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The best Parenting Software for Windows makes it easy to protect your family online and keep your kids safe from inappropriate content. The Internet would be a safe place for everyone in a perfect world. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and as a busy adult, you may not always have time to watch your kids while they’re online.
This is where the best free parental control software can help. This tool can help protect your kids by letting you either block access to sites that may have content that worries you or only let them access sites that you think are safe.
The best Parenting Software for Windows will watch over your kids when you can’t. It doesn’t matter if they’re doing research for a school project, staying in touch with friends. Over the last few years, the number of parental control apps has grown rapidly, which is good news. Parents can now choose from a wide range of software. But which one is right? Read on to learn about some of the software for Windows that can help parents keep an eye on their kids.
Best Parenting Software For Windows
Qustodio
When we looked at Qustodio for Windows, the fact that we could set up different user profiles for each child on the same computer was the first thing that stood out. This was important because my 16-year-old didn’t want to use the same web filter as my 7-year-old, and it would be hard to set time limits if all the kids were together.
When it comes to time limits, we were very happy with how the screen time controls could be changed. We could set a daily time limit and make a schedule that blocked the computer at certain times. The only thing we didn’t like about the schedule was that the grid was broken up into hour-long sections and couldn’t be changed.
Bark
Bark is a bit different from the other programmes we’ve tried to keep my kids safe. Its main purpose is to keep an eye on social media. It works with more than 30 of the most popular social networks and can keep an eye on each account’s activities, chats, images, and posts. This means that it doesn’t really matter if the kids are talking on the computer, phone, or tablet.
Bark will be able to figure out what’s going on thanks to smart AI that can recognise keywords, emojis, and slang. We used the web filter to stop my kids from going to certain websites and groups of websites that we didn’t want them to see. Some of these sites wrote about and showed pictures of violence, drugs, and sex.
Norton Family
Norton Family tells parents that it’s better to talk to their kids about online safety than to just watch what they do online. Norton Family can keep an eye on an unlimited number of devices, and a parent option in the mobile app or on the web lets you keep track of everything your kids do.
We love how cheap the programme is, how easy it is to set up, and how useful the geofencing tools are. Parents who talk to their kids often and well. We like how Norton Family takes a different approach to parental control. The House Rules and Request Access features encourage cooperation and open communication between parents and children.
Mobicip
Mobicip has a great selection of parental control features and three subscription plans that are very affordable. Parents can keep track of where their kids are, see what videos they’re watching on YouTube, and control how much time they spend in front of a screen.
Want to know who your child is talking to on certain social media apps? This is possible because Mobicip is one of the best parental control services we’ve looked at that still lets you keep an eye on social media.
OpenDNS
You might also want to think about OpenDNS. The company has four plans, but Family Shield and Home are the only free ones. Family Shield is already set up to block adult content, so you have to turn it on and forget about it. The Home package can be set up in more ways, which makes it harder for new users to set up.
Even though the two free services can only block sites and nothing else, they will still block access to anything related to proxies, anonymizers, sexuality, or pornography. Using a DNS-based app is great because it works at the network level—just add the DNS address to your router’s control panel.
Locategy
With its geofencing, app blocking, activity reports, and easy setup, Locategy makes parenting a little easier. Locategy is a good way to keep track of what your kids are doing. It doesn’t have as many features as Norton Family, which is our best Choice, but it’s still a good choice. Parents who want parental control tools that they don’t have to use as much. Locategy is a good choice if you want to keep track of where your child is or limit how much time they spend in front of a screen.
Net Nanny
Net Nanny is a complete parental control tool that lets you watch your family’s online activities and keep your kids safe from inappropriate or harmful content. The software gives you detailed reports and logs of what your kids do online and real-time alerts about harmful or inappropriate content.
You can also block sites or apps you don’t want them to use and limit the time they can spend on the screen. Net Nanny also has a full dashboard for parents, a location tracker, and an option to set a timeout from afar. But it costs more than other parental control software, is hard to set up, and doesn’t let you monitor social media.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
Kaspersky Safe Kids has both a free and a paid version, just like Qustodio. You only need to make an account on Kaspersky’s homepage to use the free version. The app can then be downloaded to Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices and turned on.
Screen limits, time limits for social networks and games, and activity monitoring are parts of the service. For $15, the premium version adds tools for making reports, tracking your location, and keeping track of what you do on Facebook.
KidLogger
KidLogger is a great piece of free parental control software for Windows 10 that keeps track of what your child does instead of blocking sites. This is great if you prefer to be sneaky instead of proactive. KidLogger keeps track of what your child types, the websites they visit, any screenshots they take, and the programmes they use.
You also get a detailed log of your activities, including a list of the people you called and when. What the software tracks is very intrusive. Also, it doesn’t come with its own password protection, which may not be good if your child is good with technology. If you have teenagers, you may want to pay close attention to the fact that the software works with both Discord and Instagram. You can download KidLogger for Windows from here.
Spyrix Free Keylogger
Keyloggers have a bad name online because thieves often use them to steal passwords and bank account information, but they can also be used for good, and Spyrix Free Keylogger lets you see what your kids have been doing. For example, it will record keystrokes, take screenshots of the desktop without the user knowing, record programme activity, and other similar things.
Even though it’s called “parental control software,” the free version of Spyrix is really just a monitoring programme. It won’t stop your kids from doing bad things, but it will show you what they’ve been up to. Premium subscriptions aren’t very expensive, and they also let you block content.
Final Words
There are so many different best Parenting Software for Windows to choose from, and each one does something a little bit different, that it can be hard to find the right one. We chose these seven to help you narrow down your choices and find the best one for your needs.
These parental control apps for Windows will help you keep your child safe online, whether you just bought them a laptop or they have free reign of the family computer and you want to start monitoring it.