Parental Lock Guard

By RIA Software Free Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

Download.com Staff Feb 27, 2009
This tool for controlling your child's PC usage offers some nice tools for a free product but isn't quite perfect. Before you can use Parental Lock Guard, you'll have to restart your machine; since the program lacks help files, it took us a while to figure this out. The application lets parents specify the amount of time the PC can be used per day but won't let you configure usage rules for more than one day at a time. You can have the program display a timer showing the user how much time she or he has left, but this isn't mandatory. If your child tries to restart the machine after Parental Lock Guard has turned it off, she or he will need to enter the correct password within 10 seconds or the PC will again shut down. The concise interface features well-labeled icons for easy configuration, and the utility operates stealthily behind the scenes; not only must you call it out of hiding with a hot-key combination, but you also can obscure the Task Manager so young computer geniuses can't use it to disable the program. In addition, Parental Lock Guard can restrict access to certain files and folders. You will find a tool for monitoring Web sites visited and for blocking specified URLs, but this feature appears to work only with Internet Explorer. Parents who are short on cash and don't need a full-blown monitoring suite are likely to find some value in this program.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 1.2

General

Release November 7, 2008
Date Added May 23, 2005
Version 1.2

Operating Systems

Operating Systems Windows, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Additional Requirements Windows 2000/XP, Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1

Popularity

Total Downloads 34,969
Downloads Last Week 2
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User Reviews

1.8/5
9 User Votes
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Developer's Description

PC control software for guarding your PC. It can not be stopped in any usual way (without administrator's password) known to the large people population. Protect your PC from entire-day working, Internet not suitable materials, your folders viewing, renaming, deleting, and from starting certain applications. Administrator has all rights to control the PC. Others are second-class users. All mistakes will result in computer's shutting down.
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