

There were too many financial restrictions. Parents had to set up an account for each child on each PC or device manually. Microsoft didn’t offer any shared family construct, such as Xbox family or Windows family programs, that spread the value of subscriptions and other offers out to multiple family members. There wasn’t any way to share services across a family. And most child accounts were configured with the wrong age for the child, though it’s unclear why. They would configure local accounts for their kids because they didn’t want them using email, for example. Those who were using parental controls often worked around the system. Not literally no one, of course, but very few people.
#Restrict standard accounts windos 10 how to#
Before getting to the changes-I am documenting how to actually use Microsoft Family in Windows 10 Field Guide-let’s examine why Microsoft changed parental controls. And it’s changed a lot, both in Windows 10 and online. With Windows 10, this overall solution has been rebranded as Microsoft Family. Basic features included activity reporting, web filtering, time limits, app restrictions, Windows Store app and game restrictions, and approval requests for web sites, apps and games. In the Windows 8 generation, this functionality was called Family Safety and while you could create child accounts in Windows, and choose between local and Microsoft accounts, for the first time you managed them in the cloud.

Suffice to say that there are in-OS elements that have shipped as part of various Windows (and Windows phone) versions, as well as online services pieces. Here’s what’s happening.Ī full retelling of the various Microsoft parental controls solutions over the past decade would require more time or energy than I have. The good news? There are valid reasons for the changes. This time around, there are some controversial changes, including a requirement that children use a Microsoft account instead of a local account. Windows 10 features yet another revamp to Microsoft’s parental controls functionality.
