Now I have my new pc, my old one is sold, but buyer has asked me to make PC safe for a 8 year old i.e, has asked me to set up parental controls, does any one know of the best way to do this.

Also if I block it in internet explorer what is to stop him installing chrome or another browser and bypassing parental controls. Can some one with a limited account install programs.
I've set the pc so it will not work during certain hours, like when he should be in bed.

XP or windows 7?

You could setup an administrator account and a user account with restricted access.

maybe setup the computer security policies to only open IE on boot up.

Sorry it's Vista

If its like 7 then a limited account needs the admin account password to install anything. Dont uninstall ie you will kill it.

I skipped Vista.

This is good for internet filtering:

http://www.opendns.com/parental-controls/

i was thinking that too Gibo.
A decent internet security package normally has a decent family / children filter built in.

Ive set up K9 and it seems to be working, am finding sites it keeps blocking, but am adding them manualy to be allowed.

The pc does not get collected for another 2 weeks, so I have plenty of time to make sure it's set up correctly.

Make a back up of your settings