Computer Protection via OpenDNS

Many of us on the internet use alternate DNS servers.  If you have an internet connection, you are already using a DNS server, but in most cases, you are using the DNS server operated by your internet provider.  footer_logo[1]In the past, I’ve had problems accessing sites on the internet when I used one well-known national cable internet provider.  Their DNS would fail regularly, leaving me unable to visit many sites on the internet (as well as hamper my work).  For years, I was using the Genuity free DNS servers, in the range 4.2.2.1 to 4.2.2.6.  They’re still available and they still work, but I found something better that has turned out to be not only reliable, but very useful in handling our incoming internet traffic.

OpenDNS offers DNS services like anyone else, and all you need to do is point your DNS server entries to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.  The added bonus is that if you sign up for a free account and add your network’s IP address, you can actually filter out various content categories on the internet.  OpenDNS offers a few dozen different categories that you can block.  For home use, especially with children in the house, you can filter out just about all of the nasties that they shouldn’t see.  For small business and larger corporate purposes, you can filter out other categories like gaming, web e-mail, shopping, discussion boards, blogs, etc., keeping employees productive.   It even has a category for known malware/spyware sites, so you can keep the “junk” off of your computer.  Even if you block a category, you can still add individual websites to a whitelist to allow access.  Or if you want to block a specific site, you can do that also.

OpenDNS is also constantly evolving and growing, offering new services.  I”m surprised they don’t charge for their service but to be honest, I’d gladly pay for the protection it provides, and the reliability.  You can find them at http://www.opendns.com .

How do you use an alternate DNS provider?  In Windows XP, go to Control Panel -> Network Connections, find your active network connection, right-click on it, and select Properties.  From the box that pops up, make sure the General tab is selected, and find the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry in the list.  Click that to select, then click Properties.  When the dialog box opens, you will see “Use the following DNS server addresses”…click the radio button next to that, then enter one IP address per box (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220).  Save all your changes, and you’re all set!

If you use a router, you can go into your router’s setup screen and change your DNS server addresses there.  One thing I do if they offer more than two areas to enter an address–I enter one of the Genuity DNS server addresses (such as 4.2.2.2) as a backup, just in case OpenDNS’s servers are both offline.

To use the filtering, OpenDNS relies on your IP address being current–if your modem’s IP address from your provider is, say, 10.252.32.55, then that’s what OpenDNS will detect when you visit their site.  But if your address changes (as it sometimes will, especially with some DSL or dial-up providers), you’d probably never notice it.  OpenDNS offers a small utility for Windows that will automatically send your IP address to their server, so they can update your IP address record on your account.  It can start automatically with Windows, and sits in your system tray.