Using OpenDNS to speed up your Internet and Filter unwanted content

I have been using OpenDNS Free account for a few weeks, and it works great at replacing my internet service providers DNS and filtering websites for me which I do not view or download to my computer.

I find it to make my internet slightly faster when loading websites. If you sign up for an account at OpenDNS, you have the ability to use OpenDNS to block the domain names of adware, botnets, phishing by using phishtank, malware, adult, gambling, alcohol, proxy servers chat, dating, suspicious responses and many other types of sites from your user account on OpenDNS. All you have to do is check the categories you do not want to view on your computer to block specific categories in the web content filtering custom setting or pick from pre-made configurations if you are not sure which categories you want to block.

It is also possible to always allow or never allow a domain name even if the category is block or not. However, for the free account, you are limited to only 25 domain names. Web content filtering is great if you do not want to install parental control or web filtering software on your home computer, but want content filtering capabilities on your computer to prevent your family computer safe from websites with indecent material.

When a user tries to visit a block a website, OpenDNS will show a message which says the website address is blocked, and what category is being block on your computer. There is also a link called “Contact your network administrator” on the page to contact you by tour OpenDNS registration e-mail via an e-mail form on the blocked page , so your kids or other people using your internet can send you a request to unblock a website or category with your OpenDNS account.

The E-mail which you’ll receive from the form contains the senders message, e-mail address, and domain name address. There will also be a link to the domain name profile like http://domain.opendns.com/johnsonyip.com which shows you what category which a domain is currently being blocked for, and you can suggest categories which you feel is fitting for it.

Using OpenDNS is a good way of increasing your internet connection by adding an extra layer of security to your internet connection by using OpenDNS secure DNS servers with content filtering and malware and phishing blocking capabilities.

If you can’t visit your favorite website from your home internet connection, but you can visit it from your friends house, there is a possibility that your Internet Service provider DNS server is not resolving the domain name to a website, so a website can’t load. Switching to OpenDNS as your DNS server for your computer or home router’s DNS provider may help you at resolving DNS records which your ISP’s DNS can’t resolve, or resolve’s very slowly.

Also, if you type in the domain name extension wrong like .cmo OpenDNS changes it back to .com. If you forgot to type in the extension for the website address, OpenDNS will search the internet and return a list of search results instead of a “page not found 404 error”.

You can also view stats on what website computers using your internet connection are visiting, and how many DNS requests per day your users are making.

If your ISP is slow or DNS server is unreliable, you can try switching to OpenDNS to see if OpenDNS improves the speed of your internet website loading speed.

OpenDNS also has a Updater program which you can download from OpenDNS to keep your IP up to date, so content filtering still works when your Internet service provider change your dynamic IP address.

OpenDNS also has SmartCache, Dynamic IP Updates, domain typos, and network short cuts which speed up your OpenDNS user experience and makes it faster.

OpenDNS works for all operating systems and all devices which connect to your home network via your router. OpenDNS can be a good parental control or content filtering solution for computers which still use Windows 98-ME, Ubuntu Linux, and other operating systems or devices like cell phones without many good parental control or web filtering software available for it.

The I.P. address for OpenDNS are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 all you have to do is change your router or Network card DNS IP address to OpenDNS IP Address.

I made a video on how to change your DNS address for your network adapter and router to Google DNS address. It is exactly the same for Open DNS. However, you use OpenDNS’s I.P. address instead of Google’s DNS’s IP address.

Visit OpenDNS.com/ to learn more about OpenDNS, and how you can use it to speed up your internet, and filter out unwanted content by signing up for a free account at OpenDNS.