Parental controls are features or apps that allow you to watch and limit what your child(not necessarily) does online. There is a wide range of services that do such things as restrict and monitor websites and links, track their actions, limit their time online, and view their browsing history and correspondence. While the capabilities of parental control applications vary, others will monitor keystrokes, take screenshots of what they're doing, log conversations on multiple pages or websites, and monitor where they're doing by offering information on the location of a desktop, mobile phone, or another computer.

So how to set up parental controls? Have a look!

On Your Router

Configuring them on your router is one of the simplest ways to set up parental controls. Your router serves as the choke point where your network's entire Internet traffic passes in. Setting up parental controls here will allow you to conduct web filtering for laptops, smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles with built-in browsers for all the gadgets on your network.

Any routers are supplied with parental controls built-in. It will also be advertised on the package if your router has this feature and will normally be clarified in the manual. You should go to the web-based setup sites of the router and set up the network's parental controls.

Many routers may not have parental controls, but you can set up parental controls on any router by using OpenDNS. You'll only need to change the DNS server configuration of your router to use OpenDNS to do this. OpenDNS helps you to set up an account and customize page filtering, enabling you to pick multiple types of website categories to ban. When accessed on your network, websites that you block will be routed to a "This site is blocked" message.

If you choose a computer on your network not to be filtered, you can manually adjust the DNS server so that OpenDNS is not used. This assumes, of course, that someone on your network will alter and circumvent the filtering of their DNS server. Such filters might be helpful for your kids like we mentioned, but a teenager can get around them.

 

On Windows 7

There are some built-in parental controls in Windows 7 that allow you to monitor the time a user account will log into the device and what applications it can use. When your children have individual user accounts on your computer, this is useful.

Windows 7 doesn't have a web filter, though. Family Protection, a free program that allows you to set up web filtering on Windows 7, is still offered by Microsoft. On your Windows 7 device, install the Family Safety application and you'll be able to monitor the settings from the Microsoft Family Safety website. The software is available as part of the Windows Basics kit from Microsoft.

 

On Windows 10 or Windows 8

Windows 8 and Windows 10 have built-in parental controls that merge the time limits and program access controls of Windows 7 with the network filtering of Family Protection and more new features. From the same Family Protection website, you can monitor your configurations and view reports.
 

With Software from Third Parties

You should also turn to parental controls for third parties. Many security suites on the Internet come with built-in parental controls. Check if it has built-in parental controls if you have a protection suite installed on your computer.

Like the popular Net Nanny that everyone has heard of, there are also dedicated parental management solutions that you can pay for. However, with a parental control solution, you don't need to pay. There are also other free alternatives to web filtering that you can use. Try to do an online search and you can find several other choices that will suit your requirements.

No parental controls, of course, are fine. They're not going to block all the negative stuff and can sometimes block anything positive. Sufficiently driven teens, if only by leaving their house and using the Internet somewhere or using their mobile, may even get past them.

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Google has the ability to text from the web with Android Messages. The feature gives users a lot more flexibility in choosing how and where they can carry on conversations. As long as your Android smartphone is powered on, you can text from a desktop computer or even other mobile devices — including iOS products like an iPad if you just open up Safari. Aside from text, you can also send emoji, stickers, and images over the web.

Using Android Messages on the web requires using Android Messages as your main texting app on your phone. I like it just fine, and Google is clearly planning big things for the future, but if you prefer, say, Samsung’s default messages app or something else, the two don’t work together.

With that out of the way, getting started and setting things up is fairly simple.

Make sure you’ve got the latest version of Android Messages installed on your phone.

Go to messages.android.com on the computer or other device you want to text from. You’ll see a big QR code on the right side of this page.

Open up Android Messages on your smartphone. Tap the icon with three vertical dots at the top and to the far right. You should see a “Messages for web” option inside this menu.

Tap “QR code scanner” and point your phone’s camera at the QR code on your other device. In less than a second, your phone will vibrate, and the two will be linked up. You should notice your conversations show up in the left column of the browser window. Google says that “conversation threads, contacts, and other settings will be encrypted and cached on your browser.”

Note: this doesn’t mean your actual text conversations are encrypted. They’re not.

And that’s it. To make sure you don’t have to repeat the QR process, you can keep your computer paired with your phone by enabling “Remember this computer.” There will probably be a pop-up asking if you want to enable that the first time you use the web version of Messages. If you missed it, just go to the settings menu, which you can access from the web version of Android Messages by clicking on the three-dot icon to the right of “Messages.” (Of course, you shouldn’t turn this on if you’re using a public PC that other people can easily access.)

WHICH BROWSERS WORK WITH ANDROID MESSAGES ON THE WEB?

Chrome
Firefox
Microsoft Edge
Safari

REMOVE A COMPUTER’S ACCESS TO YOUR MESSAGES

If you want to revoke a web browser’s access to your conversations and messaging, you can quickly do so from your Android smartphone. Go back to the “Messages for web” area of Android Messages, and you can choose to sign out of individual computers or all of them with a click.

THERE’S A DARK MODE!

Dark themes can be handy if you find that all an app’s whites and light grays might overload your eyeballs at night. If you want to enable the Messages dark theme on mobile, tap the same icon with three vertical dots and looking for “Choose theme.” You can go with light, dark, or the system default.

On the web app, you’ll find “Enable dark theme” in the menu that you get after clicking on the three-dot icon to the right of “Messages.

KEEP YOUR PHONE POWERED ON

Android Messages on the web can’t work independently of your smartphone. So if your battery dies or if your phone shuts off for any reason, you won’t be able to send any texts from your computer.

DRAG MEDIA INTO THE ANDROID MESSAGES CONVERSATION

Sending a photo from Android Messages on the web is dead simple. You can either use the attachments icon — to the right of emoji and stickers — or just drag and drop media into the conversation window to send an MMS.

Source:theverge

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You purchased a brand new handset, and you noticed a few months back that it wasn't as fast as it used to be. We've all been there, you android is running slow or loads slow and the concern is not confined to cheap devices; after many months of use, a few expensive phones are still vulnerable to the occasional slowdown.

And if you want to make your android phone run faster, fortunately, there are a few items you might do to make your phone work at full pace again. We've also mentioned several things you can do to make the most of the battery on your cell.

Ensure that you're up to date

There will also be bug fixes and general changes in the new software and that will allow the Android to work smoother. App updates appear to come from Over The Air and you should be notified to install them immediately, but testing doesn't hurt.

Go to Settings > About device > Software update and check for updates.

For games, the same principle holds, so fire up the Play Store, open the top-left menu, and select My apps to make certain that all the apps you use are up-to-date.

Clear Cached data

Cached app data can make them load quicker, but it will stack up over time and take up quite a lot of space and with applications that you no longer need, there might be cached data in there. Clearing cached data for an app will also help to clean up flaky behavior.

If you choose to choose individual applications, go to Settings > Apps and press the All tab, tap the appropriate program, then select Clear cache. If you have chosen to clear the whole lot, go to Settings > Storage and tap Cached Data, then tap OK. 

Download models of applications that are lightweight

Using a poorly-optimized app will cause a lot of irritation if you are using a phone with minimal memory and storage. The best example of this is Facebook, as the app continues to feel slow even on brand-new phones.

Facebook has a simplified version of the app that performs almost as well by making use of a fraction of the full-fledged app's power. Originally, Facebook Lite was designed to operate in developing markets on entry-level smartphones, but the software is available worldwide. Likewise, there are a lot of such apps that might be heavy originally that eat up your space but the lite one would work just fine.

Clean your home screen and reduce animation

You should try to reduce animation on your phone and keep it at its best performance rather than the best appearance. Consider substituting it with a nice static picture if you want to use live wallpaper.  Some unused icons can also be swept away and the widgets reduced to the basics. The less crowded your home screen the better it works. By reducing or shutting off any animations, you can make the Android device feel more snappy. 

 

Switch off or reduce auto-sync

Most of us end up connecting to our Android devices a list of different accounts and we encourage them to sync in the background automatically to take in new data and provide us with updates. All this synchronization, not to mention battery life, has a huge effect on efficiency.

Under Accounts, you could go to Settings and find Auto-sync and just turn it off entirely, but most users would find it too dramatic. Instead, why not just reduce the frequency of the sync and delete any accounts that you really don't need? You'll need to open the app to find the settings to minimize the sync frequency for a number of users.
 

Conduct a factory reset 

 

This is a drastic measure, but if you want your system running in tip-top shape, some people suggest that you regularly do a factory reset. It's a shortcut for your computer to clean up and get rid of any garbage you've collected, but it means deleting all the settings and data. Then make sure you back up anything that's important to you first if you plan to do it. In Settings > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset, you can find the option to do so.

Get a custom ROM built

Rooting does not immediately bring any performance enhancements to your Android smartphone, but a custom ROM can. Custom ROMs are a means of providing a newer version of Android for certain smartphones that are not updated anymore. You will also find custom ROMs that fully dispense with bloatware and offer some unique modifications and tweaks. To find the best custom ROM for you, you'll need to do some analysis.

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How much room does your phone have left on it? Whenever you attempt to upgrade your Apps or add new applications, do you touch a wall? In order to free up space, what's the best way to transfer files that you want to keep? And how do you make good choices on what to retain and what to delete? Follow these steps to keeps your storage free and your phone fresh!

Back up your phone to the cloud

If you don't have the time or stamina to sift through old images and videos, or if you want to save all your media files, back them up to a cloud storage service and uninstall those on your phone that you don't want offline. You can opt to have your images automatically backed up anytime you have access to WiFi through cloud storage providers like Dropbox, so you can have a full-resolution backup.

If you are using an iPhone, the procedure is automatic if the iCloud automatic backup feature is allowed (Go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos and switch to iCloud Images. Then pick Optimize iPhone Storage. This stores your photos on your phone in a reduced resolution version and in iCloud at maximum resolution. Then go to Settings > Photos > Cellular Data and turn off Cellular Data and Unlimited Updates.

Consider Google Photos for Android and iPhone devices, which can be set up to conveniently back up photos and videos via Wi-Fi.

Make sure that you pick Original as the picture quality to preserve full-resolution images. Go to Settings > Backup & Sync > Upload size > and choose Original. Google Photos also has a Free Up Space option that eliminates photos from the cloud that you already have backed up.

Back up your phone locally

Back-up your files on your computer to avoid the cost and drawbacks of cloud storage. Of course, the downside is that when you have access to your device with a wired or wireless network, you can just do this.

If you own an iPhone and a Mac, you can save backups of your media files on your Mac via iTunes, iPhoto, the Photos app, or the Image Capture app. See the step-by-step instructions from Apple for how to go about it. AirDrop can also be used to transfer files without the need to connect your phone with a USB cable to your device. Apple has an instruction page on how to do so.

You can also use iTunes if you use a Windows PC; the measures differ according to the version of Windows.

Link your phone to your machine with a USB cable if you have an Android phone. You should be capable of detecting your phone as a mass storage or media storage unit on your Windows computer and you will be able to drag and drop your images and videos from your phone to your PC folder. Install the free Android File Transfer app on your Mac if you have a Mac, then you can then drag and drop onto your Mac.

Remove old attachments for emails and downloaded files

Although being able to read papers attached to your email and see pictures in your chat app is fantastic, you often don't need to keep them long-term. Finding and removing these old files is easy.

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage for iPhone. You can see options for turning on Auto Delete Old Conversations and checking large videos and attachments to emails. Click "Show All" next to Suggestions if you do not see these choices.

Open your app tray for Android, and pick the Downloads app. To uninstall a file, tap and hold the file, then press Delete.

Uninstall applications that are not used by you

Although images and videos are the normal storage hogs, storage space can also be consumed by apps (particularly games). Removing applications that you don't use much is safest.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage . You can see a list of applications sorted by the volume of room available for storage. You'll have the option to uninstall it when you pick an app. Or in order to uninstall the app and all its info, you can long-tap the app's icon and tap the X overlay. You may also opt to offload any applications you haven't used in a while automatically. Go to Settings > iTunes & App Stores, then move to Offload Unused App. In the event that you wish to restart the software at a future date, this will uninstall the app but leave the data behind.

Go to Settings > Storage > Free up your room on Android. Tap the empty box on the right to pick an app to uninstall it and then tap Free Up.

Add space to your phone

Invest in a microSD card and transfer some of the data from your phone's built-in storage if you buy an Android phone with a memory card expansion slot. You will use a file manager program to transfer files around. Most phones come with file managers of their own. Download an ES File Manager if yours doesn't, or if you want a more versatile app (free in Google Play). You can also buy an optical drive that you can plug directly into the microSD and USB device of your device.

You can't connect a memory card to your iPhone, so you can buy a flash drive to insert the images into your iPhone or iPad and plug them into your device. 

 

Shoot videos with a lower quality

Many of the higher-end phones today will record 4K resolution images. These high-resolution images, particularly if you watch them on a 4K-capable TV or computer, are smoother and have finer info. But video with a higher resolution takes up a lot of disk space than video in HD or full HD. To conserve disk space, set your camera to record images at a lower resolution if you don't need 4K footage.

Make space savings a routine

To spare yourself from the annoyance of running out of room at moments when you need it most, clear out space on your mobile daily. Keep lean and mean, so you're ready at a moment's notice to appreciate the features on your handset. 

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