Family safety: Feedback on recent changes to multi-device management

Anonymous
2015-04-22T12:54:35+00:00

Put simply, it's unacceptable.

For my child, why would I want to have to manage completely different sets of limits, curfew, blocked/allowed games, allowed ratings, etc for every device to which they log in?

This needs to go back to the old way where the child's account spanned all devices to which they've logged in.

Furthermore, when attempting to manage this new format, here's what I see in my Family Safety area:

How is this helpful at all? Nowhere on this screen do I know the device for which I'm altering the settings. If I click another instance of my child's name, I have no idea which device that is going to either.

I also have a sneaking suspicion this recent change is what is causing so many parents to have settings not taking effect, etc. They're probably altering the settings for the wrong device (because they have no clue where they're at in the system and I don't blame them) or the backend is simply doing things wrong.

Please fix this.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-09-16T16:56:10+00:00

    The screen time only works randomly. I have had the same problem, regardless of what settings I use, sometimes my kids can use the computer all day.

    By default we have it set to "blocked all day", and we manually use the "add time" feature to give them time if they have behaved, done homework etc.

    This is really a major screwup that this is completely unreliable, it causes us untold problems, allows our kids to break the rules and order we have setup.

    Not to mention the fact that the ability to "add time" has been removed on Windows 10 entirely, so we cannot upgrade any of the kids computers.

    If the screentime only works randomly, you have to assume everything else is not reliable either, and they can probably use apps and access adult websites too. So you need to test this on a daily basis at the moment.

    It is beyond a joke.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-22T22:56:33+00:00

    Well said, Brandon!

    Microsoft, please roll back the change.  You have just made Family Safety next to useless.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-22T16:30:09+00:00

    This is outrageous that they would do this.

    They have basically disabled family safety on all the other devices allowing all my kids to view anything and everything.

    And like you say, there is no way to know which device is which, this is a joke.

    I really have no choice now but to find another solution and stop using family safety.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-04-22T15:42:19+00:00

    100% agree. It is beyond me how anyone would consider this change an improvement. For years now every parental controls vendor out there, including Microsoft, has been promoting the ability of their solution to manage settings across multiple devices, including  PCs, tablets, and even phones. MS has led the way in providing a stable, reliable, well-designed solution that integrates tightly with the OS without taking over key OS functions and creating instability and compatibility issues with other software.

    This is a HUGE step backwards and possibly a deal killer for our family. I was about to suggest recently that it would be nice to have some common settings that apply to all children, but now you've got the opposite direction and made the settings not just per-child, but per-device. That's just crazy.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-04-22T14:02:00+00:00

    I agree 100%.  Please fix this!

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