How to monitor kids computer?

You do not need to buy anything for the basics: Windows and macOS both ship free parental controls that cover screen time, app blocking and activity reports, and a DNS filter at the router covers the web. Buy only when you need those three in one place, or need to see what was actually typed and visited rather than just how long the machine was on.

Free first-party setup, in order:

1. Microsoft Family Safety (Windows 10/11). Create a child Microsoft account, sign the child into Windows with it, then at family.microsoft.com set screen-time schedules, app and game limits, and turn on the weekly activity report. The report gives app usage and web activity in Edge.
2. macOS Screen Time. System Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy, with a passcode the child does not know. App limits, downtime, and web restrictions by category or allow-list.
3. Router-level DNS filtering. Point the home router at a free family filter (CleanBrowsing or Cloudflare for Families) and every device in the house — including a school laptop and a games console — gets adult content blocked with no software to remove.

Where that leaves a real gap: the free tools report duration, not detail, and a teenager on Chrome or Firefox slips past Edge-only web reporting. That gap is what our own app fills — Ultimate Phone Spy records browser history, installed applications and screen time for Windows 7+ and macOS 10.12+ in one dashboard, alongside Android devices (web history, view installed apps, system requirements). Plans run $69.90/month, $40/month quarterly, or $16/month on the annual plan.

Two honest caveats: it is installed on a machine you administer, with the child's knowledge — not covertly on someone else's computer — and there is no iPhone component, because iOS does not permit device-level access. For a younger child, the free stack plus an agreed house rule usually holds; the dashboard earns its place with teenagers and shared family PCs.