Windows 10 Child account problems

I have a laptop that was running Windows 8.1 that I've recently upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. I had to delete my six year old son's local account because Child Accounts now have to be Microsoft accounts. That means changing his password to something that's going to be difficult for a six year old to remember, oh well.

I've got a couple problems now. The main thing my son used to do in his account was to watch YouTube videos. We did bing video searches for kid-friendly terms and would then pin them to the start screen. I'm able to do pretty much the same thing now, but he can't watch any of them. We can see the preview of the videos in a bing video search if we hover over them, but when we actually try to view them we just see a blank white square. Also, if I try to visit youtube.com by typing that in the address bar in Edge or IE it seems to run forever, almost like a DNS problem. This was with "block inappropriate sites" set to off in family settings. I've turned it on, but it didn't help.

With 8.1, it would filter some YouTube videos, but it would see a message on the screen to that effect. My recollection with 8.1 is that you could set various levels of blocking set, this seems to be gone now. In general the family settings in 8.1 offered much more control, but there's no message on the page. I'm afraid that if I add youtube to the allowed list, it won't block ANY youtube videos, which would be BAD.

Another problem I'm having is that Windows 10 seems to have lost the ability to ask a grownup for more time. I've allowed my son 1 hour per day (previously 45 minutes, but the new Family Settings time limits aren't as granular as before.) When he ran out of time in 8.1 it would offer me the chance to log in and give him more time. I've been eating up my son's computer time trying to troubleshoot these problems, but I haven't found any way to give him more time. The message that's displayed on the screen when he's running low on time implies that this is possible, but I don't see how.

Solution 1:

Let me try to answer this by problem raised

Password to hard to remember:

You can opt to have a pin number as well. This is only 4 digits and is in the accounts settings of "Signing In".

Watching over Child's account:

You will need to have an email address for the child. Sounds weird but mine have multiple accounts already for when they grow up (Toddler, Child, and last is a family emergency contact where it never gets used or stored except close family). So kids having emails is not unheard of especially due to the email addresses now being like an SSN for the IoT.

Once that's done you setup a Microsoft Account using that email (Or use theirs.. MS's.. if you like) as a child. This add account is in control panel for those not knowing and reading this as a "Help". Go through the steps and make sure when you set it up, watch what's going on and read. Dont just click through. You'll start to notice they are making it so if the child logs in under their name on this computer or any computer your settings you have picked are enforced no matter the system.

Then for the fine tuning goto:

Family Settings on the web.

This will have all the needs you are looking for. It has setting screen times on certain days as well as certain times and also allowing or disallowing websites. So if you find a link to a certain YouTube you can allow it or through his account and email make it so Youtube also helps block by listing the account as a child.

Later as the child grows and you share products like office with them they can use it since they are linked.

Another nice feature is it can track them and useage as well as "Locate" them to see where they are if logged in. (While some claim "OMG MS IS SPYING"... for a parent this can be one heck of a piece of mind feature which also can be turned off. As with most "OMG SPYING" features).

What this also allows is if you travel or they go to a family member/ Friend house. They can still login but it will immediately have the settings you want and you dont have to worry.....much.

This was to answer how to do this in Win10. I use multiple systems and OSes and havent had the "Problems" that most have with Win10. Also to note my one 5 year old uses this and settings but also Linux (Very basic setting with MATE) since he likes the Tux mascot. So I know everything mentioned can be done like you would like since ive done them on his Win10 Rig.

Hope this Helps.