WhackArnolds – Technology, Politics, Pop Culture, Life commentary delivered hot and fresh!

For those of you who have kids that are about to use the Internet, I know that you are a bit nervous about the many bad sites out there. I am sure that you are nervous that the RIAA is going to send you a summons about your kid downloading music. Well, you are at least afraid that you will open a browser and see a naked woman/man staring at you. There are better ways to curb a kid’s movements on the Internet, and I have one for you today. It’s called Open DNS, and quite frankly it’s very awesome.

Open DNS works by routing your computer to a DNS (Domain Name Server) that is controlled by Open DNS. When you connect normally, you simply connect your computer to the modem or your router to the modem and your computer takes care of the rest. Well, with Open DNS, you change the DNS servers that your computer is using to the Open DNS servers and then set up your settings. It’s just that easy. OK, it’s just that easy for me since I am a tech person. Let me walk you through it.

First, you go to the Open DSN website and follow the steps starting with Step 1:

You will be given very specific directions on how to set up your computer or router with the new DNS settings. The are quite thorough, and they even allow you to choose your router model and give screen shots. After you set this up continue on to Step 2 and set up your account. Once that is set up you will be able to manage your account and black list websites. The Open DNS database of websites are extensive and have a large number of explicit websites and more are added all the time. This should do wonders for your monitoring, since Open DNS gives statistics on sites that were blocked and what sites your computers are going to.

Now, this method of big brother is not fool-proof. If your children are savvy with computers, like I was, they can circumvent this set up. All they will have to do is change the DNS settings for the computer. If you use a router you can also change the settings on the router as well. If you want to make sure they are not sneaking past your filtering, you need to be more proactive with your moderation. First, I advise creating a limited user account for your kids to use. This is going to be best because they won’t be able to install stupid programs or spy-ware. On top of that they won’t be able to change the System properties at all. If you go this route, make sure you change the password for your router so they won’t be able to log into it and change the DNS servers back. If you follow those two adjustments, you should be able to keep your kids filtered from the seedy parts of the net and they won’t be able to circumvent your settings. Well, unless you have a really lame and simple password. Hope this helps, happy filtering!

Tags: Computer Help