[SOLVED] Software to lock apps/programs for education computers??

[Tabathavm]

Hello! We currently are doing school at home virtually and am looking for some kind of controls or program lock that will be able to disable or lock all other apps on the computer from being able to be used and possibly lock the browser from being able to venture off of a website.
The problem we are facing is when the child is doing school through either the browser or an app they are venturing off to do other things like YouTube or games and it is causing them to waste time and not stay on task.

 

[Math Geek]

our school used lockdown browser for some testing at home. it prevent moving off the browser or changing focus from it. it'll stop a test if it detect anything at all. trying to take snips or leave the site or anything ends your test!!

i do not know much about it other than as a user. it might offer more options like you are thinking. but i do not know for sure.

just a thought for something to explore. i am not sure how you can lockdown a pc that is not really in your control completely

 

[Tabathavm]

our school used lockdown browser for some testing at home. it prevent moving off the browser or changing focus from it. it'll stop a test if it detect anything at all. trying to take snips or leave the site or anything ends your test!!

i do not know much about it other than as a user. it might offer more options like you are thinking. but i do not know for sure.

just a thought for something to explore. i am not sure how you can lockdown a pc that is not really in your control completely

Thanks! I will look into that browser that you are referring to. As for your last sentence... this is my own computer but it's dedicated only to their schooling so has nothing else on it.

 

[Math Geek]

ok, i see. you want to lock down your own pc for your own kid's sake. that's a bit different

i am not sure about locking a browser to a single page. never even thought of trying that. something like this add-on for chrome or firefox will allow you to set a list of sites to block if you know what they are. it may make it easy and let you create a white list instead of a black list.

BlockSite – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download BlockSite for Firefox. BlockSite is an extension, which automatically blocks websites of your choice. Additionally, this extension will disable all hyperlinks to these websites, by just displaying the link text without the clicking functionality.

addons.mozilla.org

you can create what is known as kiosk mode and set it to only allow a single app to run. so you could set it to only allow the browser, or zoom app or the 1 thing they are supposed to be on. it does not allow anything but that single app. it may be able to have multiple apps it it authorized but i have not tried it so not sure. i'd make a specific user for schoolwork either way so you can lock it down and then not have to change stuff for when the child is allowed to play around. would be easy to swap users than to try to turn on and off the restrictions. windows does let you block apps and such which might be an option as well.

do you have an idea of exactly what you want to allow for school time? might be able to piecemeal it if the list is rather short.

 

[Tabathavm]

Hello thank you for your response. to answer your question the only thing that they would be allowed to use would be their school app that they use to log in and do school OR they may also log into chrome through there. I'm also trying to get ideas for other families so like if one wants to use just the app but then another one doesn't use the app but uses the browser through chrome or whatnot I just want to be able to provide them with answers

 

[Math Geek]

looking a bit closer i forgot that kiosk mode only works on pro/education versions of windows. so not going to work for the average user who is likely using win 10 home.

so parental controls is going to be the best way to go about this. little more work than a simple kios mode but not too bad. this walks through setting up some parental controls that can include appas available, time limits and time windows where apps are available and so on.

How to Set App & Game Limits on Windows 10

Limit when child accounts in your Microsoft Family Group can access specific apps and games, or block them entirely.

www.howtogeek.com

this walks through limiting chrome to only 1 or 2 websites.

How to Block All Websites Except One in Chrome and Firefox

The Internet is an overwhelming source of information, but it also holds many equally overwhelming distractions. Staying focused on the web is far from easy, so the desire or straightforward need to block websites is pretty common. Besides distractions, there are safety reasons. There’s plenty...

www.techjunkie.com

i'd start a new profile as noted above so you can restrict that one and then have the normal one where anything can be done. this makes it easier that setting time limits and all that stuff, when a simple change of user can cover it all. obviously passwords need to be protected so the child can't simply swap users at will.

do note that the parental controls are probably safe from kids messing with them, they are very smart at getting around such things, but the chrome idea is not really protected if the child figures out how it was done. it'll be easy to remove if found out. so some parent oversight is a good idea. checking in here and there and looking to be sure chrome is still limited every couple days would not hurt anything

 

[Tabathavm]

looking a bit closer i forgot that kiosk mode only works on pro/education versions of windows. so not going to work for the average user who is likely using win 10 home.

so parental controls is going to be the best way to go about this. little more work than a simple kios mode but not too bad. this walks through setting up some parental controls that can include appas available, time limits and time windows where apps are available and so on.

How to Set App & Game Limits on Windows 10

Limit when child accounts in your Microsoft Family Group can access specific apps and games, or block them entirely.

www.howtogeek.com

this walks through limiting chrome to only 1 or 2 websites.

How to Block All Websites Except One in Chrome and Firefox

The Internet is an overwhelming source of information, but it also holds many equally overwhelming distractions. Staying focused on the web is far from easy, so the desire or straightforward need to block websites is pretty common. Besides distractions, there are safety reasons. There’s plenty...

www.techjunkie.com

i'd start a new profile as noted above so you can restrict that one and then have the normal one where anything can be done. this makes it easier that setting time limits and all that stuff, when a simple change of user can cover it all. obviously passwords need to be protected so the child can't simply swap users at will.

do note that the parental controls are probably safe from kids messing with them, they are very smart at getting around such things, but the chrome idea is not really protected if the child figures out how it was done. it'll be easy to remove if found out. so some parent oversight is a good idea. checking in here and there and looking to be sure chrome is still limited every couple days would not hurt anything

Awesome! Thank you for this! I will be looking int to this. Thanks your all your help!

 

[Math Geek]

come on back if you need another idea. there are more ways, but these are the built in options without buying new software.

 

[faalin]

I used this at work to force our CAD guys to use the new software and to only be able to use the old software if they could not figure something out

 

[Tabathavm]

come on back if you need another idea. there are more ways, but these are the built in options without buying new software.

I would be happy to know of any software ...even if it is paid.