Slide the button to Off in the BT Parental Controls section and your BT Parental Controls will be switched off. To continue using an alternate DNS, you need to follow steps 5 and 6 to delete your parental controls. To delete your parental controls, select Delete settings underneath the slider.
BT knows being able to browse the web safely is important, especially if you have children – and with our free BT Parental Controls,we help to keep them safe online.
This network-based filter covers all internet-enabled devices connected via the BT Hub in the home – such as desktop computers, laptops, games consoles, smartphones and tablets. We are the only major UK broadband provider to offer Parental Controls that are active when you're at home and when you're out and about using our Wi-Fi network. Every customer joining BT is given the choice whether or not to activate the parental controls when setting up their internet connection for the first time.
Parental Controls are one of three ways as a BT Broadband customer, you can fortify your home and stay safe online. BT Virus Protect safeguards your devices against malware attackes, like viruses, phishing and ransomware and BT Cloud securely backs up your precious files such as photos and videos. Find out more.
Look for BT Parental Controls and click the Manage BT Parental Controls link.
After clicking you will see an activation page telling you that we are activating your Parental Controls, by default you are automatically given the ‘Light’ filter. A confirmation screen will appear to confirm activation. This may take up to two hours.
Step 2: Changing filter levels
There are three pre-defined filter levels – 'Light,' 'Moderate' and 'Strict,' use the slider to select the filter level you want.
You'll see a list of what categories will be blocked by that filter setting. Customise this even further by selecting Custom and selecting each blocking category you want to change.
To make the changes, go to Save changes and your new filter level will be active within 10 minutes.
Step 3: Setting filter times
Providing your BT Parental Controls are switched on, your filters are on by default 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can also set a period of time when your BT Parental Controls are disabled. During this time, protection against inappropriate content will be disabled on all devices that are connected to your Hub.
Remaining in the Parental Controls section click the Set filter times tab.
To turn off filters simply choose the days from the top drop-down menu and then select a start and end time for the filters to go off and reactivate.
After you have selected the days and times, click Save and your settings will be saved, you'll see a confirmation message at the top of the page
Step 4: Adding filters for Homework Time
Turn on additional filters to block children from using social networking, gaming and cheating websites when they should be doing homework.
Remaining within the Set filter times tab, go to Additional security for homework time.
Choose the days from the drop-down and select times for the additional homework filters to start and end.
Click Save and you'll see a confirmation message at the top of the page
Step 5: Blocking and allowing websites
Adding websites to your blocked list means that any device connecting to your Home Hub will not be able to access the website, even if the category it is listed under is not blocked.
Adding websites to your allowed list means that anyone connecting will be able to see the website, even when the category it is listed under is blocked.
Click Manage allowed & blocked sites tab.
Under My Blocked websites type the address of the website you wish to block in the box starting with http://
Do the same with websites you are allowing, using the box starting with http:// under My Allowed websites.
Once entered, click the + button at the end to add the website to your blocked list or allowed list. You'll then receive a confirmation message at the top of the page and the address will be shown in your blocked or allowed list (this can take up to 10 minutes)
If you want to remove any websites from your lists, simply click the X next to the website.
Step 6: Overriding a blocked page
There are two simple ways to gain access to a blocked site, either turn off BT Parental Controls for one hour or always trust the specific site. You will need to be the account holder to do this.
a: Turn off BT Parental Controls for one hour
On the blocked page select Allow access -Turn off BT Parental Controls for one hour and enter your BT ID log in details. Select the Access page link to access the newly unblocked site.
This turns off the filters for one hour, so you will be able to access previously restricted content. It may take an additional 10 minutes for the filters to come back on during an active browsing session
b: Always trust this site
On the blocked page select Allow access, click Always trust this site and enter your BT ID log in. Select the Access page link to permanently unblock the website.
Any device connected to your hub will always be allowed to view this site despite any filter settings applied. If you want block the site again, you can remove it from your allowed list at any time.
Step 7: Turning off BT Parental Controls
You can temporarily turn off Parental Controls at any time, without losing your settings.
Remaining within My BT, scroll down to the Your Package section and click 'Manage your extras.'
Look for BT Parental Controls and click Manage BT Parental Controls. Turn the slider Off.
At any time you can reactivate Parental Controls simply by moving the slider to On and any settings you have saved will be restored.
Parental controls can filter the web, blocking inadvertent access to inappropriate websites. There are a variety of ways to do this, from configuring network-wide parental controls on your router to using the parental controls built into Windows or third-party software.
Web filtering is best used to restrict the web for young children, preventing them from accidentally wandering into the seedier corners of the Internet. Teenagers are adept at finding their ways around parental controls if they want to.
On Your Router
One of the easiest ways to set up parental controls is by configuring them on your router. Your router functions as the choke point where all the Internet traffic for your network flows through. Setting up parental controls here will allow you to perform web filtering for all the devices on your network — computers, smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles with built-in browsers.
Some routers ship with built-in parental controls. If your router has this feature, it will often be advertised on the box and will generally be explained in the manual. You can go to the router’s web-based configuration pages and set up the parental controls for your network.
Many routers don’t include parental controls, but you can use OpenDNS to set up parental controls on any router. To do this, you’ll just need to change your router’s DNS server settings to use OpenDNS. OpenDNS allows you to set up an account and configure web filtering — you can select different types of categories of websites to block. Websites you block will redirect to a “This site is blocked” message when visited on your network.
For more information about changing your router’s settings, refer to its manual.
If you would like a device on your network not to be filtered, you can change its DNS server manually so it won’t use OpenDNS. Of course, this means that anyone on your network can change their DNS server and bypass the filtering. Like we said, such filters can be helpful for your children, but a teenager can get around it.
On Windows 7
Windows 7 has some built-in parental controls that allow you to control what time a user account can log into the computer and what programs it can use. This is helpful if your kids use separate user accounts on your computer.
However, Windows 7 doesn’t include a web filter. Microsoft does still offer Family Safety, a free program that allows you to set up web filtering on Windows 7. Install the Family Safety program on your Windows 7 computer and you’ll be able to manage its settings from Microsoft’s Family Safety website. The program is available as part of Microsoft’s Windows Essentials package.
On Windows 8 or Windows 10
Windows 8 and Windows 10 have integrated parental controls that combine Windows 7’s time limits and program access controls with Family Safety’s web filtering and more new features. You can manage your settings and view reports from the same Family Safety website. All you need to do is check the “Is this a child’s account?” box when setting up a new user account on Windows 8. The account will be marked as a child’s account and can be managed from the Family Safety website online.
Read more about using parental controls on Windows 8.
With Third-Party Software
You can also turn to third-party parental controls. Many Internet security suites come with built-in parental controls. If you have a security suite installed on your computer, check if it has built-in parental controls.
There are also dedicated parental control solutions you can pay for, like the famous Net Nanny that everyone has heard of. However, you don’t need to pay for a parental control solution. There are many other free web filtering solutions you can use. For example, Norton offers a free Norton Family parental control application that seems to be widely recommended. Try doing a search online and you’ll find many other options that may fit your needs.
Of course, no parental controls are perfect. They won’t block everything bad and may occasionally block something good. Sufficiently motivated teenagers can also get around them, if only by leaving your house and accessing the Internet elsewhere or using their smartphone.
Image Credit: San José Library on Flickr
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