Setting Up Norton Parental Control


Child safety is a big issue anywhere, but the online world presents special challenges in the form of virtual bogeymen, pitfalls, and the kind of Web sites that can fluster or enrage a mature adult. Parental Control in Norton Internet Security is a way for you to define the boundaries of your kid's online world, choosing which programs your child can run, and the types of accessible Web sites.

You have a number of steps to get through in turning on and setting up the Parental Control. Try to follow along in order, because some parts — like the Supervisor login — need to be done before you can do other parts of the setup.

Logging on as Supervisor
Right out of the package, Norton Parental Control and Norton Internet Security recognize just one account, called a Supervisor account because it allows the person using it to make master changes to how Internet Security and kid-safe control settings are configured. However, by default, no password is assigned to this account. Find out how to do that after you log in, in the "Running the Parental Control Wizard" section.

You must be logged in as the Supervisor in order to turn on the Parental Control feature and then create accounts and set up controls for the kids.


Follow these steps to log in:

1. Right-click the Norton Internet Security icon in System Tray and choose Account Login.

2. In the Log On window, click OK.

You can also log on directly from Norton Internet Security:

1. From the Norton Internet Security window, click User Accounts in the left-side menu.

2. Press the Log On button.

3. Type your password, and click OK.

If you try to use the Parental Control feature without logging on as Supervisor, you'll receive an error message telling you that you don't have sufficient privileges to do that. Unfortunately, the error message doesn't actually suggest you log on to cure that problem, so it's something to keep in mind.


Running the Parental Control Wizard
Initial setup of the Parental Control tool is managed from a wizard helping you with bits of information each step of the way. Be sure you've already logged on as the Supervisor before you start, then follow these steps:

1. In Norton Internet Security, click User Accounts in the left-hand menu.

2. Click Parental Control Wizard link from the top right-hand portion of the window.

3. Select whether to use existing Windows accounts (if your kids have their own separate accounts for use on the PC) or Norton Internet Security Accounts (if you don't have accounts set up under Windows), then click Next.

4. Type a password to apply to the currently unprotected Supervisor account, then type it again to confirm it, and click Next.

5. In the Create Accounts window, use the blank boxes to type in the names of the people who will share the same PC, then click in the drop-down list box next to the names to specify whether that person should be treated as a:

• Child: Has limited access to the Internet but can't change account settings.

• Teenager: Has access to more content than the child status but can't change his own settings.

• Adult: Has full access to the Internet and can change settings for his own account but not for anyone else.

• Supervisor: Has full access to the Internet and the ability to change others' settings and turn Parental Control off and on.

6. Click OK, then click Next.

7. When prompted, set a password for each user/account you set up in Step 5 and click Next.

These passwords can be the same as passwords used by each person to access Windows on the PC or different ones — if they're different, be sure that each person knows his password for Parental Control.

8. Select the account that Norton Internet Security should treat as the default account, and click Next.

Note: Not Logged On or an Adult account is better than a Supervisor account or a Child account for this purpose.

9. Click Finish.

Passwords you set in the preceding list are case-sensitive. If you use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters in setting the password, the person logging in to the account must use the exact same mix.


Turning on Parental Control
After you've done the setup to use Parental Control, you still need to enable it so it's ready and running ahead of your kids. Remember to log on as a Supervisor for this if you've already logged off.

Take these steps to enable Parental Control:

1. In Norton Internet Security, click to open the Norton Internet Security menu at the left side of the screen.

2. Choose Status & Settings.

3. Select Parental Control and then click Turn On.

Tweaking your Parental Control settings
Parental Control comes preset to try to keep children out of Web sites with content most parents would find inappropriate. You can also customize settings, however, to make allowances when you need more — or less — flexibility for your kids.

You may want to test your accounts and how loose or restrictive the Web access is for Child and Teenager accounts before you make adjustments.


Follow these steps to view your setting options:

1. Log on as a Supervisor and open Norton Internet Security.

2. From the Status & Settings window, click Parental Control, and then press the Configure button.

The Parental Control window, opens.

3. In the Parental Control window:

• To select the account name you're adjusting settings for, select the Parental Control Settings For drop-down list and choose an account.

• To block or permit full categories of sites (such as Humor or Sex Education), click Sites and then choose your categories and settings, and click OK.

• To add specific sites to a blocked or allowed list, follow the steps in the previous bullet but click Add Site, type in the Web address (for example, www.nakeddogs.org) and click OK.

• To specify which types of software can be used to access the Internet, press the Programs button, and make sure checkmarks appear next to all allowed programs and that all programs you don't want to permit are unchecked, and click OK.

• To allow or block access to Internet newsgroups, press the Newsgroups button, specify the newsgroups or newsgroup types to show or hide, and click OK.

• To go back to the default, out-of-the-box settings for Parental Control, which erases all your changes, click the Defaults button and click Yes to confirm your choice.

4. When you're satisfied with your changes, click OK to close the Parental Control window.

Testing your accounts
Before you give out accounts and passwords to your kids, you want to make sure the accounts work and that, when you use a child or teenager's account, he can't get access to the types of sites you want to keep out of his reach.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Norton Internet Security icon in the Windows System Tray and choose Logoff (if logged in) or select Account Login.

2. Sign in with the first of your child or teenager accounts, and click OK.

Click the down arrow next to the account name to select a different user than the one listed. When prompted, type the password for that user's Parental Control account.

3. Open your Web browser (connect to the Internet if you haven't already).

4. Use a search engine to locate a racy Web site, and then click to open it.

5. Repeat Step 3 and try a number of other sites.

6. Jot down any notes about the type of content that gets through.

7. Run your Internet programs ,such as chat software or messaging, to see how well they continue to work while you're still logged in as a child.

8. Repeat Steps 1–7 for other Child/Teenager accounts you created.

9. If necessary, go back and customize the settings for your child or teenager again to increase or decrease the restrictions or to block specific sites and programs.

After you've tested their accounts and made any needed changes for access, you can then supply your kids and other adults with their passwords. Remind them to log in using their own account