Setting up new PC for teenage daughters use

bazzabear

bazzabear

bazzabear

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A new laptop will be arriving shortly which will be my daughters. For use for gaming, school work, and she'll use a Wacom drawing tablet with it too.

This'll be her first PC, and she's my only child, so I have no idea about access restrictions and the like. Can people offer any advice?

The one thing I have heard is to restrict the main user account, and set-up one for her without admin access. Does that sound right?

Anything else I should do? I guess I can use settings in Chrome to somewhat control web access too?

All advice gratefully received!
 
If the laptop doesn't have an SSD, very seriously consider putting one in. If it has a hard drive and you want to keep it installed, get ready for complaints of the laptop being slow - they'll become bored of waiting and just use their tablet or phone instead.
 
Setting it up as non admin account
Means you may get constantly called upon
Because things they want to do
Aren't allowed
Same with parental controls
Website blocking
Blocking Facebook, messenger, social media of all types

Not saying you shouldn't do these things
Just pointing out it's very difficult
To get it exactly balanced
Where you try to keep them safe
But aren't constantly having to log into your admin account
And allow something that's genuinely something
They should be allowed to do

Also depends on your child
Almost anything you do to restrict them
Can be bypassed
If they are determined to do it
They can find how to on the Internet

So glad I don't have to deal with that stuff anymore
It was severely time consuming

First thing I would do
Once it's set up
And their software etc installed
Make an image backup
That way if it gets messed up
You can quickly reset it
 
All great advice there. I thought much the same about a non-admin account maybe being more effort than advantage. And I do trust my daughter. But at the same time, she's 12, so precautions make sense anyway!

So I think we'll start with such an account, and adjust if we decide it's too much bother.

The image backup sounds very sensible - and I have to admit I don't think I recall how to do that! Any guidance available?
 
Macrium free version is the usual go to
For backups and cloning
Though think free version is stopping
24 January 2024
Whether your free version will continue
To work after that
But just be unable to update
Is something I don't know
Can't really see them disabling everyone's free version totally
Whichever imaging program you use
Make sure to include the usb/flash drive recovery tool
Image is no good if can't boot windows
 
bazzabear said:
All great advice there. I thought much the same about a non-admin account maybe being more effort than advantage. And I do trust my daughter. But at the same time, she's 12, so precautions make sense anyway!

So I think we'll start with such an account, and adjust if we decide it's too much bother.

The image backup sounds very sensible - and I have to admit I don't think I recall how to do that! Any guidance available?
Click to expand...
Kids will be exposed to more nastiness through apps on their smart phones and in game chats.

My kids have standard accounts on their Windows laptops*. Once setup with Office and Chrome I've only been called to install Roblox and Epic games installer. When they needed Teams, Zoom etc they were installed in user context. (* Their devices are joined to a home AD domain)

Use a DNS service (OpenDNS) which blocks unsafe sites.

Does your home router have an app which allows you to monitor and block internet activity?

Sign up for Microsoft Family Safety and setup her laptop with a managed account.
 
She already possesses a microsoft account as part of our family group - so I assume I can just set up the new laptop to use this existing account.
 
Yeah should say
My experience with my granddaughter
Social media was the worst problem
Facebook, messenger bullying
Uploading videos of herself to youtube
Open dns,ublock origin both good ideas definitely
Though both easily bypassed
Microsoft family safety I have no experience with
So can't comment on how effective it is
 
As above, I don't have experience of the MS family safety, it might already be part of the family group.

My kids soon learned how to use a VPN on their smartphones and bypass my DNS restrictions (Pi-hole). The scheduled domain blocking still worked on their games consoles and laptops :D.
 
You can only do so much
Even if you set up something 100% effective (very unlikely)
As soon as they can use friends phones,computers etc
You have no way of knowing what occurs
The Internet is a double edged sword
Greatest learning tool of all time
But also the biggest headache for concerned parents/grandparents etc
It really does boil down to the individual child in question

It's still better you're concerned about it
Rather than couldn't care less obviously
 
The Microsoft family stuff is really good at setting time boundies and keeping check on things. Obviously, it works much better if she's set up on Edge (not chrome).

IMO, the main risks seem to be through in game chats, instant messaging. As above, you can only do so much - after that it's up to her to be responsible.
 
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Depends what your daughter is like, everybody is different.

My eldest daughter is 15 and I don't need any admin controls on hers, she's always played things safe and been pretty aware of what she's allowed to do and what she's not. She doesn't tend to push boundaries and can be trusted as the sole user with full admin rights. I'll check up on her now & again but every time I do everything is sound.

Her younger sister on the other hand... She's only just finished year 7 so is still using a chromebook with all those lovely Android parental controls. I can tell you now that when she gets a proper laptop it'll be locked right down. She's the complete opposite of her older sister
 
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