Time Monitor Administrator Settings
Defining Time Monitor Administrator settings
This document contains all the information required to effectively use the Time Monitor Administrator program to properly configure the Time Monitor parental control software application. These settings affect how the Time Monitor Administrator program and the Time Monitor system tray application will function. Please read this document and understand it's feature set before allowing users on the computer system you are protecting.
When you first run the Time Monitor Administrator program you will see the following screen:
After creating all of the user accounts that will be accessing the system your first task is to set the global settings used by Time Monitor. From the menu click on "Options" then select "Settings".
You will then see the following screen:
TIME MONITOR SETTINGS
Settings are divided into three main catagories:
PREFERENCES
The four settings you can modify here and their descriptions are:
Enable voice warning messages
This setting, when checked, indicates that Time Monitor should play the voice warning sound messages. These voice warning messages are played at 5 minutes, and again at 1 minute, before the current user is forced to logoff. You can even record and use your own warning messages. See the document Customizing Time Monitor Voice Messages for more information. Kids enjoy this feature when you do it with them!
Turning this feature off is necessary for Internet cafes and Public Libraries where the voice messages would be a distraction to other users.
Use 24 hour format
This setting gives you the option of displaying the time grid on the main screen in either standard AM/PM time or 24 hour (military) time.
First warning message
Select from this dropdown list the number of minutes a warning message is displayed before a logged in account is forced to logoff. This warning message screen provides ample amount of time for the user to save any changes to his or her documents, log out of web sites, and close down any applications currently running.
Final warning message
Select from this dropdown list the number of minutes before an account is logged off to display the final warning message. This warning message screen informs the user that he or she will be logged off soon and all currently running programs should be stopped and all document changes saved by now.
ACCOUNT LIST FILTER
This setting can be used to limit the types of accounts displayed from the main window's User Name drop down list. The settings are:
All Users
Click this radio button to display all user accounts currently defined on your computer system. This is the default setting. It includes all administrators, normal users, and guest accounts. You will most likely keep this default setting when managing your user accounts.
Non Administrators
Click this radio button to display all user accounts on your computer system that do not have administrative rights. You might choose this setting once you ensure all accounts have been configured properly to reduce the number of accounts in the UserName drop down list to just the normal accounts as you will probably not be modifying Administrative accounts often.
Guests Only
Select this setting to view only the guest accounts on your computer from the User Name drop down list. This setting is rarely used but may help you in determining the number of accounts, if any, that are defined as guest accounts.
SYSTEM POLICY
The following options permit you to define the master Time Monitor Administrator and to allow or deny access to certain Windows system tools. Limited, or standard, user accounts do not need to run these programs and the check boxes should be cleared. Enable these programs only if you absolutely require their functionality. Even if you don't know what these tools are, chances are your teen-agers do and they may try to use them to circumvent the time schedules you have created!
Program requires specific administrator
This check box enables protection of the master Time Monitor Administrator account. When checked, only the Windows administrator account enabling the protection operation will be allowed access to the Time Monitor Administrator program. All other Windows accounts, including both limited and other administrative users, are denied access to the Time Monitor Administrator program by this protection feature. This feature allows, for example, your child to play their favorite game that requires administrator privileges in order to run yet still provide time limits on their computer use as well as restrict their access to the Time Monitor Administrator program.
By default, beginning with Time Monitor v1.1.0, the administrator installing Time Monitor is the master administrator and account security protection is enabled. DO NOT delete this account or reduce privileges from Administrator to Limited/Standard using Windows User Accounts. Doing so will prevent you from making any changes in the future.
If you and your spouse both have administrator accounts and your children are set to limited/standard accounts you can clear this check box to enable both parents to perform Time Monitor Administrator duties. If any of your children have administrator accounts then you must enable this feature if you are trying to limit their computer time!
Enable Task Manager
This check box allows or denies acces to the system's Task Manager program. This setting applies to all accounts on the system except the master account. This check box will normally be unchecked to prevent users from changing certain functionality of the operating system. Only enable this program on an as needed basis or if you asked to by Time Monitor Technical support when troubleshooting issues.
Enable Registry Editing
This check box allows or denies acces to the system's registry editor program. This setting applies to all accounts on the system except the master Time Monitor Administrator account. Similar to the previous setting this check box will normally be unchecked to prevent users from changing certain functionality of the operating system. Only enable this program on an as needed basis or if you asked to by Time Monitor Technical support when troubleshooting issues.
Log All System Messages
Enabling this check box will add additional messages to the system's event log if internal errors are detected when Time Monitor is running. This is off by default but may be enabled if you are trying to troubleshoot any problems with our Tech Support staff.
FINISHING UP
Once all the changes you make to the global settings are complete click on the [OK] button to save these settings. Even if you didn't make any changes please click the [ OK ] button to ensure that the system gets updated properly the first time the Administrator program is run. Click [CANCEL] to cancel out any changes. At any time you may click on the [HELP] button to view local help information.
The next task is to create the schedules for your users that define when they are allowed on the computer and for how long. See Using the Time Monitor Administrator program for more information regarding this task.