Following the recent Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Invites being sent out to Windows Live Butterflies and the appearing of Windows Live OneCare Family Safety on Connect we thought that this Beta would be resticted to only those who had been approved to use it.

However the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Team have announced that the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Beta program is now live and that it is in fact a public accessible beta.

And though Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Beta is still in the testing and development phase, OneCare Family Safety will offer some great features to help families create a safer and more enjoyable online experience, including:

• Content filtering. Web filtering will allow customers to choose allow, block or warn settings for a range of content categories, and unique settings can be applied for each member of the household. Parents can review and adjust settings any time from any Internet-connected PC to help meet the family’s evolving needs, and your family’s settings will be automatically applied to any computer that has the Family Safety software installed.
• Expert Guidance. Expert guidance from respected child organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics on age appropriate settings and online activities will provide valuable guidance for parents. For example, users will have access to guidelines on how to help a child use online communications safely or how parents should talk to children about inappropriate Web browsing.
• Activity reports. Parents will be able to access activity reports for each user in the family, anytime from any Internet-connected PC, to help them stay informed about how their children are browsing the Web. This kind of information can help facilitate important conversations between parents and children about using the Internet in a way they feel is safe and appropriate.
• Contact management. In future versions of the service, parents will be able to create allow lists for other Windows Live services their children might use to communicate with others like instant messaging, for example to help prevent their children from crossing paths with unknown contacts and instead only communicate with contacts that parents have approved.

You can signup to the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety public beta (US Only) at Windows Live Ideas (http://ideas.live.com) and access the beta at the main Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Site (https://fss.live.com/)

International versions are expected either at the end of this week or in the coming weeks.

Update: A Windows Live OneCare Family Safety Tour can be found at:

http://fss.msn.com/en-us/tour2/fsstour2.html