Monitor Online Activity Free | Parental Control Tips

Here are the method to monitor online browsing activity of kids and other family members safely and free.

Tips for Parental Control of Children Online Activities

Suppose you have prohibited some websites for your kid, then you can monitor the online activity of your kid or a family member through saved browsing history in the browser.

→ Watch Video Tutorial below.

But here is a problem. Your clever child may use browser in privacy or Incognito mode. Because Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers delete the browsing data after each private session, parents cannot know about the websites visited by their kids.

So, here is the solution for that.

• You can see browsing activity of your kids by viewing the DNS cache data in your Windows computer, even if your kid used Chrome in Incognito mode. Type ‘cmd’ in search bar on the taskbar of your computer → click Run as administrator → click ‘Yes’ in the dialog box → type ‘ipconfig/displaydns’ in the black little window and press Enter. You will be able to view the domains through which connection was established next to entries of ‘Record Name’ option. It shows all records including the third-party ad services such as adservice.google.com, g.doubleclick.net, so you have to sort the websites between all DNS entries.

• Make sure that you keep administrator rights of your device with yourself because your tech savvy child may delete the DNS Cache by entering ‘ipconfig/flushdns’ (as in above method) if one is using the device as administrator. Therefore, always create separate login account for your kids and family members so that you are alone as administrator of your computer.

• Make sure your child has not used some VPN service in browser.

• You can also use some trusted apps to monitor online activity of your kid. Such activity monitoring apps include Famisafe by Wondershare, and KidsGuard Pro by ClevGuard.

You can also use Microsoft Edge browser for your kid as Kids Mode, where you can select age of your kid, so that curated and appropriate content can be browsed.

You can visit above link to know more about Kids Mode in Edge browser.

Using Family Link for Parental Control

Through Family Link, you can control the allowable websites for your teen or kid. You can allow or block certain websites in Google Chrome and your child will be restricted only to those sites.

Please note that Family Link only works in Android mobile phones and Chrome OS devices such as Chromebook. It also works on iPhones running iOS 11 and higher. Parents can also control some of the features on a browser.

You can access your family dashboard and create a separate login account for your child or other family member.

You can customize several settings including:

• You can set screen time limits for your child at multiple devices including Chromebook and mobile devices.

• You can access current location of any of your family member.

• You can download family safety app to get updates about usage activity or locations of your family member.

• You can control the type of content for your child and list allowed websites.

• You can benefit from the family Google Keep, for creating a combined shopping list.

• You can get weekly reports about online activity of your family member.

• You can remotely lock the device of your child.

• You can help change or reset your child’s password if they forget it.

You can also access this valuable setting in Microsoft Edge browser at below location.

Click Three Dots for ‘Settings and More’ (or press Alt+F) in top right corner of Edge browser → Settings → Family safety.

Here you can access your family dashboard and create a separate login account for your child or other family member.

You can also read more in an article from Google for FAQs about Family Link.

You can also explore this Google site for more info on family safety features.

You can also read a classic article from Microsoft for best possible tips for your online safety.

There, you can also get some tips for parental supervision.

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