How to Let a Guest Account Use the Internet

You can configure parental controls on your computer to enable guest access to the Internet.

The guest account on your Macintosh or Windows-based PC is a separate account that provides limited access to the applications installed on the computer. Applications saved in the restricted view list are blocked from the guest user's account, but can be configured through the administrator account to restore access. As the primary user, the administrator has control over what guests are allowed to do on the computer through the parental controls feature. This feature is intended to protect children from questionable sites and limit browsing to appropriate kid-friendly sites.

Instructions

Macintosh Computers

1. Click "System Preferences" and click the View menu tab. Click "Parental Controls."

2. Click the guest account's name on the left side of the Parental Controls window and click "Enable Parental Controls."

3. Click "Web" and select "Allow unrestricted access to websites" to remove the application block from the Internet browser. Alternately, click "Try to limit access to adult websites automatically" if you prefer to keep the filter on the Internet browser, but want to provide access to sites with appropriate content.

4. Click "Allow access to only these websites" and enter the URL address of the website to limit Internet browsing to the sites listed in your safe list.

5. Click the lock in the Parental Controls window to save the settings.

Windows-based Computers

1. Click "Start" and "Control Panel" from the desktop menu.

2. Click "Set up parental controls for any user" located underneath the User Accounts and Family Safety section.

3. Enter the admin password to gain access to the feature and click the guest account icon.

4. Click "On" and "Enforce current settings." Click "Block specific programs" and "(Guest name) can only use the programs I allow."

5. Click the empty checkbox next to the Internet application and exit the window to save the changes.

References

• Apple: Mac OS X v10.5, 10.6 -- About the Parental Controls Internet Content Filter
• Microsoft: Prevent Children From Using Specific Programs