This is the second of two blog posts on password protection. Read Part 1: Create strong passwords and protect them.

Whether or not you should know all of your kids’ passwords depends on their age, how responsible they are, and your parenting values.

However, kids of any age and responsibility level need to know how to create strong passwords and how to protect those passwords.

Sharing is great, but not with passwords

Your kids should never give their friends their passwords or let them log on to their accounts. Also, be careful sharing your passwords with your kids.

3 strategies for strong passwords

• Length. Make your passwords at least eight (8) characters long.

• Complexity. Include a combination of at least three (3) uppercase and/or lowercase letters, punctuation, symbols, and numerals. The more variety of characters in your password, the better.

• Variety. Don’t use the same password for everything. Cybercriminals can steal passwords from websites that have poor security and then use those same passwords to target more secure environments, such as banking websites.

For more information, see Help kids create and protect their passwords.

This is the second of two blog posts on password protection. Read Part 1: Create strong passwords and protect them. Whether or not you should know all of your kids’ passwords depends on their age, how responsible they are, and your parenting values. However, kids of any age and responsibility level need to know how to create strong passwords and how to protect those passwords.

Sharing is great, but not with passwords

Your kids should never give their friends their passwords or let them log on to their accounts. Also, be careful sharing your passwords with your kids.

3 strategies for strong passwords

• Length. Make your passwords at least eight (8) characters long.
• Complexity. Include a combination of at least three (3) uppercase and/or lowercase letters, punctuation, symbols, and numerals. The more variety of characters in your password, the better.
• Variety. Don’t use the same password for everything. Cybercriminals can steal passwords from websites that have poor security and then use those same passwords to target more secure environments, such as banking websites.

For more information, see Help kids create and protect their passwords.

This week in the UK, Microsoft launches the Safer Families program for parents to help their kids stay safer online.

According to recent Microsoft research*:

• 98 percent of UK parents with children at home agree that protecting their children online is necessary, yet almost 50 percent have not used the family safety settings or functions on the devices their children use.
• Of these, 50 percent don’t know how to do so, and 50 percent know how, but just haven’t done it yet.

*The survey interviewed 1000 parents in the UK with children at home aged 5-16 years.  

So what can parents do? 

Microsoft makes it easy by providing parental controls that are built into its products and services. The new Safer Families program is designed to help parents remove the feeling of ”parental tech paralysis” and switch on safety settings on your Microsoft technology and devices at home.

Learn more about the Safer Families program and how to turn on parental controls on your Microsoft devices.

It’s a new year, which means it’s time to resolve to create healthier habits in our daily lives. But we don’t have to stop at just improving our body, mind, and spirit. It’s also a good idea to resolve to keep our PCs, laptops, smartphones, and social networking sites healthy this year.

1. Keep your software up to date. You can help protect against viruses, fraud, and more by keeping your operating system, antivirus software, antispyware software, web browser, and other software updated. Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Learn how to get security updates automatically.

2. Create strong passwords, keep them secret, and change them regularly. This is particularly important for those passwords that safeguard your computer, important accounts (like email or Facebook), and sensitive information, like financial and health data. Get more information about creating strong passwords and protecting them.

3. Use antivirus software. If your computer is running Windows 8, you can use the built-in Windows Defender to help you detect and get rid of spyware and other malware. If your computer is running Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, Windows Defender removes spyware.

4. Check and adjust your privacy settings. You can participate in the online world and keep your information private. Learn more about how to manage your privacy settings in Windows, Internet Explorer, your Microsoft account, Windows Phone, and more. 

Xbox One is the newest all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft. If you’ve already purchased one, or if you plan to, it’s a good idea to learn more about the built-in privacy and safety parental controls.

Control the content your children play and watch

Customize your children’s access to specifically rated games, movies, TV shows, and music according to their ages. By default, if the child is under 8 years of age, Access to content is set to “off.”

Filter the web

Parental controls let you determine what kinds of websites children can view in the Xbox One Internet Explorer app. 

Manage what your children download and buy

Xbox One enables you to control what kinds of apps each child may download from the Xbox store. The setting options are:

• Blocked (none)
• Free apps only
• Free or paid apps

For more information:

• About the core family safety features of Xbox One
• Manage privacy and safety for Xbox One
• Frequently asked questions about privacy in Xbox One and Kinect

If your kids play games using Xbox 360 or Kinect for Xbox 360, or go on Xbox Live, you might wonder what kind of access they have to other gamers online and whether you can limit that access. Read on to find out how.

1.    Adjust your privacy settings

Xbox offers a number of privacy and safety settings that allow you to choose what information you display about yourself and who can contact you. You can adjust these settings for yourself and create stricter settings to Xbox accounts for children.

To learn more, see Privacy on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

2.    Use parental controls

Xbox parental controls allow you control things such as:

• Which games can be played
• Which movies and TV shows can be watched
• How long each family member can use the console on a daily or weekly basis

To learn more, watch this video about parental controls.

3.    Understand game ratings

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) uses a standard rating to help you determine whether a video game is appropriate for your child. For example, titles rated E (for “Everyone”) have content appropriate for children ages 6 and up, whereas titles rated M (for “Mature”) have content that might be suitable for ages 17 and up.

Learn about the game ratings that Xbox supports.

As a parent or caregiver, you probably needed only one trip to the playground to realize that children can have radically different styles of play. Just as there’s no “one size fits all” approach to helping children navigate the jungle gym, the way you talk about online safety with kids will depend on the child, their maturity level, and your family’s values.  

But what is your parenting style when it comes to introducing your children to new devices and online technology?

Take a brief survey and get tailored tips to help you have conversations with young Internet users about staying safer on the ever-changing digital playground.

If you’re a parent or educator concerned about online safety for you and your family, join us for the Connect with Respect Twitter Party. Meet online to share ideas about creating a safer digital world, and you can enter to win a copy of Windows 8 and other prizes.

Step 1: RSVP on our Facebook page.

Step 2: Create or sign in to your Twitter account and follow @Safer_Online. 

Step 3: On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 (between 11:00 a.m. and noon Pacific Time / 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time), sign in to your Twitter account and use the hashtag #SID2013 to participate in the Connect with Respect Twitter Party.

Step 4: Play the @Safer_Online scavenger hunt, answering all four questions (identified as Q1 through Q4).

Your answers do not have to be correct to be eligible for entry, but your tweets must:

• Include the corresponding question number: Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4; and
• Include the hashtag #SID2013; and
• Be relevant to the discussion topic; and
• Use clean language.

All are welcome to participate in the Party. To be eligible for prizes, you must be 18 years of age or older and a legal resident of one of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia. Download and read the Microsoft @Safer Online Twitter Party Sweepstakes Official Rules.

Learn more about Safer Internet Day.

If you’re a parent or educator concerned about online safety for you and your family, join us for the Connect with Respect Twitter Party. Meet online to share ideas about creating a safer digital world, and you can enter to win a copy of Windows 8 and other prizes.

Step 1: RSVP on our Facebook page.

Step 2: Create or sign in to your Twitter account and follow @Safer_Online. 

Step 3: On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 (between 11:00 a.m. and noon Pacific Time / 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time), sign in to your Twitter account and use the hashtag #SID2013 to participate in the Connect with Respect Twitter Party.

Step 4: Play the @Safer_Online scavenger hunt, answering all four questions (identified as Q1 through Q4).

Your answers do not have to be correct to be eligible for entry, but your tweets must:

• Include the corresponding question number: Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4; and
• Include the hashtag #SID2013; and
• Be relevant to the discussion topic; and
• Use clean language.

All are welcome to participate in the Party. To be eligible for prizes, you must be 18 years of age or older and a legal resident of one of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia. Download and read the Microsoft @Safer Online Twitter Party Sweepstakes Official Rules.

Learn more about Safer Internet Day.

You will now find it easier to manage privacy settings in Internet Explorer, Xbox, and other selected Microsoft products. You can also review Microsoft privacy statements, view and edit your personal data dashboard, and learn about privacy features.

Control your privacy settings.

Last month McAfee released results from their 2012 Teen Internet Behavior study. The study revealed that 61 percent of teens think that they can successfully hide their online behavior from their parents.

Here are a few examples of what they do:

• Erase browser history
• Minimize browser window when parents come into the room
• Use their cell phone for Internet activity, instead of the family computer

We think that the best way to protect your child on the Internet is for both parents and kids to understand the risks and for families to communicate with each other about their experiences online. That means making sure everyone knows the basics of online safety. Some parents have also found that once you establish your own rules, it helps to create an Internet contract.

For more information:

• Age-based guidelines for kids’ Internet use
• Protecting your kids with Windows Live Family Safety
• Take our online bullying quiz

Mobile services (often called “geolocation” services) now have the ability to track and share our location with friends.  Location positioning services can help you find local movie times, weather, or directions to the nearest coffee shop. They can also help you find out where your friends are. But you might have privacy concerns about who else is looking at this information.

You can take a few basic steps to help ensure that you don’t expose your personal information to strangers.

• Pay attention to the settings that use your location. You should always have choice and control over access and use of your device’s location. Consider turning off features that add location information (also called “geotagging”) in your tweets, blogs, or social network accounts. Learn how to turn off location services in all Windows Phone applications. You can turn them back on whenever you want.
• Share your location only with those you trust. For example, in a service like Facebook Places, create a separate list of your closest friends. Use privacy controls to restrict access to location status updates, messages, and photos.
• If you use a family location service to monitor your kids’ whereabouts, make sure others cannot locate them. Otherwise, consider disabling the location feature on your child’s phone—at the very least, turn it off in the phone’s camera.

Get more guidance about how to use location services more safely.

A recent article in The New York Times claimed that the ubiquity of social networking encourages college and high school spring breakers to limit their public displays of risky behaviors now that they know that everyone (including parents) could potentially watch them online.

We’ve written about how everything that gets posted online (by you or by someone else) can potentially be seen by college admissions officers, employers, health insurance providers, and others. Here are some safety tips to keep your spring break from ruining your future.

• Don’t share more than you need to.
• Think before you post pictures and video online, even if it’s on a site that’s restricted to friends only.
• Don’t post anything online that you do not want made public.
• Don’t broadcast vacation plans if it means leaving your house unoccupied and at risk of burglary.
• Take a few minutes to adjust the privacy settings on your social networking site and any apps on your smart phone that share your location information.
• Minimize details that identify you or your whereabouts.
• Choose how private you want your profile or blog to be.
• Monitor what others post about you.

For more information, see:

• What does your online image project about you?
• Your information on the Internet: What you need to know
• Protect your privacy on the Internet

This month Microsoft announced participation as a founding member in the CEO Coalition on Child Online Safety.

Read more about online safety efforts for children from Microsoft’s representative on the CEO Coalition, Peter Cullen.

Here is some of our guidance on how to protect your family when you use technology:

• Help protect your kids from cyberbullying
• Age-based guidelines for kids’ Internet use
• Teach kids online security basics
• Help your kids use social websites more safely

If you’re a parent, guardian, or a caregiver for kids, parental controls can help you control the content that your kids see on the Internet or on their Xbox. You can use parental controls to help support your own house rules and you can even customize them to fit a child’s age or maturity level.

The Family Online Safety Institute recently released the Parents’ Views of Online Safety study (sponsored by Microsoft) that found just over half of all U.S. parents say they’ve used family safety software to limit or monitor their child’s Internet use.

Compare family safety tools from Microsoft.

Read more.

What’s your experience with parental controls? Tell us about it in a comment below.

Are you curious about what happens when someone complains about offensive behavior on Xbox LIVE? The Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team, including Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE Enforcement Unicorn Ninja (that’s his real job title) help make sure the 35 million gamers on the Xbox LIVE network behave themselves.

To learn more about the Unicorn Ninja, the Xbox LIVE Policy and Enforcement team, and to read safety tips, see Xbox LIVE Enforcement “Unicorn Ninja” Keeps Service Safe and Fun for Everyone.