Setting Parental Controls in Mac OS X 10.5

Mac OS X 10.5 provides an administrator with ways to control other non-administrator users' access to programs. For the home user, this is a good way to control your child's use of the computer.

You can create a managed account in the Accounts preferences pane in the Mac OS X System Preferences and set limits for it with the Parental Controls preferences pane. Open System Preferences and click the Accounts button. Click the plus symbol in the lower left corner of the pane to create a new account. Type a name, short name and password for the account. Next, click the button next to New Account and select Managed with Parental Controls and then click the Create Account button.

Log out of your account and log into the new account. Open System Preferences and use your regular account name and password to gain access to the pane. Next, click the Parental Controls button and again use your regular name and password to open the lock in the lower left corner of the pane. Select the new account on the left side of the pane. The Parental Controls preferences pane will change and you will have a wide range of options for limiting the account. The pane has four tabs for setting limits (System, Content, Mail & iChat, Time Limits) and a fifth tab (Logs) for monitoring the user's activity.

Limit Access to Applications

Select the System tab to limit the user's access to applications on your computer. You have six options on this pane.

• Simple Finder - For the greatest restriction for the user, put a check in the box in front of Use Simple Finder. The user will have use of programs you select but no control over system functions. This setting is probably the best one for very young users.
• Selected Applications - Put a check in the box in front of Only allow selected applications to control which applications the user can access. You can permit access to groups of applications or to just individual applications within the groups. Mac OS X 10.5 has divided applications into five groups: (1) iLife, (2) Internet, (3) Widgets, (4) Utilities, (5) Other. To allow access to all applications in a group, put a check in the box in front of the name of the group. If you want to limit access to only particular applications in a group, click the arrow next to the name of the group to expand the list and then put checks in the boxes in front of the applications you want to allow the user to access.
• Printers - If you want the user to be able to access and use any printers connected to the computer, put a check in the box in front of Can administer printers. The user will be able to adjust print settings and print documents and images.
• CDs and DVDs - If you put a check in the box in front of Can burn CDs and DVDs, the user will be able to use any CD or DVD read/write drive connected to the computer to create his/her own CDs or DVDs.
• Password - The user will be able to change his/her user password if you put a check in the box in front of Can change password.
• Dock - If you put a check in the box in front of Can modify the Dock, the user will be able to add or remove items from the Dock and alter the function and appearance of the Dock. Note that the changes will only affect that user's Dock and not the Dock of any other user.

Limit Access to Content

Select the Content tab on the Parental Controls preferences pane to see your options for controlling content that the user can access.

• Profanity - If you are setting an account for a child, you might want to limit the words and phrases to which the child might be exposed when using the Mac OS X 10.5 Dictionary. To ensure that the child is not exposed to profanity in the Dictionary, put a check in the box in front of Hide profanity in Dictionary.
• Website Restrictions - Depending on the user, you might want to restrict access to websites on the Internet. You have three options for limiting, or not limiting, Internet use: (1) Allow unrestricted access to websites, (2) Try to limit access to adult websites automatically, (3) Allow access to only these websites.

Limit Access to Mail & iChat

Mac OS X 10.5 allows a parent to restrict email and chat conversations to selected people. To see these options, select the Mail & iChat tab on the Parental Controls preferences pane.

You can limit communication to specific people by clicking the plus symbol on the left side of the pane. Another pane will open and you can add the names and/or email addresses of acceptable people. To limit the communication to Mail, iChat or both applications, put a check(s) in the box(es) in front of Limit Mail and/or Limit iChat.

Set Time Limits

Some children would spend all their time on a computer, but, of course, a parent probably does not want this to happen. Select the Time Limits pane on the Parental Controls preferences pane to see the options for setting specific time limits.

• Time Limits by Day - The first two options on the pane let you limit the number of hours per day that your child can use the computer and you can set separate limits for weekdays (Monday through Friday) and weekends (Saturday and Sunday). To set the limits, put checks in the boxes in front of Limit computer use to and then move the sliders to the limits you want for both Weekday time limits and Weekend time limits.
• Time Limits by Specified Hours - You can make certain that your child doesn't use the computer during certain hours by putting checks in the boxes in front of School nights and Weekend at the bottom of the pane and then setting the forbidden hours. If your child tries to log in during the forbidden hours, he/she will be denied access to the computer.