Setting up OpenDNS On Your Home Network

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1 Overview The following guide is posted on this parenting website as a resource for parents who wish to protect their children from accessing objectionable material on the Internet. It is also useful for security-conscious individuals who wish to avoid phishing and malware websites. The purpose of this guide is to show how to change a home network s Domain Name Service (DNS) provider from the default to OpenDNS. The procedure will include making changes to a home network s router configuration. Additionally, the procedure will explain how to flush a computer s DNS cache. Finally, the procedure will show how to customize the web filtering features of OpenDNS. Users do not have to be experts to use this guide. However, this procedure may be somewhat difficult for beginners. The user should be able to use a web browser and be comfortable with navigating Windows 8 or Windows 10. Introduction What exactly is DNS? According to Dr. Robert Marmorstein, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Longwood University: Every computer on the Internet has a unique, numeric address. Numbers are hard to remember, so the Internet provides a system called Domain Name Service that maps the numeric addresses to easily remembered text addresses. So for instance, maps to an address that starts with the number 8. Most people cannot remember details like that. A DNS server is a system that allows your computer to look up the numeric address for a symbolic address. Using OpenDNS instead of your Internet Service Provider s (ISP) DNS solution has several advantages. For parents and security-conscious individuals, the most attractive feature about OpenDNS is Web Content Filtering. This feature can block adult websites and other kinds of objectionable websites, such as those that contain information about gambling and pirated content. OpenDNS also maintains a continuously updated list of known malware and phishing sites and will block access to those sites. What sets OpenDNS apart from its competitors is that it gives users the ability to extensively customize the filter settings. With customizable filtering, the user can block or unblock any specified website. Another benefit of OpenDNS is decreased webpage loading times. One way it accomplishes this is through caching. If many OpenDNS users are requesting the same webpage, the server remembers the result and can resolve the address of that webpage almost instantly. Many ISPs do not have a large enough user base to provide this feature. They may have to query multiple DNS servers to find the information requested. Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 1

2 Fig. 1 OpenDNS caching decreases load times for webpages. Requirements Due to the author s financial and logistical limitations, this guide is aimed at users of Windows 8 or Windows 10. To use this guide, you must have a home network that is controlled by a router. If you have wireless Internet or Wi-Fi, then you probably have a router. If you do not have a router, then you can purchase one from your ISP or a retail store. *Note: Home network routers are often referred to as wireless modems. If you first obtained Internet service from you ISP more than a few years ago, you may only have a non-wireless modem.* This guide will only work if your ISP assigned your home network a static public IP address (an Internet Protocol address that doesn t change). Networks with dynamic addresses (addresses that change periodically) can work with OpenDNS, but require extra steps that are beyond the scope of this guide. If you are not sure what type of IP address your network has, then ask your ISP. Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 2

3 I. Create a Free OpenDNS home Account 1. Open your favorite web browser and go to: OpenDNS home is the best choice if you want to customize the web filtering settings. 2. Enter your information and click Continue. *Be sure to specify that you are creating a household account in the appropriate drop-down box. It is a good idea to do this because it helps to clarify that the service will be used on a home network, which entitles the user to customizable web content filtering options.* How to Set Up and Customize OpenDNS Fig. 2 Create an account II. Login to Your Router 1. Open your web browser and navigate to your router s setup page. This address should be attached to the router supplied to you by your Internet Service Provider. An example of a common local IP address for a router is Sign in with the login information attached to your router. Fig. 3 Example router login page Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 3

4 III. Change the DNS Settings 1. Locate the DNS settings for your router. The settings may be available in Advanced Setup or something similar. They may be two or three levels deep. 2. *Write down the default DNS settings, just in case you need to switch back.* Change the Primary and Secondary DNS addresses to and respectively. Fig. 5 Change DNS addresses Fig. 4 Finding the DNS settings can be difficult IV. Flush Your Computer s DNS Cache Your computer still stores information from your old DNS provider. You need to clear this memory for OpenDNS to work correctly. For Windows 8 & 10: 1. On the keyboard, press the windows key + X and select the Administrator Command Prompt. 2. Run the following command: ipconfig/flushdns without the quotation marks. The computer should return the following: Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache. 3. Restart the computer. 4. Do this for each computer on the network. Fig. 6 Flushing DNS cache Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 4

5 V. Test Your DNS Settings Go to to test your settings. A correct configuration loads a webpage with a checkmark that says Welcome to OpenDNS. An incorrect configuration loads a page with a large X that says Oops (not pictured). Fig. 7 Successful test page VI. Login to your OpenDNS Dashboard 1. In your web browser, go to 2. Sign in to the OpenDNS home account you created earlier. Fig. 8 OpenDNS login page VII. Add your network to your OpenDNS account 1. From your dashboard select the SETTINGS tab. 2. Your network s public IP address will be entered automatically. 3. Click the ADD THIS NETWORK button. 4. Name your network in the pop up box (not pictured). *Note: this guide assumes that your network was assigned a static IP address by your ISP. A network with a dynamic IP address is beyond the scope of this guide. However, OpenDNS provides a downloadable tool that automatically updates your account when your IP address changes. You can access instructions for installing this tool from the sidebar of the pictured webpage.* Fig. 9 Add a network to your OpenDNS account Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 5

6 VIII. Customize your Web Content Filtering settings After you add your network to your account, a new page will load within the SETTINGS tab that allows you to change your settings. The security setting are configured to block phishing and malware sites by default. 1. To change your filtering settings, select Web Content Filtering in the sidebar. 2. Choose a preset filtering level or customize the categories that you want to block. You can also add or remove specific websites to block or unblock. Fig. 10 Web Content Filtering settings Fig. 11 Block or unblock specific websites Congratulations, you did it! Now enjoy OpenDNS! Author: Zachary Baldwin Page 6