How To Automatically Log Your Children Off The Computer

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Jon

Although Olivia is 4½ years old, she’s never really used the computer. So a few weeks ago, I decided it was time she learned. I made her an account on the computer and set it up with a big mouse pointer, shortcuts to age appropriate kid sites like PBS Kids, and installed Windows Live Family Safety so she’d be safe from bad websites. I sat her down, showed her how to use the mouse, and being a kid it took her less than two minutes to figure it all out.

Now she begs to use the computer. When she does get to use it, if we don’t pay attention, she’ll use it for hours! Obviously the best cure for that is good parenting. Meaning we’d pay attention to how long she’s been on and make her log out after a reasonable amount of time. Yeah exactly, that’s why I figured there must be a simple technological solution to the problem. :)

Fortunately, if you are using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, it’s extremely easy to force the computer to log out after a specified amount of time.

Setup a Scheduled Task

  1. Log in to the computer with your user account (not your kid’s).
  2. Go to Start > Control Panel > System Security > Administrative Tools.
  3. Double-click Task Scheduler.
  4. In the Task Scheduler window, click Create Task.
    Create a New Task
  5. The Create Task window will appear.General Tasks Settings
  6. Enter a name for the task. I named mine Auto Logoff.
  7. Click on the Change User or Group button. Type in the username for your child and click OK.
  8. Checkmark Run with highest privileges.
  9. In the drop-down menu, choose Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2.
  10. Next click the Triggers tab and then click the New button.
    New Trigger Settings
  11. In the New Trigger window, in the drop-down menu, choose At log on.
  12. Choose Specific user and then click the Change User button.
  13. Type in you kid’s username and click OK.
  14. Checkmark Delay task for and then choose the amount of time. This is how long your kid will be able to use the computer before it auto logs them out. I chose 1 hour for Olivia. Meaning she will be automatically logged off the computer one hour after she logs in.
  15. Click OK to close the New Trigger window.
  16. Click the Actions tab and then click the New button.
  17. In the New Action window, change the drop-down menu to Start a program.
    New Action Settings
  18. In the Program/script area type: shutdown.exe
  19. In the Add arguments (optional) area type: /l
    (Note: that’s a forward slash and lowercase “L”)
  20. Click OK to close the New Action window.
  21. Click OK one more time to create the new task.

You’ll want to test the new scheduled task at least once to make sure it’s working. If it fails to run, you can open the Task Scheduler again to view the error code. However in my case, I’ve tested this setup and whenever Olivia logs in to the computer, she will be logged out exactly one hour later.

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  • Bob

    That was awesome. Too bad my son just logs right back in.

  • http://dadtrek.com Jon

    This is only designed to work with younger children who are not given the password to login, but instead have a parent log them in. If your child is old enough to manage their own login information, there are better ways to enforce and manage their computer use.