With all the devices in a modern household that can access the Net, controlling what all of them can see may seem impossible. But it isn't. The very technology that brings us the Net can be used to filter what gets through to your iPad, your kid's Xbox, and that Kindle Fire someone just got as a gift.
The program that does the filtering is called OpenDNS and it comes in a couple of different flavors that I'll talk about in a minute. In a nutshell, it lets you decide what sites are accessible to anyone using a device that uses your home Internet connection. The simplest way to get started is by using the 56 predefined categories that come with the product. Social media, adult content, and academic fraud are 3 of the 56 categories. You can choose to block an entire category, or you can block specific websites in one or more categories. There's an even easier option in terms of set up which just requires you to select a protection level (low, medium , or high). Just be sure that the level you pick produces the protection level you're after.
Setting up OpenDNS in your house may expose you to some technical terms that you haven't dealt with before, but the instructions are really straightforward and you shouldn't have any trouble at all. The basic idea is that once you set OpenDNS up, all of your Internet requests will go through their system which is where the filtering happens. So filtering is effective immediately after you set the program up.
There is a free version that provides the filtering talked about above and a "premium" version that costs $19.95 per year. OpenDNS has a Facebook page too and you can read much more about it at: the OpenDNS home page.
I hope this was enough to let you see that you can control what enters your domain (your house :>) without necessarily being a tech geek.
More to follow soon on other program offerings that provide similar protection.
The program that does the filtering is called OpenDNS and it comes in a couple of different flavors that I'll talk about in a minute. In a nutshell, it lets you decide what sites are accessible to anyone using a device that uses your home Internet connection. The simplest way to get started is by using the 56 predefined categories that come with the product. Social media, adult content, and academic fraud are 3 of the 56 categories. You can choose to block an entire category, or you can block specific websites in one or more categories. There's an even easier option in terms of set up which just requires you to select a protection level (low, medium , or high). Just be sure that the level you pick produces the protection level you're after.
Setting up OpenDNS in your house may expose you to some technical terms that you haven't dealt with before, but the instructions are really straightforward and you shouldn't have any trouble at all. The basic idea is that once you set OpenDNS up, all of your Internet requests will go through their system which is where the filtering happens. So filtering is effective immediately after you set the program up.
There is a free version that provides the filtering talked about above and a "premium" version that costs $19.95 per year. OpenDNS has a Facebook page too and you can read much more about it at: the OpenDNS home page.
I hope this was enough to let you see that you can control what enters your domain (your house :>) without necessarily being a tech geek.
More to follow soon on other program offerings that provide similar protection.
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