IE Parental Controls - How to remove them

I don't know if it is a bug in IE, or if my Nephews are playing a game with me. Suddenly over the weekend I started to get prompted for the parental controls password

Content Advisor Disable

Hmm. I do not know the password...since I never set one. If I try to turn it off or modify it by going into Internet Explorer settings...

Disable Content Advisor

Quick search of the net and I discover that you can simply browse to this key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

See the key that says Ratings?

Ratings Remove Registry

When I deleted it I was able to get back into IE again.

Now I can browse to any site I want, without being asked for a password.

Update: Just got a note from a reader:

Steve,
Um...you just told my kids how to get around the parental controls. Thanks!

David

David - Actually not. If you only allow your kids to have a non administrator account they cannot access the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key in the registry.

Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Sunday, November 04, 2007

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