What may be the world's toughest job - good parenting - may have become just a tiny bit easier as of last week.
It's not that anyone discovered a simple way to enforce bedtimes or to get kids to like broccoli. But parents and other caregivers did gain access to powerful new tools that can help them keep children safe online.
Online safety is a real worry for families these days. The Internet opens a wide world of learning opportunities for young people, but it also can open the door to inappropriate words and images - and to contact with unsavory individuals. Studies of the online habits of children have found that many take troubling risks, such as divulging personal information to strangers. Yet, short of hovering nearby all the time, it can be difficult to supervise and limit children?s Internet use very effectively.
That?s changing with last week?s release of Windows Vista, the next-generation operating system for personal computers. Along with many other innovative improvements that make it easier to find and use information and make for a more secure and enjoyable user experience overall, Windows Vista provides much easier and more comprehensive parental controls.
The controls are designed to let parents manage exactly what children can do on the computer ? which games they can play, which programs they can use, and which Web sites they can visit. Different, age-appropriate limits can be set for each child in the family. And all settings are managed from a single, central control panel.
Parents also can decide when children are allowed to use the computer and for how long, simply by blocking out specific times and days on the control panel?s weekly grid. If time runs out before a child logs off the computer, Windows Vista suspends the session so that others can use the computer, but the session stays active in the background and resumes the next time the child logs on. No work is lost.
Windows Vista even provides easy-to-read activity reports that show how children have been using the computer, so that parents can know what kids are seeing, hearing and doing. This accurate record can provide a basis for parents and children to talk about what content and activities are appropriate, and why.
Such discussions remain vitally important, because family communication is still the best way to teach children how to stay safe, online or otherwise, on their own. Recognizing that the challenge has many dimensions, Microsoft is working to help keep kids safe not only through technological innovations such as Windows Vista, but also by working with others for Internet safety education, industry standards, beneficial legislation and law enforcement.
We?re glad to be of some small help with what is still the world?s toughest job.