A warning to parents who will be sending their child to school in 2021 with a new laptop

It's that time of year again - when many parents will be going through the stress of purchasing and setting up technology for their child for the new school year.

The BYO policy applicable for many schools allows parents to choose to purchase either a Windows or Apple laptop for their child. Sometimes the school purchases and sets up the device on behalf of the parent.

A warning if you are one of these parents. Before you hand over the new laptop to your child, consider that this laptop could open up a world of inappropriate content to your child if not set up correctly. There are some important things be aware of and to check - even if the school has set up the computer for you.

Don't set your child up as the computer's Administrator

My key message to parents who are setting up such devices is to ensure that the device is set up with at least two user accounts - one that will be the Administrator (parent) account that has full access to all aspects of the device, and the other that will belong to the child.

If you simply set up the device with a single account that belongs to the child (as I see all the time when assisting with student laptops), you may not be able to put in place any restrictions on what the child can see and do on this device. 

This can result in the child easily coming across content that is completely inappropriate - and potentially dangerous and damaging. It also means that the child has full control over what is installed on the device - also not ideal.

'BYO' Computers that are set up by your child's school

Sometimes, it is the school who sets up the child's device, installing a 'management profile' on the computer so that certain things are restricted. I have regularly come across cases where the school's management profile does not include (and does not allow setting up of) Parental Controls.

I strongly suggest that you check whether the school-enforced restrictions block inappropriate content, and stop children downloading apps. 

If the school's restrictions don't ensure that inappropriate content is blocked when the child is away from school, then it might be time to have conversation with your school's IT team to discuss how your child can be better protected.

How to check if your child can access inappropriate content

My quick check for whether appropriate parental controls are in place is to type the word 'porn' in Google images - and then steel myself for the resulting images that appear. If there are any pornographic images shown, then your child is not adequately protected.

Setting up Parental Controls on a Mac or Windows computer

Setting up Parental Controls on a Mac is fairly simple. Here is an article from Apple that covers this topic, for Macs running any macOS or OS-X up to Mojave.

• ​Set up parental controls on Mac

​macOS Catalina (released in October 2019) brought includes Screen Time to the Mac (similar to what was released on the iPhone and iPad in 2018). Here is an article about this:

• Use Screen Time on your Mac

On a Windows computer, you must set up a Microsoft account for yourself and your child - this is what allows you to control their user account.

• Set up parental controls for Windows 10 and Xbox One

Ensuring Parental Controls work for your child's web browser

​Something to also keep in mind when setting up these devices is whether you allow Chrome (or any other third-party web browser) to be installed on the Apple or Windows laptop.

The parental controls offered by Apple and Microsoft will only work with the default web browsers (Safari on Apple, Edge on Windows).  

If the computer has the Chrome browser, you must set up separate parental controls for this. Here are some articles about Google parental controls:

• Google Family Link - Home
• Create a Google Account for your child - Google For Families Help
• Add supervision to an existing Google Account - Google For Families Help
• Create your Google Account
• Search & your child's Google Account - Google For Families Help
• Lock SafeSearch for devices & networks you manage - Google Search Help​

Need help with any of this?

iTandCoffee will be available during the January school holidays (from 11th January) to assist with setup of your child's device.

Simply mention this article to receive a $20 discount on the first hour of your appointment!

To book, call 1300 885 420 or use our online booking system.