Category exceptions

How to Allow Specific Items from a Blocked Category in SagiGuard

Sometimes a category block is almost right, but one item inside that category should remain available. SagiGuard supports category item exceptions so an administrator can block a category and explicitly allow selected catalog items within it.

5 min read For parents managing Windows PCs

Quick Answer

  • Use a category block when most items in that category should be unavailable.
  • Use category item exceptions when a specific catalog item inside the blocked category should stay allowed.
  • For example, an administrator can block the Games category but allow Steam or another selected catalog item if that is the intended policy.

When category exceptions are useful

Category rules are helpful because they save parents from listing every app or website one by one. But broad categories can include items that a parent or administrator may still want to allow.

A category exception handles that case. The category remains blocked, while selected catalog items are excluded from that category block.

  • Block Games but allow one approved catalog item.
  • Block Entertainment but allow a specific learning or family-approved item if it appears in that catalog.
  • Keep the wider category rule in place without rebuilding the whole block list.

How the exception fits with blocking

In SagiGuard, the exception is not a separate promise that every unknown app or website will be allowed. It applies to selected catalog items within a managed category.

All other apps and websites in that blocked category remain blocked unless the administrator explicitly allows them too.

  • Choose the category you want to block.
  • Open the category's item management view.
  • Select the catalog items that should be allowed even when the category is blocked.

Example: block Games but allow Steam

If Games is blocked, most game-related apps and websites in that category should be unavailable. If Steam is an approved catalog item for your family's rule, the administrator can mark Steam as allowed from the category item list.

That keeps the broader Games category boundary while making room for a deliberate exception.

  • Use the exception only for items you recognize and intentionally approve.
  • Review activity later to confirm the rule is behaving the way you expect.
  • Download SagiGuard on your child's Windows PC and start your free trial.

Keep exceptions small

Exceptions work best when they are rare and intentional. If you allow many items from a blocked category, it may be worth reconsidering whether the whole category should be blocked.

For parents, the goal is a rule your child can understand: this category is blocked, except for the specific item we agreed is allowed.

Try SagiGuard on your family's Windows PC

SagiGuard brings parental control for Windows into one parent-friendly place: block apps and websites, create usage schedules, manage rules remotely, and review Windows activity monitoring reports.

Download SagiGuard on your child's Windows PC and start your free trial.

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