IDG News Service - Microsoft has designed Windows 8 to make parental monitoring and control of children’s computer activities simpler and more effective, the company said on Monday.

In Windows 8, parents can receive a weekly report of their children’s online and PC activities by creating user accounts for each child and turning on the Family Safety feature.

“No additional downloads, installation wizards, or configuration steps are required,” the company said in a blog post authored by

Phil Sohn, Microsoft’s senior program manager lead for Family Safety.

The weekly report, delivered via email, includes information like websites visited, search queries, Windows Store downloads, most used applications and games and PC-use time length.

If, instead of being local Windows accounts specific to a particular PC, the parent and children accounts are based on a Windows Live ID, then the monitoring can extend to other machines the children log into.

With Windows Live ID-based accounts, parents can also apply usage control settings for their children accounts across multiple PCs. Settings established by parents are stored in Microsoft’s cloud-based Family Safety service.

These settings can be changed by clicking on different sections in the weekly report or by going directly to the Family Safety control panel.

For example, parents can restrict the websites children visit and games they play, establish time limits for using PCs and specific applications, and prevent children from seeing certain Windows Store applications based on their age rating.

Windows 8 is currently in “Consumer Preview” beta. According to Sohn, people interested in these Family Safety features should watch out for the next Windows 8 release, termed “Release Preview,” which Microsoft has said is expected at some point in June. Microsoft hasn’t said exactly when it plans to ship Windows 8 in commercial final form.

Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.

Give yourself a gift this Mother’s Day: more time. These tools can help.

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I don’t know about you, but this year for Mother’s Day, I know what I’d appreciate more than anything is a little help.

These tools can deliver just that—though you don’t need to be a mom to use them.

VolunteerSpot

VolunteerSpot is a free online coordination tool used by busy moms, teachers, or anyone who needs to coordinate participation from others for activities like help in the classroom, parent-teacher conferences, service projects, donations for silent auctions, or staffing for sporting events or races.

The site was born out of one mother’s frustration with reply-all email chains. On a 35-minute plane ride from Austin to Dallas to meet with a client for her consulting business Karen Bantuveris received 45 reply-all messages about whose turn it was to help in her child’s kindergarten classroom.

“This to me was a systems problem,” she says. ”People wanted to help, but over-communication was getting in the way.”

With its easy-to-use interface VolunteerSpot has garnered more than 1.5 million users since launching in 2009. I was able to register on the site and set up a volunteering event in less than 10 minutes. It also sends automatic reminders to volunteers so they don’t forget about their committment to help and there are premium versions available for $5-$30 that add features such as participant hours tracking, custom volunteer registration fields and multiple organizers.

Net Nanny

Mothers are keen on keeping their kids safe online. While Net Nanny isn’t new, it’s definitely one of the leaders in its space. Parents use it, but schools have also implemented it and there’s even a business version. It’s a software application that gives parents control over how their kids use the Internet and is designed to protect them from pornography and other adult-themed sites, violence, profanity, cyberbullying and stalking.

Net Nanny has some great features. It doesn’t allow peer-to-peer sharing, lets parents set time limits for how long kids can use the Web as well as vary rules based on children’s ages. It also lets them set ratings limits for games.

Probably its most differentiating feature, however, is its Dynamic Content Analysis, which looks at a webpage in real-time for inappropriate content before it opens and blocks it; it doesn’t just rely on predetermined websites or pages for filtering.

In January, Net Nanny release a mobile version for Android devices that provides the same protection for kids on the go; it runs $19.99 a year. The desktop version is $39.99 per year.

Ruckus Reader

This learning program for the iPad is a library of mobile apps that provide digital storybooks, narrated video books, as well as other literary activities for kids. Moms (and dads) like it because Ruckus Reader gives them feedback on their child’s reading experience through weekly “Reader Meter” email reports and an online dashboard that communicates details about how a child is progressing in terms of in-app reading skills such as phonics and word recognition, print awareness, fluency, alphabet knowledge, sequencing, and story comprehension.

Ruckus Reader was created by Ruckus Media Group Founder and CEO Rick Richter, a father and the former president and publisher of Simon & Schuster’s children’s division.

“What I like most about the Ruckus Reader is that a parent can list up to four people to receive the Ruckus Reader Meter. This means a teacher, a parent who doesn’t live in the home, a favorite grandparent or aunt can all receive updates on a child’s progress,” Richter says. “Essentially, we can build a community around the child actively engaged in the child’s progress.”

Manilla

Manilla is a free online and mobile household account and bill organizer that helps consumers manage their accounts like credit cards, utilities and phone bills, subscriptions, daily deals, and travel rewards programs.

To set it up, you give Manilla the login credentials for your various accounts and afterward you’ll be able to access them all with one password. The dashboard shows you all your balances at once, when payments are due, as well as a repository of account statements that you can download, print, or email. You can also configure it to shoot you email or text message reminders so you know when to pay bills, or in my case, flags to know when automatic payments are getting paid and funds are leaving my bank account.

Manilla is backed by the giant media company Hearst Corporation.

Picksie

This free location-based discovery service app for iPhone and Android is great for mothers who want to find family-friendly things to do during the summer months while the kids are out of school.

Its strength and utility lies in its personalization and intelligence. It filters out things that a real person wouldn’t probably want, such as outdoor spaces in the winter. Picksie also has some handy features such as integrated museum schedules, a quick-click ticketing feature, and thousands of on-app menus and restaurant reviews.

Picksie also gets smarter the more you use it in terms of the kinds of places and venues it will serve you. It takes into account weather, time of day, day of the week, and location when recommending things to do.

One caveat—for now it only works in the New York City and San Francisco Bay areas, but national rollout is coming soon.

Tango Card

Moms are incessantly buying teachers gifts on behalf of their kids. But just how many trinkets or bottles of lotion can one teacher appreciate?

Tango Card is a way for groups of people to easily chip in for a collective gift. It’s as simple as this: One organizing parent visits the Tango Card website, establishes the parameters of the gift, and invites other families that can contribute funds and share messages and photos.

Teachers, for their part, receive the gift value with a digital greeting card and can redeem their balance at retailers like Amazon, Target, or Starbucks, donate to a non-profit or even redeem it for cash.

Tango Card is free to use.

RetailMeNot.com

Many moms are into saving money but who’s got time to clip paper coupons anymore?

Supposedly the the largest online coupon site in the United States, second only to Groupon, RetailMeNot gets 400 million site visits each year and works with more than 100,000 retailers. At the site you can redeem coupons to use during checkout at an online retailer, or print them to take with to brick-and-mortar stores.

What’s really unique about RetailMeNot is half of the 500,000 coupons on the site at any given time are submitted by community members. And there’s no sign-up necessary whatsoever–the site doesn’t ask for any of your personal information.

Performance Toolkit

Since many mothers double as the IT administrator in the home, PC Tools’ Windows utilities product, Performance Toolkit, is a good one, especially if you’re thinking about selling or offloading your computer.

The software, available as a $39.99 download for a 1-year subscription on up to three PCs, works to maintain the overall health of your PC while also protecting your personal information and files. For example, you might not know that emptying your Recycle Bin doesn’t completely remove the files from your machine; even a moderately skilled hacker can retrieve them.

Performance Toolkit removes browsing history, deletes cookies, bleaches the hard drive, and shreds digital files. And it just makes computers work better.

Emeals

The eMeals team constructs and publishes more than 30 meal plans and corresponding grocery lists every week based on food style preferences, family size, and what’s on sale at your preferred grocery stores (including Whole Foods). Dinner menu plans include classic family meals, low-fat, portion control, low-carb, gluten-free, vegetarian dishes and organic.

The site’s founder, a mother of four, created it after struggling with meal planning herself and finding her reality to be drastically different from that of her mother, who had no problem feeding her large family on a small grocery budget with a weekly meal plan of her own creation.

This one comes recommended by personal finance guru Dave Ramsey and a membership with weekly emails costs $5 a month. Coming soon to mobile.

Stringfly

Put this one on your “Apps to Watch” list. It’s an app for iPhone and Android that pays multitasking mothers (or anyone) for engaging with brands.

After downloading Stringfly, you can browse various assignments and choose one to do while you’re shopping or running errands.

For example, an offer might give users coupons and cash for simply finding a product in a particular store, checking it out, uploading a photo of it, and giving some feedback to the brand. Any coupons are emailed to users and cash is sent out via PayPal or in the mail.

Stringfly is still building up its partner brands so for now most assignments are only in places like New York and Miami.

What apps for moms did I miss? Leave your favorites in the comments.

Christina DesMarais is an Inc.com contributor who writes about the tech start-up community, covering innovative ideas, news, and trends. Follow her tweets @salubriousdish or add her to one of your circles on Google+. Have a tip? Email her at christinadesmarais (at) live (dot) com. @salubriousdish

The use of software to filter Internet content for library patrons received support in a recent federal court ruling.

Officials at the King County Library System filter Internet content at public computers, although library patrons can have the filter deactivated. The library system uses a tiered system of filters to determine patrons’ access to Internet content.

In April, Eastern Washington Federal District Court Judge Edward F. Shea ruled the Wenatchee-based North Central Regional Library did not violate the First Amendment by installing Internet filtering software on computers for all library patrons.

Under a policy adopted in August 2003, the Issaquah-based library system provides access to the Internet on all public computers and uses Internet filtering software.

Library patrons can request unfiltered access to the Internet on public computers.

“Unfiltered access is available on request to those 17 years of age or older,” said Holly Koelling, King County Library System director of public services. “We do not require them to tell us why or justify that. If they request it, we provide it, but all adult patrons start with an initial filtering level.”

Under the federal Child Internet Protection Act, all adult library patrons must initially have filtered access to the Internet. Staffers set library cards for patrons 17 and older to a default filtering level to block access to pornography, malicious software, known as malware, and other unwanted software.

Staffers set library cards for all patrons under 17 at a default filtering level to block access to pornography and content geared for adults. The filter also blocks racist and violent content, plus malware.

The library system offers a more restrictive filter to block access to content related to alcohol, tobacco, weapons and other content, in addition to pornography and other materials blocked for patrons younger than 17. The most restrictive level also blocks access to email and instant messaging services.

Every computer in the children’s areas at King County Library System libraries is set to the most restrictive filter. Patrons can request the most restrictive filter for adults and children.

The library system’s original Internet policy debuted in 1994. Library staff conducted the most recent update in February.

Nadine Strossen, a New York Law School professor and former American Civil Liberties Union national president, advised library system staffers on Internet policies at a recent retreat.

System trustees also questioned staffers about the policy’s possible impacts.

“They’re always very interested in hearing what the public perception is, what people are experiencing and what there is that we might be able do to accommodate all in an environment, and whether we’ve taken all the steps that we can to best serve a wide range of needs and interests,” Koelling said.

‘Sanctuaries for people of all ages’

The recent court ruling came after the ACLU of Washington demanded for the North Central Regional Library to remove the Internet filter if adult library patrons requested its removal.

The library system filters adult images, pornography and gambling categories on public computers.

The decision followed a ruling from the state Supreme Court in May 2010. The high court ruled the North Central Regional Library did not violate the Washington Constitution.

The 28-branch North Central Regional Library is the largest library district in the state. The agency operates libraries in Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant and Okanogan counties.

“Common sense and taxpayers are the winners in this case,” North Central Regional Library Director Dean Marney said in a statement. “The courts have affirmed that public libraries have the right to be libraries. Libraries should never be forced to use public funds to provide access to child pornography or to become illegal casinos. Libraries should be sanctuaries for people of all ages.”

‘There’s bound to be some conflict’

In the King County system, Internet safety for patrons extends beyond filtering software, and in some cases extends to libraries’ floorplans, Koelling said.

Plastic privacy screens cover computer monitors to limit viewing, although passers-by can still catch glimpses through the screens.

“We have banks of computers close to each other, and although privacy screens are present, people can see at various spaces and moments what other people are looking at,” Koelling said. “Some things are easier to inadvertently view than others.”

The library system must balance First Amendment rights and federal law, as well as patrons’ safety and tastes.

“People feel very strongly. All of us have our convictions, our beliefs, our concerns, things that really bother us, things that we really stand behind and support,” Koelling said. “When you put all of those people together — which we love to do as a library system — into one space, taking advantage of all this incredible information and activity, there’s bound to be some conflict.”

The policy is designed, she said, to address concerns and needs of as many patrons as possible.

“We recognize that and we do everything that we can to support everyone’s fair use of the space, and we recognize that people do take offense and feel strong concerns and strong convictions about things that other people find perfectly reasonable, rational and normal,” Koelling said.

Most Internet-related complaints from patrons stem from other library users viewing pornography, although the staff is prepared for other scenarios.

“It is possible, for example, that someone could sit down next to another individual who was viewing something negative about a particular religious group or race, and speak to us about it,” Koelling said. “In which case, we would obviously, unless illegal, protect the rights of all of them to view what they choose to be viewing, and we don’t judge the reasons why.”

Issaquah resident Candice Hoffman said the tiered system does not offer enough safeguards for children and library patrons offended by pornographic material.

In January 2011, Hoffman and her then-12-year-old son noticed a man viewing pornography on a computer at the Issaquah Library.

“This guy was looking at really hardcore stuff in really large images, and I was shocked,” she said.

Hoffman said a library staffer explained the system’s policy. The librarian offered to ask the man to stop viewing the pornography, but Hoffman said the overall policy related to Internet pornography needs to be changed.

Upset about the incident, she stopped using the library.

“It doesn’t belong in the middle of the grocery store. It doesn’t belong in our schools. It doesn’t belong in the library,” Hoffman said.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

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