User Accounts

SentryPC uses your built-in Windows user accounts for its monitoring, filtering, and access control. This is in contrast to other products that require you to create user accounts within the software for everyone that uses your computer.

Example Usage Scenario:

A family of four, 2 parents, 2 children has 4 usernames on their computer:

Trent and Clare (parents), John and Susan (children).

Trent and Clare can be given admin privileges to SentryPC, with no monitoring, no filtering, and no scheduling restrictions.

John can be given full monitoring, restricted from running specific programs and websites, and only allowed to use the computer from 4PM to 8PM everyday.

Susan, a teenager, may be given more computer usage - 30 hours a week total, with access anytime between 3PM and 12AM. Her keystrokes may be filtered so she cannot give out her address or phone number online.

Configuring Users

Configuring each user's settings is very easy to do. Once you are in the Admin Control Panel you can configure settings for each Windows user account. First, select a user from the drop down selection list. When you select a user it will be updated in the 'Current User:' text field on the Admin Control Panel interface. Once the appropriate user is selected click on one of the six action icons - such as 'Configure Time Management', 'Configure Security Settings', and so forth. You will then be able to setup the features you require for each user. Settings will automatically apply when the Admin Control Panel is closed.

To setup users quickly, click on 'Quick User Configuration' under the 'Program Help' item in the Admin Control Panel.

Adding Windows Usernames

You can easily add users to SentryPC by giving users of your computer their own Windows usernames. This can be performed from the Windows control panel. Once a user is added to Windows it will automatically appear in SentryPC, and will be able to be given its own unique settings.

Copying and Saving User Settings

You may want to use similar filters on more than one username. To do this use the 'Export' menu in the Admin Control Panel. You can export all settings, or individual filters. Once you export settings you can switch users by selecting a new username from the drop down user selection list. Now that a new user is selected use the 'Import' menu to import the settings that you just saved previously.

Importing/Exporting ALL Settings

When you use the export 'All Settings' command you will be asked to specify a folder to save your settings to, rather than an individual file like the other export/import commands. When you export all settings a sub folder will be created in the directory you select for that specific username you are exporting settings from.

When you want to import 'all settings' simply select the directory that matches the name of the user you want to copy the settings from.

i.e.: If you export Tom's settings a folder named 'Tom-SPCSettings' will be created in the folder you choose. To import these settings simply select 'Tom-SPCSettings' from the directory selection window. All settings will automatically be applied to the currently selected user.