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While it ’s light to manage a single Mac , it ’s still possible to have ascendence over multiple Macs within your home . Not only can you remotely configure paternal restraint on another computer , you could also supervise what your kids do with their Macs , circumscribe the hr they have Internet access , and share medium between the computers within your home .

Controlling parental controls remotely

You ’re familiar with what you’re able to do with aparental - check history . What you may not know is that once you ’ve created such an account , you may change its option from another Mac .

When you first launch the Parental Controls system preference on a Mac you ’re manage you see a Manage Parental Controls From Another Computer choice . Enable this choice and proceed to configure the parental controls for that account .

When you move to your Mac and set up Parental Controls , under the Other Computers head within the Parental Controls window , you ’ll spy the names of any Macs for which you ’ve configured controlled accounts and enabled remote management . clack the Lock icon at the bottom of the windowpane and enter your administrator ’s password . Then select a computer whose control you wish to configure . You ’ll be prompted for an administrator ’s name and parole for that Mac ( not for your own Mac ) . Enter each and click OK . All the controlled accounts on that remote Mac will appear . Select an account and you ’ll find that you could adjust the invoice ’s controls just as if you were sitting in front of that Mac . to boot you’re able to consider that news report ’s logarithm files .

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The advantages of this remote control should be obvious . First , it allows you to modify a Mac ’s limitations even when a pouting small has locked himself in his room . And you could do itveryremotely . While on the road you could , for example , silver screen share to your Mac using Back To My Mac , open Parental Controls on your home computer , and then adjust another Mac ’s ascendence . This pauperism n’t be to “ penalize ” your child . You may need to leave a particular software or website so your kid can get her prep done .

Another surgery you could perform remotely is approving the hoi polloi your minor communicates with . you could configure the People tab within Parental Controls so that whenever the user of the account attempts to mail an electronic mail message or chat with someone not on the approve list , an electronic mail notification is station to an account of your choosing . As long as you open that notification message with Apple ’s Mail ( it does n’t function with other email clients ) you could click an Always Allow button that then adds that savoir-faire to the list of O.K. correspondents .

Keeping an eye out

If you and your child have separate Macs , you could watch his cover via OS X ’s Screen Sharing feature . First , while sitting down in front of his Mac , log on to that Mac as an executive and switch on Screen Sharing in the communion preference loony toons . In Allow Access For , select Only These Users , press the plus - foretoken push , and choose Administrators .

To observe , go back to your Mac , open a Finder windowpane , locate the Shared entry in the sidebar , and look for the Mac your child is using . Select it and clack the Share Screen push . you’re able to now see what he ’s doing on his Mac — and even control it . Your child can essay to trim you off ( by choosing Disconnect , and then your Mac ’s IP address , from the Screen Sharing carte in the fare bar ) , but your Mac will immediately reconnect .

Screen Sharing with a child can be a delicate issue . No one like to be espy on , but it can help keep your shaver on the up - and - up if he or she understands that you have the option , at any time , to see what they ’re doing .

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Limiting the Internet

Parental Controls can do only so much . While you could utilise it to keep your kids from using the computer at all during sealed 60 minutes , it ca n’t be configure to block only their Internet access . For this kind of thing you must turn to your router and limit access via MAC address ( the unique identifier address that all computers and iOS devices have ) . It ’s done this elbow room with anAirPort Extreme Base Station :

Launch AirPort Utility , select your radical station , and click the Manual Setup release . take the AirPort tab at the top of the windowpane and click the Access Control tab . From the MAC Address Access Control pop - up fare select Timed Access . This is where you get coiffure up limits .

Click the Plus button at the bottom of the pane , and in the sheet that appears go in the MAC address for the devices you want to limit ( see “ Blocking via MAC Address ” ) . On an iOS twist you ’ll notice this speech by prefer preferences - > General - > About and locate the Wi - Fi Address Entry . On a Mac , hold down the Option key and select System Profiler ( Snow Leopard ) or System Information ( Lion ) from the Apple menu . When System Profiler appears , select web and then in the Active Services column to the right , select the machine used to connect to the Internet ( AirPort or Ethernet ) . explore for the MAC Address entrance in the result below .

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Once you ’ve entered the MAC Address , eccentric in a description ( Curt ’s iPhone , for example ) . Now configure the pour down - up menus below . Here you’re able to choose limits of No Access , Mondays , Tuesdays , Wednesdays , Thursdays , Fridays , Saturdays , Sundays , Weekdays , and weekend . Click the Plus ( + ) release in this sheet and you may contribute more entries — you may , for example , let in two entries for each weekday . get across Done and update the AirPort Extreme and the router will block approach except during those hours allowed .

Limiting online activities

societal networking sites such as Facebook are attractive for kids . It ’s a piazza where they can establish an identity operator and hang out with their friends . But there ’s the much - touted morose side : tyke often share too much , add up in contact with alien , and do n’t have it off how to configure by design - opaque secrecy options .

paternal Controls can aid by allowing you to completely immobilize Facebook and standardized sites , but that ’s a tough call with older kids . This is one site where your best stake is paternal involvement . If you ’re go to get your kids have a Facebook account ( Facebook ’s rules require that exploiter be 13 or older to have an account ) , pick up how to configure its seclusion configurations so the least amount of information is shared ( this includes block picture that your fry appears in ) . Demand that your child “ friends ” you on Facebook so that you’re able to keep an oculus on their wall . And , without frighten them , allow them love why they should be careful about share .

You should also be very heedful about providing a child with the means for spending money on the Internet . They should absolutely not have your credit card identification number or an iTunes ID tied to a credit card . If you need to let your child to spend money on iTunes , set up an iTunes allowance within the iTunes Store or give them a gift card .

Sharing media between multiple Macs

Thanks to the file share capabilities build into OS X and Lion ’s fresh AirDrop technology , it ’s not hard to move Indian file between Macs on a local internet . It is , however , trickier to produce a unmarried repository for music , video , and image file that can be shared between these same Macs .

Malus pumila ’s resolution is the sharing alternative found in iTunes and iPhoto . To switch sharing on in iTunes , launch the program ’s preferences , come home on the Sharing pill , and start the Share My Library On My Local internet alternative ( see “ Legal Music Sharing ” ) . Do this and you’re able to choose to partake in your entire medicine library or just selected playlists . To deal your iTunes library with iOS gadget , select Turn On Home Sharing in iTunes ’ innovative computer menu . When you do you ’ll be prompt for your Apple ID and password . Your iTunes subroutine library will now be playable from an iOS equipment that is connected to your local web .

iPhoto has a standardized share-out lineament . From its preferences window , choose share and enable both Look For Shared photo and Share My Photos . interchangeable to iTunes , you could share all your photos or just select albums . Once you ’ve switched on iPhoto sharing , others will be able to see your shared albums under iPhoto ’s Shared head on their macintosh .

Apple ’s solution does n’t solve the primal repository job , however , as each Mac has its own iPhoto and iTunes subroutine library — the household ’s collection of media is n’t located in just one place . There are options for making it available , however .

One choice is to set up a Mac as a spiritualist server — a Mac mini , for example , or an older Mac you ’re no longer using . When you want to summate spiritualist to the family compendium , you place it on this electronic computer and then get at that media via iTunes ’ and iPhoto ’s sharing areas . If a consecrate Mac is unavailable or too much for the family budget , you could obtain aNetwork Attached Storage ( NAS ) gadget . Many of today ’s NAS devices let in features for sharing an iTunes and iPhoto library . Simply tie the NAS to your meshing , re-create your medium to its drive , and access that media from iTunes and iPhoto much as you ’d access any other shared medium in these applications .

It ’s also potential that you already own the mean value for share iTunes medium over the internet — a late AirPort Extreme Base Station or Time Capsule . Start by copying media to a hard drive sequester to your AirPort Extreme ( or the Time Capsule ’s internal hard drive ) . For each computer you need to deal media with open iTunes ’ preference , choose the Advanced tablet , and incapacitate the Copy Files To iTunes Media Folder When total To Library option . Within iTunes take File - > lend To Library and navigate to the folder on the drive partake from your Qaeda station or Time Capsule . iTunes will add thenamesof the audio recording and TV file it finds to the Mac ’s iTunes library without actually copy the file to each Mac . Each colligate Mac will be be able to spiel medium within that folder and more than one Mac can play that folder ’s media at the same fourth dimension . ( roleplay different movies at the same time on multiple Macs will be challenge unless you use a pumped-up Gb ethernet internet . )

Backing it all up

You ’ve heard it before and you ’ll discover it again : It ’s not a question ofifyour hard drive will die , butwhen . Each Mac in your menage must be back up if you care about your data point . With Time Machine , single Macs can be easily indorse up to hard driving attached to those Macs . But that could mean purchasing multiple hard drives to outfit your herd of estimator .

The expert solution is this representative is a meshing backup — a scheme where each Mac is backed up to a single machine . Apple ’s Time Capsule was built with exactly this in creative thinker . Available in capacities of 2 TB and 3 TB ( priced at $ 299 and $ 499 severally ) , a Time Capsule is an easy - to - set up - up answer , though not ideal if you have a lot of data point to back up .

Another , more flexible option is an old Macconfigured as a backup server(perhaps the same one you ’ll utilise to store and stream your iTunes content ) . With an old Mac you could not only lend incisively as much computer memory as you require in the flesh of intragroup and external knockout drives , but you could choose to apply software other than Time Machine — a program such as Econ Technologies ’ $ 40ChronoSync , for model . When used in conference with the $ 10ChronoAgenton each Mac , backing up multiple computers to a individual Mac is a comparative snap .

Online accompaniment is another option . Though slow - go due to the metre it involve to upload a lot of data , stash away your most of import file cabinet online offers the protection of an off - site patronage . Although each user can upload files to a service such as Dropbox or a MobileMe iDisk ( at least until June 2012 , when MobileMe and iDisk cease to exist ) , consecrate service such asCrashPlanprovide automatic in - the - backcloth backup and can provide plans that let you to upload an inexhaustible amount of data from up to 10 data processor for as short a $ 6 a month , depending on the plan you commit to .

It’s manageable

At one clock time managing multiple accounts or , worse yet , multiple computer fill the patience of a saint and the smarts and experience of an IT professional . That ’s no longer the case . While it ’s not yet the kind of matter you could do with your center shut , with some familiarity with the Mac OS and the intimation you now have in hand , you too can assure a home full of Macs .

[ Christopher Breen is aMacworldsenior editor . ]

Time Capsule/3TB (2011)

Time Capsule/2TB (2011)

AirPort Extreme (Mid 2011)