Using Time Monitor Administrator
How to use the Time Monitor Administrator program
This document describes how to use the Time Monitor Administrator program to define the computer access schedule and computer time limit for each account on your computer system. For additional information regarding the Time Monitor Administrator program go to the Support Center or the See Also section of this guide.
The Time Monitor Administrator program is only accessible by Administrator accounts defined on your computer. Standard, or limited, accounts will not be able to run this program. It is extremely important that only you, and/or someone you trust, have Administrator accounts on your computers. Time Monitor integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Windows and makes use of the Windows accounts you have defined. Because it works so well with Windows it does not require separate passwords in order to function properly.
To configure a standard user account to be monitored you must define a schedule for that user. You must do this prior to that user logging into the system, otherwise they will not be able to use the computer system at all. If you haven't read the document Installing Time Monitor please do so now before continuing. If you have not defined the settings used by the Time Monitor system tray application please read Time Monitor Administrator Settings and the Time Monitor tray program documentation.
When you first run the Time Monitor Administrator program you will see the following screen:
This screen is where you will spend most of your time defining the access policy for the user account. The access policy is defined as setting up schedules and time limits . It makes very good use of your mouse to do most of the task - the only exception is the [hours : minutes] used field where you can input or modify numbers directly. More on this later in this guide.
The User Name drop down list contains all the accounts currently defined on your system that you can create policies for. This list is influenced by the Account Filter List setting in the Options->Settings dialog. If you don't see the account you want to modify then double check that you did in fact a.) create that account using the Windows User Accounts control panel and that b.) the Account List Filter is set to "All Users".
Following software installation the default access policy set up for Administrator accounts allows full access and no time limits. The default access policy for standard or limited users is no access. When you select a user from the dropdown list, the access policy is loaded for that user. The picture to the left of the User Name is a hint as to the account type. The following screen is displayed when you click on the icon:
If the picture includes a key then that account is an administrative account. If it does not include a key then it is a limited account. As an added feature you can change the gender displayed for the account to match the gender of the user by clicking on the icon. It will display 4 icons - two female and two male - with each gender having one key icon. By simply selecting an icon you can switch an account from administrator to standard or vice versa. Note that Time Monitor does not know the gender of each account so you probably want to switch to the correct gender for each account.
The Hours drop-down list contains the total amount of time for that day of the week the user is allowed on the computer. Each day of the week has a separate drop-down list that applies only to that day. This allows you to set different time limits for each day of the week. The time is in 1/2 hour increments providing you with much finer control than most other programs on the market today. Here is an example of the Hours drop-down list:
The time grid is where you will define what time the currently selected user is allowed to log on to the computer. The time is in 1/2 hour increments enabling you, for example, to allow your kids to log on at 7:30am but be logged off at 9:30pm. This feature is not available in most of our competitors offerings. Something you should consider carefully.
Setting the access time is extremely easy. Simply left-click and drag your mouse around on the grid. Doing this will either allow or block the time as shown in the preview. When you release the left mouse button the preview shown then becomes active. You can left-click and drag as much as you want. Feel free to experiment. Try it. You'll be amazed at how easy we made it!
There is no Save button or File/Save menu option. All changes are automatically saved to the system whenever you change account selections or exit the program. So be sure your accounts are set up the way you want them when you close out the Administrator application.