Microsoft's announced a parental control feature in Windows 8, designed to allow parents to closely monitor their children’s computer activities. The feature, Family Safety, generates a weekly report that includes the Web pages their children visited, most recent searches, and apps and games most frequently used. Parents can set filters to varying levels, and also enable the software's "SafeSearch," which limits computer time, filters certain games in the Windows Store and restricts designated apps and games from loading onto the computer. Windows 8 parental controls are free, there is no extra software to install and, as a bonus, there's nothing to configure. These points aren't likely lost on third-party filtering and app restriction software vendors. The first preview build of Windows 8 should be available for download from next month. Related Links