Can I sign on to my child's Account?

[Queeniepoo]

Hi,

I have parental controls set up, but I am concerned about documents that my child might be creating on the computer. Is there a way to sign on to his account? We each have passwords.

I know what he does online, but what about on the computer, not online?

And, if I can see his stuff on the computer, is there a way to do it so he doesn't know?

Also, can I set the browser so he can't do "private browsing"?
Thanks!

 

[Brink]

Hello Queeniepoo, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Answers inline.

Hi,

I have parental controls set up, but I am concerned about documents that my child might be creating on the computer. Is there a way to sign on to his account? We each have passwords.

I know what he does online, but what about on the computer, not online?

And, if I can see his stuff on the computer, is there a way to do it so he doesn't know?

There is no need to log on to his account. As administrator, you can view all files in his account's C:\User\(user-name) folders directly while logged on to your administrator account. He will never know.

If you turn on Activity Reporting (step 7 at link) in Parental Controls, then you will be able to click on the View activity reports link in Parental Controls to view all of his activity.
​

Also, can I set the browser so he can't do "private browsing"?

Yes, you can disable inprivate browsing so that no one can use it.
​

Hope this helps,
Shawnhttp://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/62135-internet-explorer-inprivate-browsing-enable-disable.html

 

[Patonb]

Hi,

And, if I can see his stuff on the computer, is there a way to do it so he doesn't know?

Thanks!

This part of your post is a bit bothersome... In 2 ways... First... How do you suggest we believe your story, aka concerned parent, and not really the child trying to get something from Mom.

I've seen this come about in more than a few forums.... So its not against you...

The second part is the the bigger one.... being sneaky... I have no problems with you monitoring your child, and you should, but being sneaky, only makes things even worse...
Remember, your the parent, don't be sneaky, tell your kid that you will monitoring all their stuff, and as its your computer, if he doesn't like it.... theyre free to not use it.

The best way to do this is openly... Talk to them and such... Remember though, porns not bad... They gotta learn it from somewhere

 

[Lorien]

As an Administrator, you can access and view his documents and pictures and such by going to the files in his user profile (as noted above). But actually, depending on how smart he is, he CAN discover that you (or at least someone - he won't necessarily know who) have accessed or viewed his files by adding the fields "Date Accessed" and "Date Visited" to the list of information shown in Windows Explorer. If these dates/times are more recent than when he knows he last viewed or accessed the files, then he'll know someone else was there besides him. There's no real way to hide this or turn off the feature to record the access or the visit. But most people don't use these fields and they aren't there by default so he'd pretty much have to suspect and then know how to do what I just said to figure it out. I'm not meaning to discourage you - the decision is yours entirely - but I just wanted you to realize that it is possible he could discover it was being done. Not likely - but possible.

I hope this clarifies things a bit for you and helps you decide how best to proceed. I applaud the care you're showing in keeping tabs on his computer usage.

Good luck!