The Elvidge Family

Filtering unwanted Web Content using OpenDNS or ScrubIT (free DNS servers)

I use a number of different tools to protect our children from unwanted web content in our home.  Before I go any further I feel I must say that there is no 'absolute' safe solution and young children should always have supervised browsing time and use computers in high traffic areas of the home.  It is not just about trust, it is about making computer time a sociable and shared experience.

For years I have used Zone Alarm Security Suite on all home computers to be able to choose which categories of websites can be browsed.  I have found that this works very well.  The most recent versions of ZoneAlarm have removed the ability to manage personal messaging services such as IM which I have missed.  I still recommend this product as an all round virus/firewall and browsing protection program.  Another highly recommended program is K9 web protection which although it is free is a very good parental filter (found here) but all these things are not bulletproof.

I have been looking for additional protection from general browsing as so many devices also connect to the internet such as ipods, games consoles, etc..and obviously windows software is of no use.  I have therefore installed an additional filter which works using DNS (Domain Name Servers).  Every time a computer/device accessed the internet it must access a DNS to translate the web address (eg. google.co.uk) into an IP address (eg. 67.223.45.....) which is the address list of the internet.  If that DNS service also acts as a filter, then it will block unwanted content for all devices.  This is not fail-safe, and whilst I won't share ways to circumvent it, it can be, so it is another tool but bearing in mind my first comments.

One very popular tool is OpenDNS which is found at www.opendns.com and is free for basic use.  This is relatively easy to set-up and the site has a very easy to follow set of instructions so I won't try and duplicate them here.  Part of the set-up allows you to choose which types of sites you want to filter out, and once you have set it up on your home router, all devices that access the internet will be filtered.  The only downside of using OpenDNS is that its default filters are set open to all content and due to most home broadband being provided with dynamic IP addresses you must download a tool that runs in the background of your PC and ensures the settings remain up-to-date.  This means that if the settings are not kept up-to-date then the filter is switched off.

Another option is ScrubIT which is found at www.scrubit.com and is also free.  This service is much simpler and does not allow you to set-up your own custom filters.  They automatically choose the content to filter, which means that it is always working.

Although both these services say that the speed of your internet experience is unaffected or even faster, I would say you should expect your connection to be slower due to local ISP caching.  This is especially true if you live in Europe as these servers are mostly USA based.  A Europe/UK based DNS filter service would be great, I have not found one yet.