Posted on 05/29/2010 11:07:11 PM PDT by Dallas59
I have two DNS servers from my ISP A&TT that I use. Just wondering if using a free DNS would do any harm, slow me down or is would be unsafe to use.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
I use Google Public DNS. No problems here.
Got friends who swear by openDNS.
It can also be used as a form of parental control once you have an account. They can block many nasty sites at the DNS level.
Many of the Free DNS are good.
In theory and all the stuff I have read on line says it should be good.
sorry.. will = with
You have to register every 30 days.
?
I registered only once.
I have full content filtering for free too.
What is DNS?
What is free DNS?
I think OpenDNS should be fine though if that is your choice. I know many who use it and have had no problems. And it does allow you to restrict which sites you can visit if that is a concern.
I’ve been using OpenDNS for at least a year now. I registered once, it’s free and I block anything from .cn .ru and a number of other known malware hosting countries. Most malware sites don’t hardcode their IPs so as to remain a moving target. Known malware IPs get on blacklists quickly.
If there is a malware injection that calls for the code to come from a Chinese, Russian, etc. webserver it simply fails.
This all happens before the PCs behind my router even knew what happened.
I try to get people to switch over but most don’t understand what DNS is(even if you try to explain it, It’s simply a name instead of a number) and think it’s too complicated to use. It’s neither but what can I do.
Thanks for your replies.
...
Been using OpenDNS for several months. Only needed to register once, fast name resolution with benefit of site blocking for the worst of the web. Your browsers has to use some DNS service and OpenDNS is highly rated.
For readers who have no idea what we’re talking about, DNS is the internet “phone book” service that translates a name such as www.freerepublic.com to the actual address of 209.157.64.201 Some services, such a FreeDNS, offer content filters as a layer of content blocking - porn and phishing sites being the most obvious. The DNS applies these filters to your overall network connection so every computer in your home is protected or restricted depending on your point of view.
If you’re interested in learning more
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20002433-68.html
http://tinyurl.com/339g56e
http://www.opendns.com/
DynDNS.com offers free service but it expires every 30 days. They try to sell you a DynDNS pro service “accounts from expiring after a month of inactivity”.
http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/
That is only one of them, get another.
OpenDNS and google are the most popular.
Will do.
I registered once two years ago and have been using it since. No problems on this end, faster than ComCRAP's DNS and I use it for the content filtering for my kids.
Why is my account expiring?
Inactive accounts are deleted after 30 days. An account is inactive when:
* You do not log into the account within a 30-day period * You do not update any Dynamic DNS hostnames within a 30-day period
Visiting a Dynamic DNS hostname *does not* count as activity.
How can I keep my account active?
If you wish to keep your account active without logging in or updating hostnames every 30 days, you can purchase a Dynamic DNS Pro upgrade:
Ah, you use DynamicDNS. I use OpenDNS. Now I see why you’re getting registration renewals. Sorry, can’t help you other than to say to switch to OpenDNS and you won’t have to worry about it. :-)
I have two DNS servers from my ISP A&TT that I use. Just wondering if using a free DNS would do any harm, slow me down or is would be unsafe to use.
If I were you, I would use OpenDNS (and I do use it ... :-) ...)
Rock-Solid Security
Intelligent Navigation
Support
DNS Infrastructure
Insight and Reporting
Customization
Account Management
How can I keep my account active?
Use OpenDNS ... :-)
Thanks for the heads up.
Use opendns or google, there are a lot of supernags out the, but there isn’t reason to charge for this.
One percent of world's Internet users is a lot of customers
By Maxwell Cooter, TechWorld
March 24, 2010 09:32 AM ET
Internet infrastructure and services company OpenDNS has reached a major landmark by snagging one percent of all Internet users worldwide, according to analytics firm Quantcast.
While it doesn't sound like very much, that adds up to 18 million global users, and given that most organisations get their DNS services from their ISPs, OpenDNS is the largest single provider of DNS services. Furthermore, its use has doubled in the past year, despite the emergence of a powerful new competitor after Google launched its own DNS service last December.
According to Allison Rhodes, OpenDNS's director of marketing, the growth in customers has been "stealthy and consistent" around the world, ever since the company's 2006 launch. The company's progress was not knocked off course by the Google announcement, quite the reverse in fact. "The launch of Google DNS absolutely raised awareness about DNS in general. We saw a surge in growth immediately following Google's announcement. We saw Google's introduction of its DNS service as a very positive thing for OpenDNS," she said.
OpenDNS is used particularly by organisations looking for additional security and better web content filtering. It numbers 25,000 schools among its customers. The recently expressed concerns about social media sites, has helped drive up those numbers. "OpenDNS is the easiest way for parents to create a controlled, safer Internet experience in their household. We have a high adoption in the UK among parents looking to keep kids safe online and we attribute it to that reason," said Rhodes.
The company is looking forward to further strong growth in the coming year, despite the continuing lack of awareness about the need to change DNS providers. Rhodes remains optimistic however. "We have no reason to believe our growth won't continue to climb at the current rate, or even faster. Our user count has more than doubled in the past year and as awareness spreads about the value of safer, more reliable DNS service, we fully expect that growth to move toward 2 percent of the world's
December 28, 2009
By Joseph Moran
For most small businesses, a reliable connection to the Internet is vital for both communication and commerce. A key component of Internet access is the Domain Name System (DNS), which allows you to reach sites using familiar and user-friendly names like smallbusinesscomputing.com rather than inscrutable and difficult to remember IP addresses like 63.236.73.55. Whenever you access a Web site, send or receive e-mail, chat via instant messaging, or use any other type of Internet application, DNS is working behind the scenes matching domain names to IP addresses.
As you read this, your business is probably relying on ISP-provided DNS servers to reach sites and services on the Internet. They often do an adequate job, but they’re prone to sluggishness (and sometimes outages). Switching your business over to the independent DNS service provider OpenDNS, on the other hand, can make Internet access a bit speedier and safer for everyone on your network, as well as provide added features like content filtering so you can determine which Web sites your employees can and can’t visit.
OpenDNS uses a combination of caching technology and a network of strategically located servers that generally perform DNS lookups much quicker than ISP servers do. Considering that loading all the components of a single Web page can often involve lots of individual DNS lookups, saving even a fraction of a second on each can really add up. OpenDNS also provides a phishing filter and checks every site you visit to make sure it’s legitimate before taking you to it.
Best of all, you can take advantage of OpenDNS for free (or at minimal cost) and without having to make any major configuration changes to your network or any of your computers.
Getting Started with OpenDNS
Getting up and running with OpenDNS ranges from easy to very easy. If you’re a small firm that relies exclusively on ISP-provided DNS — that is, you don’t maintain your own DNS server — all you need to do is make a quick tweak to your router settings so that it uses OpenDNS’s DNS servers rather than your ISP’s. The exact configuration steps vary by router, but it basically involves logging into it and looking for a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 1 where you can specify custom DNS servers. (The OpenDNS server addresses are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220.) You can also get manufacturer and model-specific setup instructions for consumer and small office routers at the OpenDNS store.
If your company is running a DNS server, you’ll need to configure it to use OpenDNS to look up addresses outside your own network (i.e. on the Internet). The configuration process is simple, and this page on the OpenDNS Web site will give you step-by-step instructions on how to change your DNS on Windows, Mac or Unix/Linux-based servers.
Regardless of which setup method you use, when you’re finished you’ll have the benefit of OpenDNS’s speed improvements and phishing protection. You can then verify that OpenDNS is properly configured, and go to the test site to see the phishing filter in action.
Content Filtering
To take advantage of the aforementioned Web content filtering, you’ll need to take the extra step of creating an OpenDNS Basic account (still free), so that the service can identify your specific network and apply unique settings to it. OpenDNS identifies your network by the public IP address assigned to it by your ISP.
Although it’s not too common with business-class Internet service, if your network’s public IP address is dynamic — i.e. subject to periodic changes — you’ll need to run a small utility on one of your systems (preferably one that’s left running all the time). This will detect any changes to your public IP and update OpenDNS accordingly. (You’ll see a link to the Dynamic IP software when you set up your network, but you can also download the utility.)
Once your OpenDNS account is created and your network defined, you’re ready to apply network-specific configuration options via the Settings tab. For content filtering, you can use general settings —minimal, low, moderate, high — or customized ones to filter almost 60 specific categories of inappropriate or time-wasting content (e.g. adult, games, social networking, Webmail, etc.).
You’ll also have the option to block or allow access to particular domain names, known as whitelisting or blacklisting. (See Figure 2.)
Other benefits of using OpenDNS with an account include the capability to view statistics about your network’s DNS usage, such as which domains were visited most and which access attempts were blocked. You’ll also be able to customize the message that’s displayed when the phishing or content filter blocks a site, as well as on the guide page, which presents a list of suggested alternatives when someone types in an invalid or unresponsive address.
It’s worth noting that OpenDNS only knows about your network and not its users, so it won’t allow you to apply different settings to individual employees. Similarly, OpenDNS collects network stats in aggregate; it will be able to tell you when someone attempts to access a forbidden site, but not that it was Fred in accounting. (Sorry to narc on you, Fred.)
What’s the Catch?
At this point you might be wondering how OpenDNS manages to provide its service for free. As is so often this case, “free” really means “advertising supported,” and the upshot is that sponsored links will appear on every block and guide page.
If you’ d rather not deal with the ads and are willing to ante up $5 per user per year — still pretty cheap — to make them go away, you can upgrade to OpenDNS Deluxe. Aside from being ad-free the Deluxe version offers a handful of additional enhancements including more customization options and a much longer stats history. (See a detailed comparison between Basic and Deluxe.)
Note: Google recently released a DNS service of its own called Google Public DNS, which promises speed and security benefits similar to OpenDNS, but it doesn’t currently offer any advanced/customizable features.
While switching to OpenDNS isn’t going to make an Internet connection that’s inherently slow lightning-quick, nor will it protect you against every form of Internet-borne malady, if you want Internet access with more speed and security and you want more control and insight over how your small business’s Internet connection is used, it’s worth checking out.
Joseph Moran is a veteran technology writer and co-author of Getting StartED with Windows 7, from Friends of ED.
I might make note of the fact — that OpenDNS “tags” websites according to about 55 different categories, and then it will “filter out” that website from the DNS servers (i.e., not allow it to be seen) — according to those tags.
Those tags are voted on by the community of actual users of OpenDNS. And..., Free Republic has been tagged by someone as “Hate/Discrimination”. It’s being voted on right now, and if it gets tagged that designation (by the “final vote”), that means that Free Republic will be filtered out of a whole lot of different places, because of that designation.
Y’all might want to “sign up” (it’s free) and then put your vote in for “NO” on it being a “Hate/Discrimination” website.
I thought y’all might want to know ... and it would pay for a lot of people to sign up and “vote” on that one...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.