The Internet entry in the scheduler works like any other entry (Windows or a specific program). You can define both permitted time slots (as many as you want each day) and a maximum allocation per day or week. However, there's a particular problem with the Internet. Many users think that they are connected to a web site once the home page has been displayed. But the Web doesn't work this way. There's no idea of permanent connection. When your Web browser requests a page, the web server sends that page to your PC and you're immediately disconnected from the server afterwards - even if the physical connection is still active - until you request another page by clicking on a link in the page or by entering an URL manually. This makes impossible to measure how long the Internet has been actually used. The only thing that can be monitored is whether the Internet connection is available and ready to use. Not if it is actually used. If the user downloads two pages but spends 30 minutes reading each page, he will have been "connected" only during a few milliseconds but will have "used" the Internet during one hour. The Internet connection will have also been available during one hour and PC TimeWatch will count down one hour against the allocated time. No choice.
This is why the time is counted down by PC TimeWatch when the Internet connection is available, not when it is actually used. However, PC TimeWatch wouldn't count down the time allocated to the Internet if you disconnect your modem-router by using its software user interface (that is, if you logoff from your ISP). In that case, the default gateway entry is automatically removed, PC TimeWatch is aware of this and considers that no Internet connection is available.
So you can decide that you grant each kid an hour of Internet per day (using the Internet entry in the scheduler) while the permitted time slot is the whole day (no time slot would mean, that no access to the Internet is permitted during the whole day). But the allocated time might be quickly consumed without your kids having even launched Internet Explorer :-) .
Most users of PC TimeWatch proceed differently:
First approach:
You define which time slots in the day are permitted for Internet access and you don't set any limitation to the global allocated time. You are sure that your kids will not be able to use the Internet for a time that is longer than the sum of the specified time slots. Most of the time this is enough because many parents don't want their kids to spend time surfing the Web at any time in the day (there's a time for school duties, for sport, for web surfing,...).
Second approach:
You still define permitted time slots for the Internet entry but you add other entries in the scheduler for the Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox,...) and for any other program that you want to restrict (MSN Messenger for example). This time, PC TimeWatch will count down used time against the global allocation for Internet Explorer or MSN Messenger only when these programs are running. So you can therefore say that Internet Explorer can be used only one hour each day at any time while still authorizing another Internet related program to run. If you combine these settings with time slots defined for the Internet entry, you can achieve what you want.
Third approach:
You disable Internet all together for your kid’s account and you create another account for him/her where Internet is allowed for the specified time slots and / or duration. This way, your kid will use this account only for accessing the Internet and no connection time will be wasted. With Windows XP, your kid can easily switch between both accounts. When he/she will be leaving the account for which Internet is allowed, the countdown will stop.
Hope this helps.
Equipe Support PC TimeWatch