How to limit games and Internet but not homework time

Symptoms

You can't find a way to set time limits for games, entertainment, Internet, etc. while providing unrestricted time for programs related to homework like Microsoft Word.

Cause

TimesUpKidz lets parents to set time limits on overall computer use. It does not let parents set time limits specific to particular programs on web sites.

Workaround

The simplest solution is to give your child a reasonable amount of time for all their computer use, such as 1 or 2 hours per day. If your child needs additional time for homework related activity, you can start up TimesUpKidz and manually add time on that particular day.

If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7 and your child does a lot of homework on the computer, there is a more hands-off approach. Create two user accounts for each child. Give the accounts names like "Sam (Homework)" and "Sam (Entertainment)". Use the buit-in Windows Vista/7 parental controls to choose exactly which programs (such as Microsoft Word) and web sites can be used in the Homework account. Use TimesUpKidz to set time limits for the Entertainment account, and optionally set time limits for Homework account. You can find the parental control feature in the Control Panel. Important note on how to configure parental controls: After you choose "Allow and block specific programs" Windows Vista/7 will show you a long list of every program on the computer. Rather than checking the box next to the programs you want to allow, it is much easier to leave all the boxes blank. Then log on to the user account and manually try to start each program you want to allow. At first, Windows Vista/7 will tell you the program is prohibited. Just click the "Ask an administrator for permission." link inside the dialog to allow each program. Do not forget to allow the program called "TimesUpKidz Reminders" that appears in the Start => All Programs => Startup folder.

If you use Windows XP and you don't want to have to manually add time every time your child needs to do homework, here is another option but it is somewhat complicated to implement and requires some technical know-how. Create two user accounts for each child and give them names like "Sam (Homework)" and "Sam (Entertainment)". You can do this in the User Accounts section of Control Panel. Then install the free Microsoft program Windows SteadyState , which allows you to limit what your kids can do on the computer. Use SteadyState to turn off internet access (if desired) and block specific programs (like games) from the Homework account. Use TimesUpKidz to set time limits for the Entertainment account.