Free Content Filtering - No Software, No Hardware
If you’re looking for a dead-simple, free content filtering solution, Open DNS is for you. Go there and sign up for a free account.
Open DNS works be replacing (or augmenting) your DNS servers. For individual workstations, you simply point your DNS servers to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
If you have a router or multiple computers on your network, login to your router and set the DNS servers for the local LAN to the IP addresses listed above.
If you have Active Directory or a network domain - DO NOT replace DNS entries on your workstations or servers!!!
I say this again: Active Directory domains REQUIRE that all servers and workstations use the Internal DNS provided by Active Directory.
To use OpenDNS with Active Directory, go in to the DNS administration settings on your Domain Controllers, and setup forwards to the OpenDNS servers: 208.67.222.222 & 208.67.220.220.
On the OpenDNS website, you can filter groups of content: violence, sex, social networking, job sites, etc. Once this is setup, you’ll have a nice dashboard to monitor your DNS usage and you won’t have to deal with trash on your network. You can also block known phishing sites with a single click!
If you use OpenDNS, drop a line on the blog here. I would like to gather feedback from other users.