As my daughter gets older and starts to use the computer more often, I thought it would be a good idea to create a new account for her so that I can use the parental control features in Windows 10 to track her activities. P>
I previously wrote about a third-party program with parental controls, but I found that Windows 10 works pretty well and is easier to use because it’s built in. However, before you can start using any of the parental controls, you first need to create a new family member account for your child.
In this article, I’ll walk you through how to create a new Microsoft family member account. You need to make sure that you already have a Microsoft account for yourself and that you are signed in to Windows using that Microsoft account. Unfortunately, if you use your local Windows logon account, you won’t be able to use any of the family protection features.
Create a Microsoft Family Member account
There are two ways to add a family member to your account: either through the Settings dialog box in Windows, or through the Microsoft website Since most of the options are available online, I will use the website method.
To get started, go to the Family page after signing in to your Microsoft account. If you haven’t added anyone yet, you will see a message telling you that you need to sign in to add a family member.
After logging in, you will be asked to choose if you are adding a child or an adult to your account.
If you’ve already set up a child account with Microsoft, just enter their email address to send the invitation. If you haven’t set up an account yet, click on the “Create for them” link. You will be prompted to enter the email address and password for the child account.
If your child does not already have an email address, you can click on the Get a new email address link below. This will automatically generate an @ outlook.com email address. If you want to create a Microsoft account using a different email address such as @ gmail.com, you must first create that account and then run the procedure again.
After entering your email address and password, you will be prompted to enter your child’s first and last name, followed by their date of birth.
On the next screen, you must agree to some terms as you will be giving access to a minor. You also have the option to allow your child to use third party apps or not. Click “Yes” to continue.
To prove that you are an adult creating a child account, you must enter your credit card details so that it can charge you $ 0.50. Click “Confirm” to accept the payment.
An email invitation will then be sent to the child’s email address. Either you can open it yourself, or ask your child to open it and click the “Accept invitation” button. They will be prompted to sign in to their Microsoft account, after which they will be officially added.
For your part, if you sign in with your Microsoft adult account and go to the Family page, you should see a new family member has been added. The message “Member Pending” will also be displayed until the invitation is accepted.
You will also receive a notification in the Action Center on your Windows 10 PC that your child has been added to the family. That’s all! Now, you just need to make sure your child is logged into Windows using their new account so that you can use the parental control settings. In my next post, I’ll show you how to set up various controls and how to track activity. Enjoy!
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