Setting up MS laptop for child

ChilliBob

Hey everyone, 

I've got my son his first Microsoft laptop, and I think I've got it basically setup but I wanted to ask the more tech focused parents on here what I have missed. 

For context, I used to be pretty tech savvy in a home and corporate setting, having had a stint as an IT admib etc - but that was a good decade ago, and things move on!

My son is 8, and will be using the laptop for Google Classroom, browser for research and YouTube for watching sfuff.

At the moment I have:
1. Signed in as me, with my MS account
2. Setup an MS account for my son, with his DOB entered
3. Setup chrome with a school and home profile and made shortcuts for it
4. Installed the family app on my phone
5. Tried to buy something from the MS store myself, as my son, and yes, it didn't just go through!
6. Downloaded office from the ms store (I have family 365).

It seems that defender is enabled and setup by default, along with windows firewall. This feels enough for now. 

I guess my concerns are whether anything happening on his login could impact my data under my login - some kind of virus or malware for example. Ideally I'd have gone oldskool and setup an pair of local accounts - admin and restricted used, however, that feels a bit arcane now and not the future!

Any tips or advise much appreciated! 

Grey_Critic

***It seems that defender is enabled and setup by default, along with windows firewall. This feels enough for now. ***

Ensure that any Bloatware is disabled/removed.  Free Trials of MacAfee and such. You cannot run two anti virus programmes. 

ChilliBob

Grey_Critic said:

***It seems that defender is enabled and setup by default, along with windows firewall. This feels enough for now. ***

Ensure that any Bloatware is disabled/removed.  Free Trials of MacAfee and such. You cannot run two anti virus programmes. 

It's a reconditioned Dell, I was expecting a bit, luckily none. I actually used to have a batch file I'd written back in the day to wipe all that sfuff from Dell machines before making them domain ready. Not sure I could write a batch file now mind lol

Vitor

- Installed the family app on my phone - 

I assume you've setup all the Microsoft Family controls? However do be most effective I'd setup Edge on the laptop rather than Chrome as Edge is fully integrated with Microsoft's controls.

How to set up Microsoft Family Features and Parental Controls in Windows 10 | ITProTV

I'd also setup the machine with a filtering DNS 1.1.1.1 — The free app that makes your Internet faster.#

- Ideally I'd have gone oldskool and setup an pair of local accounts - admin and restricted used, however, that feels a bit arcane now and not the future! -

The child's login must have only User rights. With Admin rights everything else is pointless.

ChilliBob

Yeah I've had a tinker with the family controls. On the face of it they're not that good - or as intuitive - as the Google Family Link (which I hsve on his tablet).

On Family Link for example, I can add any school related apps, like Times Tables Rockstars, to aist which doesn't count towards the daily limit I set. It doesn't seem obvious how to do that on MS, but I've only tinkered for 10-20 mins. 

I know edge probably would be the right choice, and I'm sure it's fine. I come from the generation when it was Firefox and Chrome, and IE was left for dust!

I hadn't come across the DNS thing you mentioned before, it's interesting, I'll certainly give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion. 

TheNorthStar

Vitor said:

- Installed the family app on my phone - 

I assume you've setup all the Microsoft Family controls? However do be most effective I'd setup Edge on the laptop rather than Chrome as Edge is fully integrated with Microsoft's controls.

How to set up Microsoft Family Features and Parental Controls in Windows 10 | ITProTV

I'd also setup the machine with a filtering DNS 1.1.1.1 — The free app that makes your Internet faster.#

- Ideally I'd have gone oldskool and setup an pair of local accounts - admin and restricted used, however, that feels a bit arcane now and not the future! -

The child's login must have only User rights. With Admin rights everything else is pointless.

I highly recommend using a DNS service. I haven’t used the one from Cloudflare, but we’ve used OpenDNS by Cisco, which works on the same principle. If you have a static IP address at your property, you can tailor the results and monitor when items on the blacklist are triggered. It’s also free to use.

ChilliBob

Thanks, yeah I'm keen to try that - felt like stepping back in time when I tinkered earlier today. It's a dynamic IP we have.

Thanks for the link for the MS Family stuff @Vitor

Frozen_up_north

Vitor said:

The child's login must have only User rights. With Admin rights everything else is pointless.

Windows can be as restricted as you want it to be, but it will need a little bedtime reading on how to configure it.

Think corporate/business rather than home use, where most home users have admin rights.

If the computer came with Windows Professional you have more control, but you can restrict Home as well.

mksysb

ChilliBob said:

Hey everyone, 

I've got my son his first Microsoft laptop, and I think I've got it basically setup but I wanted to ask the more tech focused parents on here what I have missed. 

For context, I used to be pretty tech savvy in a home and corporate setting, having had a stint as an IT admib etc - but that was a good decade ago, and things move on!

My son is 8, and will be using the laptop for Google Classroom, browser for research and YouTube for watching sfuff.

At the moment I have:
1. Signed in as me, with my MS account
2. Setup an MS account for my son, with his DOB entered
3. Setup chrome with a school and home profile and made shortcuts for it
4. Installed the family app on my phone
5. Tried to buy something from the MS store myself, as my son, and yes, it didn't just go through!
6. Downloaded office from the ms store (I have family 365).

It seems that defender is enabled and setup by default, along with windows firewall. This feels enough for now. 

I guess my concerns are whether anything happening on his login could impact my data under my login - some kind of virus or malware for example. Ideally I'd have gone oldskool and setup an pair of local accounts - admin and restricted used, however, that feels a bit arcane now and not the future!

Any tips or advise much appreciated! 

Given that he is using Google classroom, I would go with the entire Google eco-system, ie Google Chrome, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets etc., and forget about all the Microsoft stuff such as Office, OneDrive etc.  Google has very good offerings and it'll make things easier and more secure to rely on one environment rather than trying to mix the two, 

ChilliBob

Yeah, the Google ecosystem is known to him fairly well, and it seems school will teach the likes of Google Slides etc. So he will stick with that. 

However, it is an MS laptop, so some Windows knowledge will be required, but tbh it's more me and how I configure it. 

I'm thinking, if possible to reverse, I'll setup another MS account as like a 'Family Admin' that I can use on this and future devices and share with my wife. Yes, it takes an office license perhaps, but the family pack I have spare. 

Vitor

A good knowledge of Microsoft Windows and apps is essential outside of academia