s devices. You can always choose to allow your child to use other browsers.
Microsoft Store is more family friendly
- When your child is browsing content in the store, they will only see content that is appropriate for their age. You can choose what content your child can download, receive notifications when they download content from the store, and easily add money to your child’s Microsoft account.
Instant notifications of your kid’s requests
- If your kid sends you a request, we’ll notify you immediately so you can act on it.
- Read more about Microsoft family features at account.microsoft.com/family/faq
Send us your feedback with the Feedback link at the bottom of that page, or with the Windows Feedback app on Windows 10. We’ll keep working on improving your experience.
Now, it seems, parents or account managers can be emboldened with the ability to curate not only the web browsing experience of users in a family account but also protect them from downloading potentially harmful content from the Windows Store as well as managing a user’s time on a PC to perhaps focus their attention.
Whatever the motive to manage multiple or a shared MSA account, the Windows team has made it that much easier to do so with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. For more information regarding MSA family accounts or today’s email going out to users, visit the Microsoft FAQ page on account management.
