I have Vista's firewall (Windows firewall with advanced security) configured as: "Outbound connections that do not match a rule are blocked". I have Parental Controls set to: "Block some websites or content" and "Block web content automatically" (any content level other than "none") and "Only allow websites which are on the allow list" (box is NOT checked).
Using the configuration above, Parental Controls blocks access to ALL websites. Note that my browser is allowed to make the connection ... it is the individual websites that are being blocked by Parental Controls.
If I change Vista's firewall (Windows firewall with advanced security) to "Outbound connections that do not match a rule are allowed"
- OR -
I disable Parental Control web filtering, the problem goes away and normal website access is allowed.
The only other way I've found to make this work is to add all websites, individually, to the Parental Controls "allow list" - not practical.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Note: this question was also posted under "Windows Vista General Discussion". This post (hopefully) more clearly describes the problem.

"Vista-fied"

I'd dispense with the automatic website blocking and set
"Block web content automatically" to 'None'
and then add individual websites to the block list. This has the effect of allowing all websites other than those that you specifically block.
In your firewall, you'd need to create an outbound firewall rule to explicitly allow Internet Explorer (or the browser that is used ) ie for 'C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe'
Jon

Vista-fied wrote:

You need to allow the parental controls service access to the net. It runs as service: WPCSvc as part of svchost.exe
Alun Harford

"Alun Harford" wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. Two problems: (1) I get a rather severe warning from windows when I try to create an outbound rule for svchost.exe - so I am hesitant to create this rule for the time being. (2) I believe that Parental Controls already has access to the net - if I explicitly add a particular site to the Parental Control allow list, it works.
Again, it is acting like the "Only allow websites which are on the allow list" box is checked in Parental Controls. This box is NOT checked.