Screen time limits · Windows
“I know time's up, but I'm in the middle of a round!”
For years, that sentence started another round of bargaining in our house (“we had a deal!”) and ended in an argument and me pulling the plug. Now a short spoken message plays in the background. It does not interrupt the game or ask for a click. When time is up, the computer shuts itself down. My boys get up without a word of protest.
It runs on your own computer. No account, no cloud, no subscription. Nothing about your child leaves your home.
The words the child hears. Demo played back at speed.
What changed?
One rule, two outcomes
“One more minute, I'm in the middle of a round!”
Bargaining every day. Shouting and blame. The parent cast as the one who takes the fun away.
A frustrated child: “I HAVE to finish this round or I'll get banned!”
A frustrated parent: “We had a deal. I'm tired of fighting over this.”
One angry press of the power button writes off the evening.
“Fine, I won't have time to play another round anyway.”
A spoken warning plays with ten minutes, five minutes and one minute left. Then the computer does what was agreed in advance. The rules do not bend with anyone's mood and are not open to negotiation.
You cannot argue with a machine. It keeps track of time, not the parent.
Why it works?
Because there is nobody to argue with
The parent stops being the enemy
Shutting down is not a decision a tired adult makes on the spot. The computer carries out a rule everyone knew and agreed to beforehand.
The voice does not interrupt the game
A short spoken message plays in the background. It does not cover the game or ask for a click. The child has time to finish a round and avoid starting another one.
Talk at the right time
There is no “ask for more time” button. The parent sets the limits in the panel after a calm conversation, not on the child's screen in the middle of a game.
How it works
Three parts, one firm rule
- 01
A Windows service starts with the machine
It installs with administrator rights, outside the child's profile, and runs one counter per supervised account. It starts in safe mode too. A reboot is not a way around it.
- 02
The counter measures time and warns out loud
Time is counted only while the child is actually at the computer. A short spoken message plays with ten minutes, five minutes and one minute left, and again when time is up. It does not open a window or interrupt the game. There are several voices to choose from. When time runs out, it carries out the chosen action: sign out, shut down the computer, or close selected programs.
- 03
The parent's panel sets the rules
A separate Windows application the child's account cannot open. It can set one limit for every day or a different limit for each day of the week, allowed hours, one-off corrections (“thirty extra minutes today, to make up for yesterday”), and what happens when time runs out.
Allowed hours
Not only how much, but when
The daily limit answers “how much time”. The weekly grid answers “when”: not before school, not after 6 p.m., and different hours at the weekend.
- An example week of allowed hours: Mon, 13:00–19:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Tue, 13:00–19:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Wed, 13:00–19:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Thu, 13:00–19:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Fri, 13:00–20:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Sat, 8:00–20:00,allowed.
- An example week of allowed hours: Sun, 8:00–19:00,allowed.
Limitations
What this program does not do
A tool that promises too much will disappoint you. I would rather explain the limits here than let you discover them after installing it.
- It does not filter content. No site blocking, no checking which game is running, no reading messages. It watches the clock and nothing else.
- It does not run on phones or tablets.PCs only. Windows 10 and 11 only.
- It is not protection against an adult.A child with an administrator account or password, or a USB stick with a live operating system, can get around any program of this kind, including this one. The documentation will cover the known ways around it and how to close them.
- It does not take screenshots or keep browsing history.Not even locally. It records only the number of minutes used and its own log.
- It is not a substitute for talking.It saves you one argument a day. Parenting is still up to you.
Privacy
Nothing leaves your home
This program does not use the internet, creates no accounts and does not send a single byte of data anywhere. All data about your child stays on your computer and nowhere else.
This page does not collect your data either: no analytics, no cookies, no third-party scripts. You can verify this in the page source saved by your browser.
What does it cost?
Nothing. Ever.
There is no paid edition, no feature that costs extra, and no limit on the number of children or computers. I do not plan to add any of those.
You do not have to take my word for it: you do not create an account I could close, and there is no server that could disappear. The program runs on your computer, and you can read and inspect its source code.
If you want to say thank you
I wrote this for my two younger boys and I earn nothing from it. It does not currently cost me anything to maintain, either. The one real future expense is a certificate, renewed every year, for signing the installer. It will stop Windows warning about an unknown publisher. Depending on the type, a certificate costs from a few hundred to a few thousand zloty a year.
If this program has helped you and you want to support my work, you can chip in. If you would rather not, or cannot, keep using it for free.
Support links will appear here before release.
Questions
Questions you keep asking
Won't a clever child just kill it in Task Manager?
The counter runs as a Windows service under SYSTEM, outside the child's session. A standard account—which is what a child should use—does not have permission to stop it or delete its files. The child can close only the small program that plays the warnings. It then loses the warnings, not the limit. The computer signs out without notice.
What if they change the Windows clock?
A standard account cannot change the clock, only the time zone. In any case, moving the clock back or changing the time zone does not help. Time used is counted independently of the clock settings. Moving the date forward is recorded in the log.
What about safe mode?
The service starts in safe mode too, before anyone signs in, and counts time just as it does in normal mode.
What happens if the computer loses its internet connection?
Nothing. The program never uses it. It keeps counting just the same.
Do I have to install anything on my phone?
There is no phone app and I do not plan one. The parent's panel is a Windows program. If you have several computers to supervise at home, the panel can manage them over your home network from your computer.
Why can't the child ask for more time in the program?
Because that is the one thing that made all of this work in my house. Any “ask for fifteen minutes” button brings the bargaining back every day. You grant extra time yourself, in the panel, after a calm conversation—not under pressure in the middle of a round.
Why does Windows warn that this file is suspicious?
For now, it does. The installer is not digitally signed yet, so SmartScreen will show an unknown-publisher warning. This is normal for a program by an independent developer who has not bought a certificate. The warning says nothing about the file's contents or whether it is dangerous. It means Windows does not know the publisher or the publisher has not yet built a reputation through enough downloads. You do not have to take my word for it. The source code is open to read, and anyone can inspect it.
About the author
I am not a corporation. I am a programmer and a father of four. I wrote this program for my two younger sons because the ready-made options either cost a subscription, sent my children's data to somebody else's server, or simply did not work for us.
Paweł Mondzelewski
The source code will be open to read from the first release. You will be able to read it, compile it and check what the program does and does not do. This is not an open source project in the licensing sense. The code remains my property, and the licence will let you read it, but not redistribute or resell it. It is open to read so that you do not have to take my word for anything.
The repository and documentation will appear with the first release.