How to Use HT Parental Controls — A Quick Start Guide
Protect your children online like a pro in just a few minutes! Learn how now.
Getting Started
The app is built for Windows and won't run on any other OS.
Install from any administrator account — no need to switch to your child’s profile.
Starts monitoring immediately once installation is complete.
Nothing is blocked by default — set your own filters, time limits, or schedules as needed.
Runs in the background and launches automatically at every startup.
Manage rules and view reports remotely on the same network — click here for a step-by-step guide.
Additional Information
What operating systems are compatible with HT Parental Controls? Which browsers are supported?
Rules
Our internet filter lets you prevent your child from accessing inappropriate websites. Block websites that fall into any of the 10 different categories, thus ensuring a safe online experience for your child.
- Click Rules → Website Limits.
- Choose Block for the categories you wish to block.
With HT Parental Controls, you can manage the amount of time your child spends on specific apps and websites. For instance, you can set time limits for websites that you don’t want to completely block (like certain social networks or games).
- Click Rule → Website Limits.
- Select Limit for the categories you want to restrict time for.
- Alternatively, add the sites/keywords to the Custom list and select Limit for them.
- Set time restrictions for the limited sites per hour or day, and/or set 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 Parental Controls provides the option to block all websites except those on the Allowlist, thereby ensuring that your child can only access approved sites. To enable this feature:
- Go to Rules → Website Blocking.
- Add the sites/keywords you want to permit to the Allowlist.
- Tick Allow access only to the websites above to block everything else.
Important! URLs must match exactly.
– 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.
If the checkbox is off, the Allowlist acts as an exception list—unblocking sites you don’t want blocked.
You can check why a website was blocked by looking at the Reason column in the Alerts section.
If the checkbox is off, the Allowlist works as an exception list — it unblocks sites you don’t want blocked.
With HT Parental Controls, you can block or set time limits for specific apps including games, messengers, browsers, and more. To do this, follow these steps:
- Go to Rules → App Blocking.
- Choose either Block or Limit for each app category that you want to restrict for your child.
- Alternatively, you can add specific apps to the Custom List. Click «Add,» select the app from the list that appears, or click «Browse »to select its executable file installed on the computer.
- Configure Time Restrictions and Schedule for the «Limited» apps/categories.
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.
Screen Time lets you control when — and for how long — your child can use the computer.
- Go to Rules → Screen Time.
- Under PC Usage Limits, set the maximum number of hours allowed per day or per week.
- In the schedule grid, click and drag to block specific hours — green means allowed, red means blocked.
- Choose what happens when time runs out: either log out the user or shut down the computer.
Reports
HT Parental Controls provides detailed reports of website and application usage, time spent on the PC, search queries, screenshots, etc. With these reports, you can monitor how your child spends time online.
- Go to Reports and click the reports you wish to view.
- Select the date ranges for the report.
With HT Parental Controls, you can receive all activity reports from your child’s computer directly to your email. To set up email reporting, follow these steps:
- Go to Rules → Email Reporting.
- Enter your email address and specify the time interval for the reports.
More Information
I do not get email reports
HT Parental Controls 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 notice a distracting app or website, click to select it, then click the Block or Limit button at the bottom of the tab.
For Remote Console, click the ⋮ (ellipsis menu) menu next to it and choose Block or Limit.
Advanced
No matter how intricate and complex your restrictions are, they won’t be effective if your tech-savvy child figures out how to stop the program from running. Therefore, protect HT Parental Controls using these built-in options:
- Add a program password
In the top-right corner choose Menu → Set Password. - Lock the Windows Task Manager
Go to Rules → Enhanced Security and enable Restrict Access to Task Manager. - Block third-party task managers
Go to App Blocking, select the Task Managers category, and set it to Block. - Block unsupported browsers
Go to App Blocking, select the Unsupported Browsers category, and set it to Block. - Remove admin rights from the child’s account
Switch the account type to Standard so system-level changes require your credentials. Learn how to make this change
For detailed instructions on preventing children from circumventing HT Parental Controls, read our comprehensive guide.
Remote Access lets you open the HT Parental Controls console from any other device on the same local network, so you can read reports and adjust rules without touching your child’s computer.
- Open Settings → Remote Access.
- If Remote Access is off, click Turn on. The console URL (for example,
http://192.168.1.15:8080)appears on the screen. - Access the address using a browser on any device on the same network. This could be your mobile phone or laptop.
- Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi or LAN segment.
- The child’s PC has to be powered on; all logs and settings remain stored locally on that machine.
- The Remote Console is only a gateway to those local files, not a cloud service.
After installation, HT Parental Controls automatically supervises all users on the computer, including those with administrator rights. You can completely turn off monitoring and rules for your own account while keeping protection active for all other current and future users. To manage who is monitored and how:
- Go to Settings → User Settings.
- Enable or disable specific filters and monitoring options for each account.
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! Alternatively, you can refer to our detailed "How-To" guide for troubleshooting tips and instructions.
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