5 Best Parental Control Software for Windows 10

Wasn’t it more comfortable in the older days? Where, kids would be just kids, goofing around with their friends. Things have changed drastically. Parenting isn’t natural nowadays. Now every kid is thrilled with the “Internet,” and all of their social skills get strong there.

Even so, all kids are tech-savvy from the age of four!! And you can’t forbid them or ground them for using the internet, can you? It would only make the situation worse.

The best way is to give them a little assistant to help prevent any harmful events.

And how would you do that? It’s simple. There are many parental control software programs available online. All you need to do is choose the best one, and you’d be all set.

Don’t believe me? Let me tell you how this software would come in handy.

What can Parental Control Software do?

Help you Parent in the Digital Age

Modern aged kids just don’t know anything outside the digital world. They just want to stay connected to people 24/7. In a family, they are the ones probably spending an enormous amount of time in front of a computer.

As, a parent, you might face problems regarding, illegal, explicit and disturbing websites, that would put a harmful impact on your kids.

Again, along with the increasing number of devices kids using these days, you can’t probably think to keep up with that. And that’s where the software come in handy. They would give you the ability to block, limit or restrict the time of use with ease.

Help you Monitor your Child’s Devices

If you are thinking about a utility that would only watch over the family PC then think again. There are many smart devices available now that connects to the internet without a fuss. So, if your kids want to do anything illegal they can do that from other devices.

So, before choosing a parental control software, you need to make sure that it supports multiple devices. This way you can monitor all the activities of your child even though he/she may use several devices.

All though, this kind of services come with a price. And the cost varies with the number of devices supported. It’s an excellent way to monitor what’s going on in your child’s life.

Web Filters

The excellent parental control software can block any website as you determine. Such as hate, violence, and porn. This type of filtering is a huge plus point of these software tools.

The better part is to, have a detailed log of your kids’ activity on the internet. This way you’ll know what he/she does and how you can deal with it.

Without these filtering, your kid or teen can easily access the internet with a proxy website or a different browser.

Time Limit

It’s another excellent feature of the apps. Some of them would let you set a weekly schedule for device usages, or you can schedule it daily. Others would offer both scheduling option at once. So, you can try out both of them to see what works best for you.

The best thing is that multiple devices support this feature. So, it makes easier to control any other device than a PC. Another fact is that you can block any individual apps installed on the devices. It works for mobile apps too!

Pretty great, right?

Now that you know how these software’s would benefit you, you can go ahead and choose what best suits you. I have put together a list of 5 best parental control software for Windows 10.

So, let’s just take a look at them and get the best one you want!

Top 5 Parental Control Software Programs

Number #1 – Qustodio

Qustodio is the best parental control software on the market. It has two versions to begin with: Free and Premium. You will get most of it in the free version, though. The premium one has some extra features.

The basic premium version will cost you $44 a year. Not overpriced at all. The free version has a lot of features such as website filters, search result filters, customizable time limits for games and apps.

You will also get live notifications when your child accesses any malicious website or content. That’s a great option when you want to monitor your child 24/7. You might think that this one is perfect.

But there’s a drawback. This one is only available on one device.

In the premium version you’ll get, social media monitoring, location tracking, call tracking and blocking, SMS tracking and blocking, and an expanded dashboard.

The premium one comes with multiple device monitoring. You can monitor up to 15 devices according to the premium plan.

Qustodio is easy to use. All you need to do is make an account on their website and install the software. The web portal will help you manage all the essential settings.

The software also supports Mac, Android, iOS, and Kindle. So, you won’t have any problem.

Features

Summary: A full suite of tools to tweak around, all in one software.

Number #2 – OpenDNS FamilyShield

FamilyShield is one of the best parental control software. OpenDNS developed it. This parental control tool will block domains that it flagged as tasteless, proxy/anonymizer, sexuality, or pornography.

The big plus point here is that, although it runs on PCs or mobile devices, you can try it out on your router too! It’s a great feature. You’ll be able to filter out any traffic passing through it. All you have to do is to change the DNS server from the control panel.

This feature can benefit you tremendously, as you can improvise the speeds of some ISPs with this trick. If you filter it from the router level, all devices connected to it will benefit efficiently.

Features

Summary: Blocks domains on your whole home network, even at the router level.

Number #3 – Kidlogger

Kidlogger is one of a kind product. Nothing can hide from its eyes. This software will not only track what your child is up to, but it would also log out everything he/she does on the internet.

You would be surprised to see the amount of detail it would be. Every single thing, even a mouse click would be logged. And it will also record individual programs and screenshot now and then.

If you are worried about what your kid is doing or who they are talking to, then don’t worry. It would solve this problem in a jiffy. The voice-activated sound recorder will start to record as soon as there is voice communication.

Though, there are options for your children to have privacy according to their age. It’s best to give them space when they are older and responsible.

Though, the free one would only cover one device and lack some cool features. If you go for the premium one, you’ll get a full-featured software with multiple device support.

Features

Summary: Activity loggings are to the point, includes apps and even keystrokes.

Number #4 – KidsWatch

It’s an award-winning software. The software has three core feature, like, web filtering, time limits, and real-time alerts. And every feature is available for you to tweak around according to your child.

Well, every child is not the same. So, you shouldn’t treat them that way. And this software will let you determine the level of monitoring they need.

But the main feature sets it apart from the rest of them. The real-time alerts would surely make you wonder about it. The alert system works so beautiful that, nothing would stay out of your sight.

This unusual feature has three sub-categories:

• Predator Alerts: This app is quite extraordinary. It will let you if predatory peoples are living in your neighborhood. Whenever a registered sex offender or criminal starts living in your area, you’ll get a notice.You will also get their picture to stay alert. And you’ll even get the address. This feature can come in handy if you want to get a good idea about your neighbors. Also, whenever a new offender reaches around, you’ll get notified accordingly.
• Chat Monitoring: The app will let you monitor your kid’s chats. You can define the keywords that it would look. It also has some defined keywords that included your address or phone number and even sex or drug-related topics. So, if your kid chats about any of this topic, you will get notified immediately. This way you’ll know just what your kid is up to these days.
• Email Alerts: It would monitor the search results for your kid. If your child searches for some inappropriate, then you’ll get an email right away.

Beside these alerts, it would also keep everything in detailed logs. It will have data on which sites kid visited and how much time they spent there.

The premium version of this app costs $50 a year. A small amount to pay for a great deal.

Features

Summary: A full web browser made especially for your kids.

Another Method - Windows User Accounts

Microsoft has changed the game with the release of Windows 10. Windows 10 now has an option to help you restrict or make and child account. By creating this account, you'll be able to monitor all the devices connected to it.

Such as Windows, Xbox, and Windows Mobile. But before telling you how to create this account, you need to remember a few things:

First of all, you should link your user account to a Microsoft Account. If it’s not connected or you have a local account, then you can’t create the Child Account.

Second of all, you have to create the account within your “Family.”

So, let’s get on with it. Just follow the steps below, and you would know just what to do.

Step-1: Firstly, go to the Start menu and then Settings. After that, head straight to Accounts.

Step-2: Next, Look for Family and other people option in the left panel of Accounts and then click it. Below Your Family, you’ll see Add a Family Member.

Step-3:  You’ll get a new pop up. Select Add a Child here. If your kid has an email just link it here, or else, click The Person Who I Want to Add Doesn’t Have an Email Address

Step-4: Then you can create a new email or just register the account with your email. After clicking next, you’ll see a confirmation message.

Managing the Account

If you want to maintain the account, you need to click Manage Family Settings Online. You’ll get options to block specific sites, limit their screen time and even add money to their account so that they can buy apps from the store and many more.

You’ll also be able to get weekly reports about your kid’s activity.

This tool is a pretty basic level of a parental control method. If you want something more rigid, you can easily choose from the five best parental control software.

All of them, have many functions to tweak around and they are the best of the best. But if you ask me I would recommend you to try out Qustodio and KidsWatch first, as they have a few extra tricks up their sleeve. Also, Zoodles is somewhat a slightly different approach.

Though, they all are best at what they are supposed to. All you need to do is try these tools out and choose what best suits you.

Hasib Bin Anowar

Hasib is a born geek and loves tweaking his computer and gadgets for effectiveness and productivity. At WindowsChimp, he specializes in writing Tutorial guides and discovering new hacks to share.