Kaspersky Safe Kids reports my child used 2 hours 46 minutes when only 30 mins permitted

[Bernd Wechner]

What gives?

when the settings permit only 30 mins:

What can I do to diagnose and fix that? Note:

1.  I have two children
2. The other one (8yrs old) was blocked at 30mins - has same settings, different laptop
3. This one (12 years old) records nearly 3 hours use this morning!

Is the 12 year old able to hack Kaskersky? 

[Bernd Wechner]

And again today. Same pattern. 8 year old 30 mins then blocked and the 12 year old 1 hour 26 mins. The only difference today is I got notification the 12 year old was blocked.

Very keen to diagnose, understand, and fix this issue. The rain we bought Kaspersky Safe Kids is that Microsoft Family Safety was doing this for both kids, seemingly incapable of applying time limits. Free, but useless. Sometimes worked sometimes not, often not 

 

[Flood and Flood's wife]

On 2/5/2026 at 9:45 AM, Bernd Wechner said:

What gives? when the settings permit only 30 mins:
What can I do to diagnose and fix that? Note:

•  I have two children
• The other one (8yrs old) was blocked at 30mins - has same settings, different laptop
• This one (12 years old) records nearly 3 hours use this morning!

1. Is the 12 year old able to hack Kaspersky? 

10 hours ago, Bernd Wechner said:

And again today. Same pattern. 8 year old 30 mins then blocked and the 12 year old 1 hour 26 mins. The only difference today is I got notification the 12 year old was blocked.

Very keen to diagnose, understand, and fix this issue. The reason we bought Kaspersky Safe Kids is that Microsoft Family Safety was doing this for both kids, seemingly incapable of applying time limits. Free, but useless. Sometimes worked sometimes not, often not... 

Hello @Bernd Wechner, 

Welcome!

KSK time report discrepancy issues may be difficult, we always try to replicate the original complaint for comparison, so apologies for the delay.

Regarding (your) 12year old hacking KSK or the OS: 

1. Have (you) asked them - in all seriousness - it's much better to be upfront, something along the lines of, it's not that we don't trust you but you're a smart kid, we don't want to waste time with Community support / support if you've messed with the system, the reason we have KSK is to keep you safe. 
2. In our tests we replicated the issue - then resolved it - this is where it took so long bc KSK is a PIA when it comes to uninstall & clean install & post install.
3. That's what (you) need to do, shutdown *absolutely-everything*, then, using Windows Add & remove programs - uninstall KSK, then shutdown the computer, make sure it's a *full* shutdown, restart, login. 
4. Download a *new* KSK installer from here: https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads - scroll down to the downloads section & select KSK. 
5. Install KSK, after the full install, reboot the computer, make sure it's a *full* shutdown, restart, login. 
6. At this point KSK time reporting will be *accurate* but KSK will send a notification in 24 to 48 hrs to do *another*  *full* shutdown bc it will have applied the latest version *silently* - make sure you do the *full* shutdown, restart, login *again*. 
7. At that point KSK time reporting will still be working & you & the kid are good to go. 
8. A couple of other points to note: 
9. BOTH children must only have a LOCAL Windows user account - no elevated profiles whatsoever. 
10. Both Children - IF the children use Android phones (as well) the Settings application must be Forbidden. To permit access to this is the equivalent of giving an elevated profile on a Windows device. 
11. Images: the 1st set shows KSK version originally installed, version post install & replication of (your) KSK time settings 
12. Set 2 shows: KSK version post silent update & KSK report, for todays time-test we allocated 10 minutes, was on the computer for 8, KSK updated accurately-in-real-time. 

Please share the outcome with the Community, when it's available? 

Thank you🙏
Flood🐳+🐋

Edited February 6 by Flood and Flood's wife
for todays time-test we allocated 10 minutes, was on the computer for 8, KSK updated accurately-in-real-time. 

[Bernd Wechner]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for delay at my end. his continues to be an issue alas. So to answer your questions:

1. Have (you) asked them - in all seriousness - it's much better to be upfront, something along the lines of, it's not that we don't trust you but you're a smart kid, we don't want to waste time with Community support / support if you've messed with the system, the reason we have KSK is to keep you safe. 
   
   Yes indeed, that was always the first port of call.  The 12 year claims complete unawareness of what's going on there. Knows his quotas and so on. But of course the reason for enforcement is that time sort of races by with young kids, and so he's been up very early from bed to get a lot of time in 😉
    
2. In our tests we replicated the issue - then resolved it - this is where it took so long bc KSK is a PIA when it comes to uninstall & clean install & post install.
   
   Awesome! I'm glad you could replicate it.  Am a software engineer myself and know how hard it is to find bugs not replicable.
    
3. That's what (you) need to do, shutdown *absolutely-everything*, then, using Windows Add & remove programs - uninstall KSK, then shutdown the computer, make sure it's a *full* shutdown, restart, login. 
   
   I will schedule this in coming days. No problem. Definitely worth doing and your recommendation to do so helps justify the time needed to do it.
    
4. Download a *new* KSK installer from here: https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads - scroll down to the downloads section & select KSK. 
   
   Noted.
    
5. Install KSK, after the full install, reboot the computer, make sure it's a *full* shutdown, restart, login. 
   
   Noted.
    
6. At this point KSK time reporting will be *accurate* but KSK will send a notification in 24 to 48 hrs to do *another*  *full* shutdown bc it will have applied the latest version *silently* - make sure you do the *full* shutdown, restart, login *again*. 
   
   Noted.
    
7. At that point KSK time reporting will still be working & you & the kid are good to go. 
   
   Fingers crossed!
    
8. A couple of other points to note: 
   
   Will do.
    
9. BOTH children must only have a LOCAL Windows user account - no elevated profiles whatsoever. 
   
   They have outlook.com remote accounts. Windows is actually making it nightmarishly difficult to create local accounts. It will be hard to shift them over (because of valid complaints they will have re: game status) and come at a cost in terms of migration facility (they are the recipients of hand-me-down hardware.
    
10. Both Children - IF the children use Android phones (as well) the Settings application must be Forbidden. To permit access to this is the equivalent of giving an elevated profile on a Windows device. 
    
    They don't have Android phones and won't have until of age (likely 16+ or 17+). The science on what smartphones to childrens brains is in and IMHO no sensible parent gives a gid a smart phone. Sadly they have indirect access via children at school whose parents are not so enlightened. But dumbphones are making a revival and our 12 year old has one for remaining in phone and SMS contact.
     
11. Will check these images again after following steps above.
     

Thanks again, I'll report back once I've completed the reinstall as suggested.