OpenDNS

Last Friday I briefly mentioned some of the dangers of the Internet. While most know that they exist, a large number of people are not quite sure what to do about them. When there was only one computer in the house, it was easy to install filtering software and make sure it stayed updated. Now it is not uncommon to have a number of computers and devices like iPhones, iTouches, and iPads using a common Internet connection. Trying to maintain all of those filtering software installations can be a chore.

Recently I had a friend explain OpenDNS and so I set myself up an account. Once you have an account, you can modify the router settings for your home Internet connection so that it goes through their servers. You can then control how much of the Internet all of the computers on your network can see. If you are only concerned about pornography, you can choose to filter out only those websites. While they still exist on the Internet, the domain name service or DNS system that is used to look up the offending site's computer address is redirected to a message saying the site is blocked.

There are a few other settings that I found particularly helpful. I really hate websites that try to install a bunch of junk on my computer and so there is a setting to filter out adware. When I first set up OpenDNS for my home network, I was only concerned about a few things. Since then I have set up a number of new filters, not because I feel they are bad for my kids, but because they are annoying. It is like being able to turn off all of the commercials on your TV. Now who wouldn't want that? I highly recommend OpenDNS even if it is just so you don't infect your computer with junk.