OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Controlling Web Usage

In the Web pane of the Parental Controls system preference, you have the following options:

• Allow Unrestricted Access to Websites: By selecting this option, you are letting the user access any site on the web—that is, imposing no restrictions.

• Try to Limit Access to Adult Websites Automatically: By selecting this option, you can set OS X to automatically filter websites on which it detects inappropriate content. (Note that there's no guarantee that it will block all such sites, and it may also mistakenly block legitimate sites.) If you select this option and click Customize, you can add sites that you will always allow access to and those you will not allow access to, regardless of OS X's own “judgment”).

• Allow Access to Only These Websites: By selecting this option, you can restrict the account to specific websites that you specify. Click the + icon button and then type the URL for the approved site. (To make it easier to enter the URLs, I suggest you open a bookmark list in your browser or in TextEdit and copy and paste each URL in turn into the list). OS X provides a starter list of sites that Apple suggests are suitable for children. You can remove any you don't approve of by selecting them one at a time and clicking the – icon button.

Caution

The Web pane's web filtering works only with Apple's Safari browser, so you should disallow access to other browsers in the Apps pane of the Parental Controls system preference.