Block bad sites
Block bad sites on your child's Windows PC
Use Microsoft Family Safety to filter adult sites in Edge — and block other browsers.
📌 Your phone (Family Safety app) and the child's PC.
Do this, in order
- 1
On your phone, install Microsoft Family Safety
From the App Store or Play Store. Sign in with your Microsoft account.
- 2
Add your child to your family
Tap Add a family member → enter your child's email or create a new Microsoft account if they're under 13.
- 3
On the PC, sign in with the child Microsoft account
Windows Settings → Accounts → Family → Add account. Sign in as the child.
- 4
Make the child account a Standard user (not Admin)
Settings → Accounts → Other users → child → Change account type → Standard.
- 5
On your phone, open Family Safety → child → Content filters → Web and search
Toggle "Filter inappropriate websites" ON.
- 6
Block other browsers in Apps and games
Add Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Opera to the blocked apps list. All browsing now goes through Edge with the filter active.
Now let's make sure it actually works
We don't tell you setup is complete until you've tested it with your own eyes.
1. Open a normal website
On the device you just set up, open a regular site like google.com or your local news. It should load normally.
2. Try a blocked test website
Now open this safe test URL — it's a harmless page that adult-content filters block. If your blocker is working, the page will NOT load (you'll see an error or a block screen).
Open test page →
Both tests didn't pass — what to try
Restart the device's Wi-Fi (off then on). On a phone, turn cellular data off so it has to use Wi-Fi. Then try the test again.
Both tests must pass before we mark this complete.
Honest limits — what this won't catch
No parental control catches everything. Here's what slips through, and what to do about it:
- If your child has a cellular data plan, blocks on your home Wi-Fi don't apply when they're not at home.
- If your child turns their phone into a hotspot, other devices using it skip your Wi-Fi filters.
- On a friend's Wi-Fi, your home filter does nothing.
- A VPN can hide their traffic from filters that only check websites by name.
- Installing a second browser can bypass a single-browser extension.