Norton connect safe

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Norton connect safe

cldlr76

289 posts

Ultimate Geek

#207552 2-Jan-2017 00:16

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with Norton connect safe or other DNS's, and have any comments on the effectiveness of them. Essentially we're looking for a way of stopping the kids looking at or stumbling across things they shouldn't be looking at, e.g. R18 material.

We've got a combination of Windows, iOS, gaming consoles and smart tv's.

Thanks

hio77

12999 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lizard Networks

#1697402 2-Jan-2017 00:30

The way i personally look at it is, a dns based service is only going to protect against dns records.

If you have a kid who is smart enough to use another dns server, your protection is gone.

There will always be some site, out on the internet which is not blocked, may aswell go and block google images while your at it - Secondary school did this, What a PITA for completing ANY task.. It simply taught every student how to bypass the system.

You are better off teaching them to not go to such sites, Sooner or later they will stumble upon it and hey, chances are it's going to be a popup or an advert and completely unintentional find.

Blocking issue aside all together, by changing your dns to an off network provided service, You will likely not in your RSP's dns servers, this will result in a slower browsing experience in general.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1697412 2-Jan-2017 07:00

Tried Norton Connect Safe, but prefer OpenDNS Family Shield as it seemed to filter out more to me, plus it prevents ransomware from communication with its command and control centre.

On my Windows PCs I set up OpenDNS Family Shield with DNSCrypt. Only someone with Administrator privileges can override this, no one has the password for except me.

On the router all port 53 traffic is redirected to the router, the router WAN side DNS points to OpenDNS Family Shield. This overrides any DNS settings in devices connected to the router and redirects their DNS traffic to OpenDNS Family Shield. I'm running OpenWrt firmware to achieve this. I'm sure Gargoyle, Tomato, DD-WRT and other better quality firmware can do this also. Don't know which of the standard router firmware provides this functionality.

Agree with poster above education is important, but unfortunately even an innocent search can bring up undesired results. Results which are highly addictive, so plan B defences are still warranted.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1697413 2-Jan-2017 07:14

DNSCrypt

OpenDNS Family Shield

I had tried a couple of times to set up DNSCrypt directly on the router but without success, I'm also running SmartDNS geo-unblocking for Hulu etc, and the configuration was getting beyond my level of technical expertise.

There is a way to force Google safe search on the router, but again alas I struggled to get it working in conjunction with everything else configured on my router.

You can read up a little bit note about the technicalities of the configuration here.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1697424 2-Jan-2017 09:30

At home we use Norton Family for device parental control (Windows has Parental Controls but only for Windows obviously). We establish hours devices can be used, which accounts are monitored, website category restrictions, social network monitoring on mobile devices and messaging control (who can send/receive messages). Obviously kids accounts on laptops are not administrators.

On top of that I have OpenDNS in our router.

You have all this but the most important thing is talking to the kids/teenagers and educate them. How to react if the stumble upon something they don't like or know it's wrong and why not to go looking for it.

cldlr76

289 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1697637 2-Jan-2017 15:58

Thanks for the replies, I'll give opendns a go.

vulcannz

436 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1698178 4-Jan-2017 08:48

Anything that uses DNS should be considered a lightweight option, there are many easy ways to beat it (even as simple as using IP addresses, most early teens onwards will bypass dns filtering systems fairly quickly). But it is typically the cheapest and easiest option.