Windows 8 is coming out with some new features, one of them is being set up as the newest arrival in the tech world to give parental control software a run for their money. Microsoft is bringing out the big guns for parents with greater control over what their kids do on the latest platform. The family safety feature can to an extent remove the need for additional PC monitoring software.

Enhanced Parental Controls with Windows 8

Parents can keep a finger on the pulse of their child’s activity on the computer, and the internet. A weekly report is shot to the parent’s inbox with details on what software and games their child is hooked onto, as well as the websites that they’re looking at and what they’re searching for online. The downloads are also kept an eye on through the family safety features. Different user accounts can be setup for different children to keep their activity logs segmented as well. The monitoring isn’t restricted to  the system which sits at home, if the parents and their wards have Windows Live ID accounts then it’s possible to keep a check on them no matter what computer they’re using through the family safety service which extends itself through cloud based facilities.

Related Reading: Block Websites Using OpenDNS for Better Parental Control

Limitations of Windows 8 Parental Controls

Tech savvy slipper teens aren’t going to get caught in the Win8 web. Traditional PC monitoring software has the capacity to do a lot more than Windows 8 can at this point. Monitoring teens isn’t going to be as effective nor as efficient, because parents need greater control and more information. To start with, parental control softwares can easily record Yahoo Messenger chats, MSN Messenger chats, log key strokes, browsing history, bookmark history, record Skype chat and calls, etc. In terms of monitoring young teens Windows 8 may be able to offer a substantial solution for parenting controls, however, a teenager is harder to tackle and for that there’s no way the family safety center will suffice.

In addition, several PC monitoring software will offer parents the chance to be able to track the location of their teens as well, while Windows 8 comes close to this feature by allowing remote monitoring through the Windows Live IDs, it still cannot relay the location of the user, which in the case of teens has proven to be useful on occasion. Windows also can’t cross its own restrictions and monitor software like Yahoo! Messenger or Skype, where other software can easily get through, because there’s a very high likelihood that it could get sued.

At the end of the day, parents will find the family safety center extremely useful all the same because it will to a large degree help them monitor their children. However, for greater insight as to what their children are up to, and what they need to do to keep them safe they will at this point need more. At present the Win8 beta version is still making its rounds, perhaps by the time the final release hits the market the family safety center will have a few new tricks up its sleeve.

This is a guest post by Jane Andrew, a writer and guest blogger for Mobistealth with years of experience in tech industry. She loves to write about computer monitoring software here and parental control softwares. You can also follow her on Twitter to get tips about windows 8 security and privacy.

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