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Thread: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

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    Taz
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    OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    I have an ADSL line at my parents house that I am responsible for. It's used by my parents and other family members when they're round there. The users are not particularly computer or net savvy. I need to ensure that Internet access is regulated and that inappropriate sites or downloads are blocked.

    What I want to avoid is installing software like Net Nanny on the PCs themselves there as that may not go down too well from a trust issue. Thus, I would like to block inadvertent access to inappropriate sites or downloads at the network level.

    I've read that OpenDNS can offer some of this functionality. Has anyone used OpenDNS with a view to providing a safe surfing environment? If so, has it worked well or would I still need some parental control software on the PCs themselves?

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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?


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    Taz (27-08-2008)

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    Taz
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcLister View Post
    That reassures me somewhat.

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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    I use OpenDNS purely to replace Virgin Media's sometimes unreliable DNS servers.

    They certainly have a good framework, so if their parental filters work, they'll probably be reliable too.
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    We use this for 2 of our small remote sites, quite a good thing.

    Regards
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    Great, just what i have been looking for. Thanks for the link.
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    ive started sticking the opendns servers in as default when i build boxes for people as they are in most cases they are much more reliable than their isp's

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    Taz
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    I, too, have been using just the OpenDNS servers as my DNS servers on both of my ADSL accounts. However, the additional features of OpenDNS seem to be very useful and not a bad thing to have for free!

    Thanks to all who responded. I shall try this out at my parents house and see how it goes.

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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    I've used opendns for a few years now it's been very reliable and I've had no issues with it at all and It's easy to setup.

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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    Taz - They work, but of course aren't a 100% perfect, no filters are.

    The majority of the filtered content on opendns is flagged by users which in theory means it should have a larger and more correct restricted database.

    Just set up the categories you would like blocked and your pretty much away.

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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    I set up OpenDNS yesterday at my parents' house. I had to create a (free) account to enable the filtering. It was a painless process and there is a tiny application that transmits your (dynamic) IP address so that OpenDNS can keep your settings associated with your IP address even if you get assigned a new IP address.

    There are many, many categories that you can block. I tested out several inappropriate sites, purely for reserach purposes of course, and verified that I got the OpenDNS blocked screen.

    You can add sites of your own that you want blocked and can whitelist sites that would fall under a blocked category but you still want access to. OpenDNS also provides access statistics but you have to enable their transparent proxy for that. I'm a little bit uncomfortable with any company that uses a transparent proxy but I trust OpenDNS.

    Overall, i'm very happy that i've found a very good solution that will ultimately protect me as I pay for the line and it's registered in my name. It will also protect anyone that uses the line. Of course, it's not perfect but much better than having nothing.

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    Senior Member FatalSaviour's Avatar
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    +1 for OpenDNS in general.

    Changing DNS settings on the routers that I buy for home and office use is one of the first things I do once I've unpacked them nowadays.

    The filtering, although not entirely foolproof is a lot better than some other free (and paid-for) solutions we've tried.
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    Re: OpenDNS for safe surfing?

    Just be aware thet Open DNS re-directs Google searches....if you ping www.google.com you will get something like: google.navigation.opendns.com

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