Parental controls on a Windows PC without a Microsoft account

You can set up parental controls without a Microsoft account in two parts. First, give your child their own standard local Windows account, so they can't change system settings or remove software. Then add a tool that works on the PC itself: one that filters categories of websites, switches the internet off at bedtime, limits daily online time, and keeps those settings behind a password you hold.

Windows' built-in option, and why some families skip it

Windows' own family features work through Microsoft Family Safety. You and your child each need a Microsoft account, your child joins your family group, and you manage screen time and content filters online or in the Family Safety app. For many families that works well.

Others would rather not. A young child may have no email address and no reason for an online account. A shared family PC may already use local accounts. Some parents simply prefer settings that live on the PC instead of in a cloud service. None of that is a problem, because the most important control, the account type, is built into Windows and needs no Microsoft account at all.

Step one: a standard local account for your child

A standard account can use the PC normally but can't install software for everyone, change system settings, stop services or delete firewall rules without an administrator's password. That is the foundation every local control rests on. If your child signs in as an administrator, any control on the PC is only as strong as their patience.

On Windows 11:

1. Open Settings ▸ Accounts ▸ Other users and click Add account.
2. Choose I don't have this person's sign-in information.
3. Choose Add a user without a Microsoft account.
4. Enter a user name and password for your child, and answer the security questions.
5. Back in Other users, check the new account shows as a standard user. New accounts are standard by default; Change account type switches it if needed.

On Windows 10, the same steps start from Settings ▸ Accounts ▸ Family & other users ▸ Add someone else to this PC.

What controls on the PC can and can't do

A tool on the PC can block categories of sites for every browser and app, cut specific programs off the internet, switch the internet off on a schedule and cap daily online time. It follows the PC to any network, including a phone hotspot.

It can't reach other devices. A phone on mobile data, a school laptop or a friend's tablet are outside it. It also can't read pages or messages, and no list-based filter catches everything. It is a strong fence around one PC, not a guarantee.

Setting up NetSecWall's parental controls

NetSecWall is a per-app firewall for Windows 10 and 11, and its parental controls keep everything on the PC. You don't need a Microsoft account or a NetSecWall account for your child, and there's no online dashboard. Parental controls are included in the Family and Pro plans and in the 7-day trial.

1. Install NetSecWall from your administrator account, and leave Enable always-on background protection ticked in the installer. That installs the background service, which keeps blocks in force from startup.
2. Open Protection ▸ Settings password… and set a password. Do this first, so nothing below can be undone without it.
3. Open Protection ▸ Parental controls… and tick Protect this device with parental controls.
4. Under Block these kinds of websites, click Recommended for children. It ticks Adult / Porn, Gambling, Drugs, Scam / Phishing, Piracy and Dating. Add others, such as Social media or Games, if they fit your family.
5. Under Bedtime — turn the internet off on a schedule, tick Block all internet during these hours and set From and until, for example 21:00 until 07:00, and the days it applies.
6. Under Daily internet time limit, set a number of minutes, or leave it Off.
7. Under Always-blocked apps (games, chat, …), click Add app… for any program that should never go online.
8. Click Save. The first time, NetSecWall downloads the website lists, which can take a minute.

The step-by-step Help Center guide, setting up parental controls on a child's PC, covers each setting in more detail.

The password that holds it together

The settings password is what makes the rest stick. Once it's set, opening Settings or Parental controls, changing website categories or the filtering mode, pausing or quitting NetSecWall, turning Block ALL internet off from the tray, viewing the Rules tab, and allowing a new app all ask for it. After you type it correctly, it stays unlocked for two minutes.

Keep NetSecWall running

Two parts of NetSecWall share the work, and it helps to know which does what.

• The background service starts with Windows and keeps the website category blocks in force for every account on the PC, before anyone signs in. See the background service and the tray.
• Bedtime, the daily limit and the always-blocked apps are applied by the NetSecWall app itself, so it needs to be running on the PC. In the tray is fine: closing the window hides it there, and quitting needs your password.

The app needs administrator rights and doesn't start by itself when someone signs in. After the PC restarts, open NetSecWall again so those three come back. If your child's standard account is signed in, Windows asks for an administrator password when it starts, and that's yours to type.

What your child sees

A blocked website simply doesn't load. A blocked app behaves as if the internet is down. If NetSecWall is running on their desktop, a notification says Parental controls — internet paused when bedtime starts or the daily limit runs out, and another says the internet is back on when it lifts.

Be open about it

Tell your child the controls are there and why. NetSecWall's acceptable use policy expects that the person using a family device knows the controls exist, and it's also what works. Hidden controls teach a child that they're being watched; open ones teach that the internet has limits, the way the rest of the house does.

Technical controls help, but they don't replace conversation. A determined teenager with another device, or with an administrator's password, will get around any control on one PC. Keep talking, agree the rules together where you can, and make it easy for them to come to you when something online worries them. Can kids get around parental controls? goes through the common workarounds honestly.

To try this on your child's PC, download the 7-day trial. Parental controls and every other feature are unlocked, no card needed.