OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Managing Overall Account Settings

You have several options for managing parental control settings by using the accounts list at the left of the Parental Controls system preference.

If you are setting similar restrictions for multiple user accounts, select the first user account for which you have completed the settings, then click the gear-shaped icon pop-up menu and choose Copy Settings for "username". Then select the user account you want to copy these settings to, click the Action icon pop-up menu (the gear icon), and choose Paste Settings to "username".

You can set OS X to let you manage parental controls remotely from another Mac that has access to this one over the network. To do so, select the Manage Parental Controls from Another Computer option. This option lets a parent adjust parental controls or monitor activity from work while the child is home, for example, or check on the computer in a child's bedroom from her Mac in the family room. Those Macs appear in the list of accounts in your Parental Controls system preference.

This option is available in three locations:

• When you first open the Parental Controls system preference, before any user account is selected, the Manage Parental Controls from Another Computer option displays in the main pane. Select it. (You can force this view to reappear by clicking the Lock icon to lock the Parental Controls system preference and then clicking it again to unlock it.)

• Select a Managed with Parental Controls user account, click ...