Comments on: Free Software Apps to Limit Your Kids’ Online Time

By: Guy McDowell

Guy McDowell — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:33:37 +0000

I’ve often wondered why MS doesn’t have that in it’s home editions. Account scheduling like in the server editions would be great!

By: summoner2100

summoner2100 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:20:49 +0000

The mac can do it built into to Leopard and Snow Leopard, Create an account for the kid to use under system preferences, Go to parental controls and enable for that account. Set the time limits accordingly. It can also lock down other things as well, mail, ichat, content, only allow certain apps.

Have fun.

By: tom fullerton

tom fullerton — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:07:11 +0000

Thanks for the tip – would you know of a similar app for Mac?

By: Guy McDowell

Guy McDowell — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:11:39 +0000

As my Mom would say, “Someday they’ll thank me!”

By: Guy McDowell

Guy McDowell — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:10:03 +0000

Well, that’s kind of the point of the article. It isn’t to ban kids from the Internet, it’s to help govern their time spent on it. Pen pals, as we used to call them, are great. But they won’t be there when you need help moving a bed or just want to go for a walk. That’s why kids need to get outside and be with real and present people.

By: TukangRoti

TukangRoti — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:48:22 +0000

Thanks! I need this to control my kids’ use of our computer. Ooh.. my kids are going to hate you for this

By: Ibrahim

Ibrahim — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:40:04 +0000

Man, I will really need this app with my 2 kids — allowing them to share the computer without using it too much. And your observation about kids being excessively tied to indoor life is spot-on. Kids are a naturally active and physically-driven beings – they should normally have been playing, jumping and frolicking (not sitting on a chair playing video games and getting obese).

By: AlDeezy

AlDeezy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:51:14 +0000

No no no no no no NO. This is NOT the solution. If their homework is done, let them surf. Today’s age IS the internet. It IS electronics. Your children might be talking to other kids on the other side of the world! Jeez, do you have any idea how many life-long friends I’ve made from the internet? Just don’t let it too out of hand, but be more flexible with the computing. And remember to kick em outside every now and again.

By: Trinae Ross

Trinae Ross — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:27:50 +0000

I agree with ILFS, this is useful when helping to curb the amount of time kids spend online. Question, is there similar software that will lock a user from the PC for a predetermined amount of time? Playing video games when they should be doing homework is more my problem with the kids.

By: ILoveFreeSoftware

ILoveFreeSoftware — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:09:49 +0000

This is a really useful application. Now parents won’t have to worry about kids spending all the time online. This software would take care of it.