Formerly known as Windows Live Family Safety, Family Safety is a parental monitoring and control program that was first released by Microsoft to the public on November 6, 2007. Family Safety is designed to help protect children on the computer by monitoring their usage, setting time limits and restrictions, and filtering the web pages you want them to see. Since its release, Microsoft has included Family Safety in the default install of Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 8 and should resemble the picture shown in the example below.

In Windows 10, Family Safety is changed to Parental Controls and is part of the Windows Defender Security Center.

To open Family Safety from either the Windows Start menu or Start Screen, type “family” and then click the Family Safety or Family options shortcut that should appear.

Within Family Safety or Parental Controls, users can enable, modify, or disable various options, like blocking web pages and programs and setting time limits for computer use.

Security terms

  • Protect children from harmful material and people on the Internet.
  • How to block a website.
  • Internet filter and blocking software links.
  • Computer security help and support.