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
    2015-07-01T03:16:21+00:00

    Hi AlwaysDriving,

    If you're not using any devices using Windows 10 or a Windows Phone, you need to make the settings adjustments on the *local account* entries only on account.microsoft.com/family.  If you're making settings adjustments to the profile that shows her MSA, those changes will not be applied to your Windows 8.1 devices (even though she may log in using the MSA). 

    If there's a particular device that's problematic, also make sure that *on that device* your daughter's user account is set as child and make sure to click on the "manage your family safety settings online" button in that UI on that device.  The synching relationship might need to be reestablished.   If she's not ever getting the message that the account is being monitored when she uses that device, and she seems to have access to more than she should, this should help. 

    If you're still stuck after that, I will ask a moderator to contact you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-01T03:13:20+00:00

    Thanks Eliezer, I really appreciate the feedback! How often did you set those breaks up? Were they at the same time every day, or did you set them up based on your kids' activity?

    It would change depending on the day of week - and, yes, the times would vary depending on the day. The main point is flexibility. Parents need flexibility to effectively keep their individual kids' computer usage safe and healthy.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-01T03:06:03+00:00

    Thanks Eliezer, I really appreciate the feedback! How often did you set those breaks up? Were they at the same time every day, or did you set them up based on your kids' activity?

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-07-01T02:48:30+00:00

    Could you tell me a little more about how you used the old 'grid' feature? Why was it important for you to have those "blocks" of time that you could place in the middle of the day?

    I wasn't asked but I'll answer :-)  It was useful to me to enforce a break. Let's say I want my kids to be doing homework during that time and not using the computer then, etc.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-07-01T02:34:30+00:00

    Hi Mark -

    Could you tell me a little more about how you used the old 'grid' feature? Why was it important for you to have those "blocks" of time that you could place in the middle of the day?

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