Safari icon

Setting up parental controls

If you have an administrative account on a computer, you can set controls so users view only websites you’ve added to the bookmarks bar. They can’t enter web addresses in the address field, use the Google search field, or modify any of the bookmarks.

Note: Follow these instructions only if you’re using Mac OS X version 10.4 (Tiger). If you’re using Mac OS X version 10.5 (Leopard), see this topic instead:

Choosing which websites users can view

To choose approved websites for a user:

Step 1

Log in as the user, and open Safari.

Step 2

Choose Safari > Preferences, click Security, and deselect “Enable parental controls.”

Step 3

Enter an administrator’s name and password when it is requested.

Step 4

Add bookmarks for the websites you want the user to visit in the bookmarks bar. Remove all other bookmarks from the bookmarks bar.

When you add a page to the bookmarks bar, the user can visit any page on that site. For example, if you add a bookmark for http://www.apple.com/index.html, the user can visit any page at apple.com, and not just index.html.

Step 5

When you’re done, choose Safari > Preferences, click Security, and then select “Enable parental controls.”

Step 6

While you’re still logged in as the user, visit the sites you want that user to view to make sure the user can still view them. Some webpages don’t display content but transfer you automatically to a page on a different site. If you want the transfer to work correctly, both sites (the original site and the site you’re transferred to) must be in the bookmarks bar.

Parental controls don’t prevent users from viewing websites in other browsers. To prevent a user from using other web browsers, use the Accounts pane in System Preferences to set up the parental controls for Finder & System, and choose the applications the user can open.

Open

Accounts preferences