Well, my daughter, Rachel, will be 7 in May. "They grow up so fast", as they say, and it hit me this week that my little, baby girl is an Internet user. What?! I watched her sit down at my computer, open a browser, and Google search for music videos. The Internet is a DARK, SCARY PLACE that wants to harm my daughter! The bad stuff will find her regardless of whether she is looking for it or not.
So I wonder what you parents do to keep your little kids from opening bad stuff on the Internet?
On Sunday, I setup OpenDNS Home (free), and so far it's awesome. It's a dead-simple and effective solution. All you do is log into your home router and configure it to serve these 2 Name Servers instead of the defaults you get from your Internet provider:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
By default you'll have no blocking except known malware sites. When you sign up at http://www.opendns.com/home-solutions/p ... -controls/, you get a Dashboard that lets you configure the level of filtering. I chose "Medium" which blocks all adult content and illegal activity related sites. You can also block or allow specific domains as needed.
When a URL is blocked, you get a nice page in your browser letting you know it was blocked. Your users (family) can submit a form on that page will go to you and request that the URL be allowed. You can even customize that page your home users see when a page is blocked.
If your public IP is dynamic (most home Internet services give dynamic IPs that can change over time), they have a program you can download and run on one of your computers that will automatically update your account with your current public IP. (Don't run this on a laptop that you frequently take outside your home or you may update your OpenDNS public IP with the public IP from the coffee house network, etc.)
You can ignore everything I said and just go to http://www.opendns.com/home-solutions/p ... -controls/, then click OpenDNS Home and follow the instructions. They walk you through it.
A nice side benefit is that the OpenDNS name servers are faster than the slow, crappy Surewest name servers. This means my browsing experience is faster now.
OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
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Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
I think the only down side is that now Rachel can put the block on you!
Good idea.
MrHix
Good idea.
MrHix
MrHix
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2017 Yamaha FZ10
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Team Lemon Curry???
2017 Yamaha FZ10
2014 KTM 350 XCF-W
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
I use OpenDNS here at work as a second form of content filtering along with other Network Appliances and I quite like it, it's quick and easy to set up and does a pretty good job of keeping the evil at bay. Or, in my case, keeping people from shopping on eBay and reading the FaceBooks all day.
2005 DL650 Suzuki VStrom
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1986 FZX700 Yamaha Fazer
The Twitters: http://www.twitter.com/johnnytwolane
The WebSite: http://johnnytwolane.com
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
Ok guys my daughter has a iPad and I just bought a HP Google chrome laptop I need help my wife was talking about this last night!!!
Ok somebody needs to walk me through this I have BBQ coupons !
Ok somebody needs to walk me through this I have BBQ coupons !
CRF 450x
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
Call me right now, RJ. 913.669.0958
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
I just saw this, can't call now! Lol!
My phone went dead last night when I was surfing the page
My phone went dead last night when I was surfing the page
CRF 450x
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
Troy I plan to do this sometime this week, so when is your most free time?
yes you have free BBQ for this!
yes you have free BBQ for this!
Last edited by Rusty Jug on 06 Jan 2014 13:16, edited 1 time in total.
CRF 450x
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Favorite quote:
"If it looks good, eat it" and "Check out that smoke ring, baby"
Andrew Z.
Re: OpenDNS Home - safe browsing for the kids (and you)
Just call when convenient for you, and I'll do my best to make that time work. We'll need 5 to 20 minutes depending on thickness of your skull.Rusty Jug wrote:Troy I plan to do this sometime this week, so when is you most free time?
yes you have free BBQ for this!