Sunday, September 16, 2018

OpenDNS: Controlling technology in the home.


There  numerous ways in which you can control what devices can do on your wireless network. They range from controlling access through to filtering particular websites or categories of websites.

Some products are easier to setup and have a more user friendly interface, such as the Disney Circle mentioned below. Other require a little more work but can be as effective.
We will highlight two different approaches:

The Disney Circle (The device costs $99 US, the app is free with in app purchase options, modem still required)
OpenDNS (OpenDNS Family Shield is free, OpenDNS Home VIP $19.95 per year, modem still required).


Disney Circle
We had previously written about the Disney Circle so follow the link to our article.
http://sfset.blogspot.com/2016/10/circle-great-way-for-managing.html


OpenDNS
OpenDNS is a service run by Cisco, a large networking company. For most people the free service they offer is more than enough. The VIP service gives you usage reports and more options for "whitelisting" sites.

There are two ways you can setup Open DNS. One option is to add a setting to each  device by typing in the OpenDNS configurations (see links below) or setting up OpenDNS on your network wireless router so that all data passing through the router is filtered.

Review of OpenDNS

Open DNS Review (what are people saying about it)


Setting up Family Shield (free) (shows all all options)


Option 1: Setting up OpenDNS on your router

List of routers - choose the router you have

If your router is not listed: Generalized Router settings




Option 2: Setting up OpenDNS on each Device







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