How to Use HT Family Shield–A Quick Start Guide
Learn how to protect your children online in just a few minutes
Getting Started
Please follow these 3 steps to get started:
Step 1 – Download
Download family_shield_setup.exe on your children’s computer(s), then run the installer.
Step 2 – Install and Sign up
Install the HT Family Shield app by following the on-screen instructions, then open the app and sign up.
Step 3 – Open Online Dashboard
Use your parental device to visit https://family.ht-vector.com and manage your children’s computer(s) remotely.
To add another computer, just install the HT Family Shield app on that device and sign in with your account.
You don’t need to install the app on your own (parent) computer—everything can be managed directly from the web dashboard.
HT Family Shield starts protecting your computer the moment it’s installed. It launches automatically at startup and runs quietly in the background—recording activity and enforcing the rules you set. By default, nothing is blocked, so be sure to customize the filters and time limits to suit your needs.
Reports
With HT Family Shield, you can keep an eye on your child’s online activity and make sure they’re staying safe. Get detailed reports on the websites they visit, the apps they use, and the search terms they look up. You’ll also see how much time they spend on each activity. And if you notice something inappropriate or harmful, you can block it right from the reports.
- Click the Reports you want to see on the dashboard.
- If you see a distracting app or website in the report, click the ⋮ (ellipsis menu) menu next to it and choose Block or Limit.
HT Family Shield is always on the lookout for any attempts to access banned or restricted sites and apps, and we’ll notify you with alerts so you can start a conversation with your child.
HT Family Shield helps you take control fast. From the Reports view, you can instantly block or limit apps and websites based on real-time activity — no extra steps.
- Go to Reports → Applications or Websites.
- If you see a distracting app or website in the report, click the ⋮ (ellipsis menu) menu next to it and choose Block or Limit.
Rules
Our internet filter can detect and block adult sites and other unsuitable websites in banned categories to help your child safely connect to the digital world.
- Go to Rules → Website Limits.
- Select «Block» for the predefine categories you believe are inappropriate for viewing.
You can block unsupported browsers, click Rules → App Limits, and select Block for Unsupported Browsers.
HT Family Shield allows parents to set limits on how long their child can spend on specific sites and apps and the time of day they can access them. This feature helps you manage activities that you find disruptive or time-wasting.
- Go to Rules → Website Limits.
- Add the websites you want to restrict to the list and select the «Limit» status for them.
- Select «Limit» for time-wasting site categories.
- Set time restrictions for limited sites/categories and create a schedule if needed.
Block: Access is completely denied at all times.
Limit: Access time is capped per day. The daily quota is shared across all items marked as Limit.
The Website Blocking tab lets you deny access to specific sites or keywords and create exceptions with an allowlist. Use it to block inappropriate content or distractions while keeping essential pages available.
- Add a domains or keywords to block them completely.
- Wildcard example:
*_streaming_*blocks any URL or page title that contains “streaming”. - Enclose keywords in underscores to avoid over-blocking. For instance,
_bra_blocks only the word “bra”, whereas a plainbrarule would also block “BRAve”, “celeBRAte”, “liBRArian”, and so on.
- Use this to prevent overblocking.
- If a site is blocked by mistake, just add it here to restore access.
- Example: Blocking
chatmay also blockchatgpt.com— add it to the Allowlist to allow it. - Need “Allow-only” mode? See the next section for instructions.
HT Family Shield also offers an option to block all websites except those on the Allowlist. This ensures your child can access only approved sites.
- Go to Rules → Website Blocking.
- Add the allowed websites and keywords to the Allowlist.
- Turn on the «Allow access only to the websites above» toggle.
– Don’t include slashes, “www,” or unnecessary symbols.
– Best practice: copy the full address from your browser’s address bar and paste it into HT Family Shield.
App Blocking lets you shut down or time-cap any program you consider distracting. It offers three control options:
- Block: Access is completely denied at all times.
- Limit: Access time is capped per day. The daily quota is shared across all items marked as Limit.
- Allow: No restrictions – the app is always accessible.
- Go to Rules → App Blocking.
- Select an application from the drop-down list and click Add to include it in the Custom List.
- For each entry, choose Block or Limit.
- Alternatively, select a predefined category (Games, Social, etc.) to block or limit hundreds of related apps at once.
- If you choose Limit, set a daily time allowance or create a schedule for when the app is allowed to run.
HT Family Shield lets you control how long your child can use the computer daily or weekly by combining a visual schedule with time limits.
- Open Rules → Screen Time.
- In the Schedule grid, click and drag to mark blocked hours. Green means allowed; red means blocked.
- Use Computer Usage Limit to set the maximum daily or weekly computer usage.
- Choose what happens when the limit is reached: log the user out or shut down the computer.
Advanced
No matter how intricate and complex your restrictions are, they won’t work if your clever child can stop the program from running. Therefore, please protect HT Family Shield with these built-in options:
- Go to Rules → Enhanced Security enable Restrict access to Task Manager to prevent ending the process.
- If your child has admin rights, consider assigning them a Standard account for enhanced security. (see the linked guide)..
- In Rules → App Blocking, block the Unsupported Browsers category to remove alternative browsers that can bypass filtering.
- In the same tab, block the Process Managers category to prevent third-party tools that can kill running applications.
If you have forgotten or want to change your access password, please follow these steps:
- Go to https://family.ht-vector.com. If you are already logged in, click on your email account and select Sign Out.
- Click on Forgot Password receive an email with a link to reset your password.
- Important! After changing your password, the HT Family Shield app, which is installed on your child’s computer, will log out. Open the app using its desktop icon or from the installation folder and re-log in with your new password.
HT Family Shield allows you to customize the program options for each user on the computer. You can enable or disable filters and monitoring features for each user, ensuring they get the right level of protection while still being able to use the computer for their specific needs.
The uninstallation of HT Family Shield is protected from unauthorized users. To uninstall the application, you must know the login email and password associated with the account.
- Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps from the Windows Start menu.
- Find HT Family Shield in the list of installed applications.
- Click the three-dot menu next to the app and select Uninstall.
- When prompted, enter your login email and password, then click Uninstall.
- Confirm the uninstallation and allow the process to complete.
Have a question about using our app? Need help with configuration? Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re eager to hear from you!
Haven’t tried HT Family Shield yet? Download the 14-day trial version!
Liked the program? Purchase the full version!