OpenDNS tutorial 2 - Using OpenDNS for adult site filtering and online safety - Part 1

Last updated September 10, 2009 2:15 PM

If you are interested in using OpenDNS to filter adult or unsuitable content on the internet, you'll need to complete this tutorial first. Before we begin, verify that you have completed the first tutorial correctly.

If the button above says that you are using OpenDNS, then you have completed the first tutorial successfully and we can move on to the next part. If not, skip back to the first tutorial (for XP or Vista ) and follow it again, making sure that you entered the DNS server numbers correctly.

Correctly configured? Great! There are a few additional steps you must now take. Firstly you must sign up for an account with OpenDNS. Visit this link and fill in your details. You only need to supply a valid e-mail address and a password. Once you submit these details, you will be taken to a web page that looks like this:-

Every computer that connects to the internet has an IP (Internet Protocol) address. Almost every home internet user has a non fixed or dynamic IP address. What this means in basic terms is that the internet address of your computer can change over time. The OpenDNS Updater tool checks to see if your address has changed and tells OpenDNS when it does. If you don't install and configure this software, adult site filtering and similar features will not work, because OpenDNS will not know the IP address of your machine.

So, let's download and configure the OpenDNS Updater tool. Click the link that is circled in red in the picture above and download the file to your computer. If you can't find the link shown in the picture, or you closed the page already, you can download the OpenDNS Updater tool directly from this link. Once it has downloaded, open or double click the file to install it. You will need to grant permission for the installation to continue if Windows User Account Control prompts you to do so.

You will see a window like the one below appear:-

Click on "Install". After a short delay while files are copied and configured, the following window will appear:-

Make sure "Start the OpenDNS Updater" is ticked/checked, then click on "Finish". The following window will then appear:-

Enter the username and password you created in the previous tutorial, then click on "Sign In". The OpenDNS updater will then start and the following window will appear:-

We've now successfully installed the OpenDNS updater. However, there are a few more settings we need to change in the account dashboard before everything will work. We'll be covering those settings in our next tutorial.

Note - If you have a router and several computers connected to the internet, you only need to set up the OpenDNS Updater on one machine. This should be the machine that is used most often.

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