Control Your Kids Computer Time A Review

I have been using ComputerTime from SoftwareTime to control my kids access to the computer and wanted to tell you a bit about this great software. First I am not being paid for this review. I am a paying customer.

I decided after I found my kids on the computer nearly 12 hours on Saturday and at midnight after I had gone to bed that I absolutely had to install some limits and not work on the honor system. I wanted the ability to assign a daily limit and to override it easily if I wanted to.

I tried a few programs and ended up buying ComputerTime from SoftwareTime. I have four kids computers for each one. I was able to buy the family pack and to install it for about $39.99 on all four computers. With ComputerTime I am able to set a time limit for each day, a start and stop time, and to create additional time tokens. These time tokens all an extra amount of time (of your choice) and I personally award them for extra chores and to get more homework done.

When the time limit for the day is approaching the user will be warned and then when time elapses, they will be logged off and will not be able to log back in again. For me, the administration control panel and its ease of use was the reason that I chose the program over others. I am able to login as administrator at any time without having to log them off as Window’s users to make a change.

Having control over the amount of time that my kids spend on the computer has been great. No longer are they spending the full weekend online gaming it out, but they have a real life not only a virtual life. For my kids age 11, I allow 15 minutes of computer time on weekdays. This allows them to check email and to email grandma. I allow two hours of time on Saturday and Sunday. If they have a homework assignment on a weekday and need more time, I have set up time tokens and give them a code to input to allow one hour of computer use. For my teen, I allow more time as he has more homework.

ComputerTime has allowed me to finally have control over the time my kids spend on the computer and to have new family time instead of having to fight the computer for their attention. If you have kids on the computer and if you feel that gaming is getting out of control, if chores are not being done, if they cannot log off when you ask as they just have to finish a game, now’s the time for you to get ComputerTime too! Just click my blog post title to get it and have a free trial. I feel that it is a valuable and well-priced piece of software.

Is Flash Good For A Website?

Yes and no. Flash can create excitement and interesting effects on a website and Flash is the best format for online movies due to speedy download time, but I do not recommend all Flash websites.

Here’s a site that is all Flash. Great site right?  But it receives awful search engine placement. Here’s the proof: http://www.google.com/search?q=katy+bar+lock&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA. Take a look at the search results for katy bar door lock, note that affiliate websites rank higher than the main site.  The page that is listed in the number two position is the HTML Google AdWords landing page that we designed, the main website www.KatyBar.com does not even appear in the organic listings.

So use Flash for your entire website if you want to use pay per click to drive traffic to your website as KatyBar.com has had to do or use HTML with Flash elements to get search engine traffic and save pay per click money to stimulate traffic not get traffic. 

Teach Your Children to Be Web-Wise

Here are my tips as a parent on how to teach your children to be smart on the Web. I have triplet 11 year olds and an 18 year old son so I know a thing or two about how kids want to use the Web.

Some of the sites all my kids love are Runescape, Club Penguin, Silk Road, YouTube, and Voyage Century. Many of these online games have integrated chat rooms or the ability to talk to others during interactions of the games.

What I do is try to play each new game once or at least watch my children play. There are some games that I have banned. For example there was one where you shot cats and there was lots of blood. That one instantly got banned. I don’t mind the action games but when people are killed, there is blood or just a lot of indiscriminate violence, my kids are simply not allowed to play.

Additionally they are never allow to share their real last names, their ages, school, mascot, or city. I have taken the time to explain that this is not about denying a friendship but for their protection. I have encouraged my kids to let me know when someone in a chat room talks dirty to them so we can report them together or so I can log them off. It happens, but I want them to allow me to help them so that they know that it is not okay to listen or participate in those types of conversations.

We’ve talked about sharing your password and login information on games, and that I consider it off-limits. You’ll find that their are schoolmates and online buddies who will actually steal the things that your child has worked hard to earn on a game by enticing them to give in and give out their login and password. Terrible that these issues can cause real angst for your kids. So it makes it easy to say to someone who asks for the information – I am not allowed, my Mom won’t let me.

The other big rule that I established early was no computers in bedrooms, all seven computers in our house are in the main rooms. This way, as I walk by, I can see what someone is doing or playing. This even keeps my 18 year old away from viewing pornography or dating sites. You know yourself what’s out there and sometimes kids of all ages are curious, so keep them clean and away from trouble by laying down the law and then make them accountable by keeping computers where you can see them.

My other big rule is only 15 minutes of computer time on school days and only two hours of time each day on the weekends. I have a program called Computer Time that I installed to manage their time and lock them off when they are over, but that is another great blog post I’ll do next week.

You may have other rules, but these are mine and they have really worked to allow my kids to have fun on the Internet and with online games and yet be safe.