Family safety not working in Windows 8

27. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,

There is only 1 thing worse than Windows 8 and that is Family Safety in Windows 8.  I have set this up so many times and it works for a day or so and the next thing I know my son is up half the night playing on his new laptop because the time limits or curfew did not work.  I have read all sorts of forums and tried numerous things but still cannot get it to stick.  Here is a list from memory what I have tried already -

  • Deleted the "corrupted" files in the Family Safety folder
  • Added a MS account for me, the parent to monitor
  • Turned FS off and then back on
  • Accessed from website on other computer (this was great when it did work.  My son would call me at work and ask for a little more time and I could grant it without giving up my password.)
  • I have read that I can "refresh" the FS program manually by clicking on some icon in the upper right corner but have yet to find that button.

Can someone provide a step by step process to make this work properly.  Although I could not access remotely and only had curfew hours available on Win 7, at least it worked.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cannot access Family Safety Website

26. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,
I cannot access Family Safety Website even though family safety is on.  I receive the email report but when I click See More I am directed to this linkhttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/set-up-family-safety#set-up-family-safety=windows-8.  I am signed into my Microsoft Account.  

Using family safety with blocked websites but child is able to access the blocked ones

26. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,
Using Family Safety and have some blocked websites but child is able to access them anyway.  Have parental controls set up also - are the two in conflict?  And saying not able to save any changes I make.  Windows 7.  Also, it is like Family Safety is not working - it does not allow my child to request blocked sites.

Hotmail account not ready due to incomplete Family Safety setttings

23. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags:
Our family has 3 computers running Windows 8. We all have Hotmail accounts. But my daughter can no longer use hers on any of the computers because she gets the dreaded: "Your account is not ready It looks like your parent hasn't finished setting up the Family Safety settings for your account. Click "Go to Family Safety settings" to finish the process and get into your account." message. 

When she clicks on the "Go to Family Safety settings" button she just gets a white blank page. We have disabled then removed Family Safety from all computers and remove all users including  the Primary Parent from Family Safety yet the problem remains.  

My daughter's Hotmail address is *** Email address is removed for privacy ***. Please fix as she needs her email for school.

Family Report not accurate

22. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: , ,
I have used family safety filter for quite awhile and it does what it says it will do however I find that the web reporting is not accurate.
As an example I am consistently getting a weekly report of my childrens activities and it shows Facebook as being the #2 most used website each week despite neither of them having an account and it being blocked by Family Safety. To test I created a new account on the family PC and only had my children use the new one. Despite that the report shows their other accounts as having traffic to Facebook and other sites when they have not. There is something wrong with the reporting functionality. I can provide a report for review. I do not want to accuse my kids of something based on inaccurate information.

Let me know and thanks!


Time Allowance: How is it measured? Time loged in? Or time actually in use?

20. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,

I am looking at setting up the Time Allowance feature within Family Safety in Windows 8 and just wondering how the hours allotted are measured.  Is it total time that the user is logged in, or time that they are actually using the PC?  For example, my kids never really log out.  They just walk away and leave themselves logged in and eventually, the screensaver will lock the screen and require their password before they can resume.  So is that time that the screen is locked, while they are signed in, counted?  Sorry if this is a dumb question....

 

Temporarily unblock website?

18. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,

In Windows Family Safety for Windows 7, I find that if I use my parental password to unblock a website, it moves that site from the "blocked list" to the "allow list." If I want to "reblock" the site, I have to log in to Family Safety, remove the site from the allow list, add it back to the block list. Very unwieldy. Any way to have the site temporarily unblock, say until the next logoff/login, or for a fixed time (ideally a period specified by the password enterer)? This functionality is very common with the various third-party parental control programs I have seen.


Thanks.

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