How to use McAfee Family Protection

What is McAfee Family Protection?

McAfee® Family Protection offers advanced parental controls that allow you to monitor and control your children's Internet and instant messaging use. It also lets you control what can be viewed, listened to, or shared with others from your home computer.

Follow the links on the left to choose settings for Family Protection.

Family Protection is a feature of McAfee Security from Bell Better and Best editions. If you did not install Family Protection when you installed McAfee Security from Bell but would like to do so now, see How to install McAfee Security from Bell on my computer.

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Web blocking

Control the sites your child can see online and in web searches. Manage YouTube and media player use.

Setting up web blocking

1. Double-click the McAfee® Family Protection icon on your desktop.
2. Type your Administrator username and password.
3. Select Web Blocking.
4. Choose categories of websites to block.
   1. Click Choose Banned Categories.
   2. Choose the categories of websites you want to block. You’ll see a description of the category when you select it.
   3. Enable or disable the option to Filter secure (HTTPS/SSL) websites based on category.
   4. Click Save Settings.
5. Create your own list of websites to allow or block.
   1. Click Create Your Own Site Lists.
   2. In the Site Address box, type the URL for the website you want to block or allow.
   3. Select either Allow Site or Ban Site.
   4. Select Add this site for all users.
   5. Click Add Site.
6. Select words to block in web searches and websites.
   1. Click Configure Banned Keywords/Phrases.
   2. Select Block Profanity and/or Block Sexually Suggestive Words to use the predetermined lists.
   3. To specify your own words and phrases, enter them into the text box and click Add Keyword. To remove a word from this list, select it and click Remove Selected Keyword.
7. Control access to YouTube and streaming media.
   1. Click YouTube and Streaming Media.
   2. Select one of the options for managing YouTube.
   3. Select the media players you want to block.
   4. Click Save Settings.

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Program blocking

Monitor, control and set time limits on your children’s use of software that accesses the Internet.

Setting up program blocking

1. Double-click the McAfee® Family Protection icon on your desktop and log in.
2. Select Program Blocking.
3. Select the user account you want to set preferences for.
4. Select the types of programs you want to block. Use the + signs to expand the categories. See below to add your own choices to the Custom Programs category.
5. To make these settings apply to everyone who uses your computer, regardless of account name, select the box beside Apply these settings to all users.
6. Click Advanced Settings.
7. Select optional advanced settings:
   • Block access to these programs when not logged in (applies to all users): Prevents the specified programs from accessing the Internet regardless which user (if any) is logged in.
   • Terminate all Internet activity when logging off: Completely blocks Internet access when the allowed user accounts log off.
8. Click Save Settings.
9. Click Program Blocking again, then Save Settings.

To add specific programs to the Custom Programs category:

1. Right-click the McAfee Family Protection icon on the desktop.
2. Select Program Blocking and Block a Program.
3. Select the program to be blocked or click Browse to select one that’s not listed.
4. Click Block.
5. Log in to Family Protection and select Program Blocking.
6. Expand Custom Programs.
7. Select the custom program you added and click Save Settings. The program you added to the Custom Program list will now be blocked.

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Social network monitoring

Block or monitor your children’s use of social networking sites.

Setting up social network monitoring

1. Right-click the McAfee® Family Protection icon on your desktop and log in.
2. Select Social Networking.
3. Select the user account you want to set preferences for.

From this screen you can Block social networking websites to prevent a child from accessing any social networking sites. Or you can set preferences to monitor your children’s use of social networking sites, such as recording when they post personal information (e.g. street address, phone or mobile number, school name) or saving posts containing profanity or sexually suggestive terms.

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Activity reporting

Receive reports by email showing all your children’s Internet and instant messaging activity.

Setting up activity monitoring

1. Right-click the McAfee® Family Protection icon on your desktop and log in.
2. Select Activity Reports.
3. Select the user account you want to set preferences for.
4. Select how often you'd like reports emailed to you (Never, Daily, or Weekly).
5. Enter the email address, or addresses, you'd like the reports sent to.
6. Click Add.
7. Specify the number of days you'd like a report to be saved for (optional).
8. Click Apply.

McAfee and the McAfee logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc. in the United States and other countries.