Live Family Safety Settings Free Will Protect Children from Online Problems

Microsoft will give parents a helping hand in their quest to protect children from the online threats, such as the well-known pornography. The Redmond company has announced the plans for Windows Live Family Safety Settings Free, a free service that will allows parents to monitor and filter the online activity of their children.

Family Safety Settings will be able to filter the web content and will offer users the tools to manage contact lists. Moreover, they will be able to obtain reports about the online activity.

"Online safety for children is a crucial issue facing families today. We're designing Windows Live Family Safety Settings to help open the lines of communication between parents and children and in the process, give them a safer Internet experience," said Blake Irving, corporate vice president of MSN.

"We've heard a universal concern about exposure to unwanted content regardless of age, and Windows Live Family Safety Settings will help here as well. We're providing tools to put people in control so they can explore the Web more safely," he added

The Windows Live Family Safety Settings Free components:

- Content filtering: Web filtering will allow customers to choose settings to "allow," "block" or "warn" for a range of content categories, and unique settings can be applied for each member of the household.

- Expert guidance: AAP and other respected child organizations worldwide will provide parents with valuable guidance on age-appropriate settings and online activities.

- Activity reports: Parents will be able to access activity reports for each user in the family, at any time from any PC connected to the Internet

- Contact management: Parents will be able to create "allow" lists for communication services, including Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces, to help prevent their children from crossing paths with unknown contacts.

Service features will begin rolling out in phases worldwide throughout 2006 and will become available to customers using Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista.