The family computer is a great source of fun and information for all, but families with tender age children will need to take steps to protect those innocent eyes from the darker side of the World Wide Web. There are numerous methods to filter out inappropriate content for children, including via browser settings, but these methods are often quite complicated to set up. As an alternative, a very simple way to protect children when online is to use one of the family safety public DNS servers which automatically block access to sites with inappropriate content. There are two well known and reputable public DNS servers that provide this service — OpenDNS and Cloudflare DNS.
Now, changing DNS servers in Windows can be quite tiresome in itself but there is simple portable freeware that can do that for you easily and quickly — it’s called DNS Angel. Using a combination of family safety public DNS servers with DNS Angel is not only very simple but also very effective.
DNS Angel Download & Usage
DNS Angel is a portable freeware application from prolific developer Sordum. The download consists of a 514 KB ZIP folder extracting to 833 KB and, according to Virus Total, it is 100% clean. Double-click the extracted executable to run:
The internet is vast and uncensored, and can be the source of material that is damaging to young minds. Parents should play an active role in making sure that corrupting websites are being filtered and blocked, and DNS Angel can help. It will aid in protecting your family from inappropriate websites, blocking them automatically.
Simply click whichever button you want to set up as the DNS server – OpenDNS Family is recommended for U.S. residents and Cloudflare Family for Australian residents. If each child logs into the computer with his/her own user account, you will only need to do this once per child. If the family is sharing a single user account then you can easily switch between the family safety public DNS servers and your default DNS server (“Restore DNS”).
- More information on Cloudflare family safety: Introducing 1.1.1.1 For Families
- More information on OpenDNS family safety: FamilyShield Computer Configuration
BOTTOM LINE:
There are many methods to help protect children from inappropriate online content but perhaps none simpler. Even users with limited experience/knowledge can set this method up quickly and easily.
Do you use any sort of family filtering system? If so, please feel free to share in a comment.
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