Are you using a Windows 8 (or 8.1) computer yet? If you are, or you plan on getting one soon, you will be happy to know that Windows 8 has a great set of parental controls, known as "Family Safety." In Family Safety, you can monitor your kids activity, create time limits for computer use and set restrictions on games, apps and websites that your kids are allowed to use.

To set up Family Safety you must first set up a child account.

You can set up one account for all your children or a different one for each child if you would like them to have different settings or monitor them separately. The child accounts can only be created by a parent with an account on the Windows 8 computer. To create the account(s):

• Go to Settings by swiping the right side of your screen to the left.
• Click or tap Settings and then click or tap Change PC Settings.
• Click or tap Accounts, then Other Accounts, and then Add An Account.
• If your child already has an email address, or is old enough for one, then use it, or create one and use it, when setting up the account. If not, you can create the account without email. Either way just follow the directions from here.
• Once the account is set up, monitoring will begin immediately.

Activity Reports

Once you have created a child account, even if you set no limits or restrictions. you will receive activity reports, by email, on a regular basis. You can open up the reports online or view them on the Family Safety Website.

These activity reports might help you make decisions on restrictions and time limits because you will be seeing exactly where your kids are spending time on the computer, and the web, and for how long. 

Set Limits and Restrictions 

There are variety of limits and restrictions to choose from. You will find all the options and set them in the Family Safety Website.

Time Limits - You have two choices:

1. Allowance - You set the amount of hours per day that your child can use the computer.
2. Curfew - You set specific hours per day when the computer can not be used.

Set Restrictions on Games and Apps

If you don't have Window 8 yet, you might be wondering about the apps. Aren't apps only for mobile devices? Windows 8 has two worlds, the desktop which is what Windows has always been, and the start page, which is what the Microsoft Windows tablets look like. All of those tiles are apps.

There a few ways to set restrictions for games and apps:

1. The easiest way to restrict which games you will allow your kids to play, is to leave it up to the ratings. To do that, when you click into game restrictions you will see the ESRB game ratings. Choose the highest rating you will allow, and they won't be able to play any games with a higher rating.
2. If there are specific apps or games you want to restrict, click game restrictions and then game list (make sure you have installed games on). Choose which games are okay for your child to play. Then do the same for app restrictions.

Filter the websites that your kids can visit:

The Web Filtering tool is very powerful. There are two ways to use it:

1. The "Allow or Block" tool lets you eitherallow your child to see everything on the Internet except any URLs you enter in the list orblock everything on the Internet except the URLs you enter in the list. 
2. Instead, you can click restriction level and choose the level that best suits your child.
3. There is an option to block your child from downloading anything from the web which is probably a good idea for most families.

Microsoft also has a  Family Safety Center with great information for families on a variety of topics, in addition to Windows 8.