I discovered NSM two and a half weeks ago when I went to update Parental Controls.
Firstly, let me say that my wife and I think that the concept is outstanding. For years we have struggled with the children exceeding agreed time limits (not just internet, but machine time in general), and the ability to have automatic shutdown means we don't need to stand there with a stopwatch; and although the computers are all in a common area we have never been sure we know exactlywhat they are doing. Within days of installing NSM, it led us to discover an extremely worrying line of communication that our pre-teen son was having with an unknown "friend" on MSN - it was serious enough to get police involvement, but just as importantly it shocked us into having the discussion that we knew we had to have (and gave us real facts to use) with our five children, especially the teen / pre-teen. I appreciate the use of the product without charge, especially during the development stage, but would also happily pay for it (either standalone of as part of my NIS renewal) as there cannot be a price put on child safety on the internet.
I have a few queries and comments.
1. I have noticed some threads about receiving messages that the Safety Minder tool has been disabled. We have received these messages, most days, only for one of the children's accounts (the son referred to above). I will monitor the threads. Can you tell me whether the software automatically checks for and installs updates?
2. Re Time Settings - I set a weekend limit of three hours for the older children. I know that our son was on for at least two hours this morning. After lunch I queried that I thought his time may have been exceeded, but when I checked his available time it said 2 hours 52 mins. Sometimes I suspect that he has used another child's account, but they all say no activity today, and I think I have tightened up all passwords now. Could there be a time zone issue with us being in Australia?
3. A suggestion re Time Settings - not only the ability to set a total time limit for the day, but also a time limit for each session - eg. fo our younger children (who are usually just gaming rather than homework requirements) I would like to say 2 hours max for a day, but 1 hour max in a single session with a break of say two hours minimum.
4. My daughter has a school laptop. She logs in with a student ID related to the school domain/server, even when away from school. This is not set up as a user account under XP, so NSM doesn't pick it up. Is there some way to link the only XP account that is on the machine ("Manager") to the acutal login? By the way, our school IT department is extremely impressed with the concept, and they are considering recommending it to all parents after they check it out and if this login issue can be resolved.
5. On a trivial matter - can you make available some of the following icons for the personal profile - Austraian flag, kangaroo, koala?
Thank you for your assistance, and for this product. I get a sense that you are guys are really genuine and passionate about this.
Jeremy
Queensland, Australia
