Safer Internet Day

Did you know that it’s Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 11th Feb 2014?  This reminds us to look after our younger ones at home not only on the main computer, but also on the many other internet enabled devices in the house - other computers, laptops, tablets, Xboxes, Playstations, phones, eBooks, and even internet enabled fridges!  It's vital these devices are protected from content that you would prefer your children not to see.

Being a web design and development company in Caerphilly we know a thing or two about how to protect people from undesired content online. A traditional approach would be to install software on a computer to "lock it down”, but this would be tricky on tablets, smartphones and gaming consoles.  With so many internet enabled devices in the house, it would take ages locking down every single one...

We recommend filtering undesired content at the router level - cutting out certain websites before they even reach your home.  The government are currently introducing plans to do this, but its taking a long time.  There is, however, a neat solution that's available today, is free to use and easy to set up.  Companies such as OpenDNS offer a free service to filter out certain categories of websites at the router level before they even reach your home. This way, instead of using your ISP connection (which may not filter content), you will be served websites by OpenDNS (who do filter content).  All you need to do is change your home router DNS IP addresses to the OpenDNS IP address.  Whilst this may sound complicated and daunting, don't be put off - OpenDNS even provide a handy "how to" step-by-step guide for your particular brand of router, so follow the instructions and happy safe browsing!