Chapter 26: Using Parental Controls
In This Chapter
Understanding parental controls
Controlling access to applications, the web, and communications
Limiting when people can use the Mac
Accessing usage history
Managing overall account settings
Kids, teenagers, and some adults tend to do dangerous or stupid things when using a computer. They might snoop in your personal or financial files. They might accidentally delete your work files. They might install applications—perhaps unwittingly from a website that promises games or other innocent-seeming downloads—that contain viruses, spyware, or other malware (see Chapter 24). They might go to websites that contain pornography, extreme violence, or other inappropriate material. Or they stay up all night playing games and surfing the web instead of sleeping or doing their homework. Or they spend their weekends online instead of visiting friends or participating in outdoor activities.
If you log in as an administrator, you can restrict the ability to do these unwanted things. You do so by using OS X's parental controls.
Note
The Parental Controls system preference is locked automatically; click the Lock icon button (the gold padlock icon) and, if requested, enter your password to unlock it.
The first step is to set these users' accounts as Managed with Parental Controls in the Users & Groups system preference, as explained in Chapter 25. When you create a new account you want to manage by using parental controls, choose Managed with Parental ...
