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Windows Live Family Safety provides a simple set of tools for keeping children away from questionable material online. With a professional layout and a great deal of flexibility, this is a great tool for cleaning up your home Internet access.
The program's interface is agreeable, with a look and feel similar to all Windows products, and it feels instantly intuitive. The only catch is that you must fill out an online registration, but it's free. From there you can click a single button to choose between three levels of filtering, ranging from nothing to strict. The program smartly includes a list of kid-friendly Web sites it allows. However, you can also customize the filters by adding specific Web sites to block or to allow. When we attempted to view a questionable or blocked site, we were prevented from doing so completely. Try as we might, we couldn't find any gaps in the security. The program's strongest feature may be its ability to apply various filters to different Windows users, so when children log in, their browsing is restricted, but adults logging in have the full and free range of the Internet. Windows Live Family Safety was smooth and effective in all the ways we'd expect a professionally designed Windows program to be.
Windows Live Family Safety is freeware. It provides a sense of ease and security with its ability to block and unblock sites and users, and we recommend it.
Publisher's Description
From Microsoft:
With Family Safety, you decide how your kids experience the Internet. You can limit searches, block or allow websites, decide who your kids can communicate with when they're using Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail, or Spaces and monitor what websites they're visiting.
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All versions:
2.6 starsout of 19 votes
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Current version:
2.7 starsout of 13 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Great software"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
Very easy to use, integrates excellently with Windows 8
Cons
Sometimes doesn't start-up
Summary
This beats most software I've tried
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"excellent program"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
-works well on variety of sites
-blocks sites
-blocks images in google images or anywhere
-doesn't seem to slow down browser
-Cons
-always had pop up window appear that i would have to shut at startup
-would like a program to run on demand and not startup. so it would start as i start my browser. that way i could keep my startup lean.Summary
excellent program, does what it has too.
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"Things I wish for"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
Most of the time is does really well
Cons
I wish I could add my own list of just words I would want to block. Words such as a celebrity name so that whenever they try to access a website that has that celebrity, they couldn't. I have also noticed it does not tell me when they go onto facebook or twitter. And they can receive porn images in their hotmail account.
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"Free MS software to protect my kids"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
- easy to install
- easy to configure
- online info available to get you started
- it's freeCons
Haven't found one yet.
Be sure to have a Live ID ready before you start installing/configuring.Summary
Installed Family Safety 2012 on all systems
Enabled parental control on the Windows accounts the kids use (are the same on all systems)
Enabled additional parental controls through provider Windows Live Family Safety
Setup webfiltering, timelimits, activityreporting, etc.
Now I receive a weekly report what my kids do on all the systems -
"Frequently stops working"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
If it worked it is nice to be able to control time limits for my kids from my computer and have their netbooks respond.
Cons
It used to work well but lately it has become very buggy and randomly stops blocking or enacting the time limits I've set.
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"The software just doesn't work"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
Superficially, it appears to have a wide variety of functions and features.
Cons
The software 'sticks' on certain settings. Especially application control. If something is not allowed, it is nearly impossible and for me, impossible to get it to 'allow' use by the childs profile. I know it takes a logon to activite, but that doesn't do it in most cases.
Summary
I would give this software 5 stars if it worked. I have spent countless hours trying to configure it and in the end, I believe I will buy some working software. Microsoft amazes me putting out software that looks great feature wise but does not actually work when you try to use it. Very poor and they could not have user tested this software.
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"AVG Internet Security says it's got spyware!"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
Unable to install software.
Cons
My computer won't let me install the software because AVG Internet Security says there is spyware or malware embedded; AVG whisks the installation file and all related files to the Virus Vault.
Summary
A malware-free version of the software might be worth downloading.
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"Would be good if it actually worked"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
Allows you to set up limits and view computer activity remotely.
Cons
Allows you to set what time computer is able to be used, but this function only works some of the time. I set up time limits but it does not always work. It does not allow you to set a limit for number of hours in a day. Allows you to see what programs have been accessed, but not all can be blocked.
Summary
I would give this program 3 stars if it worked all the time, but it does not.
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"Superb software addition"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
You can easily customize this to fit your needs. I only have it installed to prevent my children from accidentally getting adult results in searches.
Cons
I have not found anything negative of this product. I have it installed on three desktops and one laptop. Desktops are running Windows 7 x64 and my older laptop is running Windows 7 x86.
Summary
The only thing that would be an added feature would be to limit the amount of time spent online.
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"invasive uninvited CA-RAP!!!!!!!!!!"
Version: Windows Live Family Safety 14.0.8118.0427
Pros
nothing - let mommie's and daddies ADD this crap if they're too incapable to address their offspring's unwanted internet behavior
Cons
EVERYTHING about it - not the least of which is the "big brother" inclusion of something so invasive that it's difficult to uninstall without casuing other parts of your laptop/pc from becoming unstable
Summary
unwanted bloat-ware
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