Tech Shout!

Microsoft is inviting testers to participate in a new Windows Live beta program dubbed Family Safety Settings. Suitably code-named “Vegas,” Family Safety Settings broadens the parental controls in Windows through a downloadable program. Parents can explicitly define what content they wish to block.

The service can be turned off when parents wish to browse the Web. In an e-mail Microsoft said, “It’s an a easy-to-use, flexible way to help keep the kind of content you deem inappropriate from reaching your children–like alcohol, pornography, gambling, tobacco, etc. Windows Live Family Safety Settings Beta also lets you create individual accounts for each child, and see activity reports on the Web sites your kids have visited.”