How to Restrict Children's Access to Websites on a Mac

Screenshot of Parental Controls window.

In the latest version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, parents are given the option to set certain restrictions on a child's computer account. One of the restrictions is the ability to control which websites a child is allowed to visit when he is logged in. Parents can let Apple filter out adult websites automatically, or they can limit a child's web browsing to a specific list of sites.

Things You'll Need

• Mac running OS X 10.5 or later

Instructions

1. Log on to your computer with an account that has administrative rights.

2. Open "System Preferences" by clicking on the dock icon.

3. Choose the "Parental Controls" control panel underneath the "System" category.

4. Click on the lock in the lower-left corner of the window and enter your administrative username and password.

5. Select the account that you want to restrict from the list on the left side of the control panel window.

6. Go to the "Content" tab at the top of the window.

7. Click on the radio button next to "Try to limit access to adult website automatically" to have Apple filter out inappropriate websites.

8. Click on the radio button next to "Allow access to only these websites" to create a list of sites that your child is allowed to view. In the pop-up window, click on the plus sign to add a new website to the list.