Fighting Back Against Bad Internet Stuff
I recently learned about custom DNS servers. Why does this matter? This is a way for you to put a filter on your network and/or individual computers to make a lot of bad stuff never be possible to get to on the Internet.
Right now you’re probably using the DNS service from your internet provider. When you type in a website, like WYLH.org for example, the DNS you use figures out the actual IP address where the website is at and then you use that to go see the website. If you use a DNS service that has a filter on it, it can protect you from dangerous websites that hackers use, but some DNS providers also have family filters to block bad websites. It’s simple and easy to set up also. I highly recommend this.
Now – there are multiple free DNS providers out there. I researched about 5-10 of them and I chose one. There were a few with family filters, but I picked this one because it had the highest rating for keeping out the worst of the worst. It may not block all “ads” as some other DNS services do, but it does block the most really bad websites according to one website that was ranking the different family filters. So I settled on this one called CleanBrowsing.org. A few paragraphs below are links for you to get started, but if you want me to help you get your computer set up please call me and let me know. Please note – if you are on a Mac I did not have a Mac to test on. But I did do testing on a Windows 10 PC, a Linux PC, and an iPhone.
Also – Please be aware this may block you from some things that you might otherwise not want to be blocked from depending which filter you choose from. They have two levels for blocking bad sites:
1) the family filter which is the most strict, and
2) another filter (called “Adult”) which blocks the worst sites but doesn’t restrict as much.
For example – Reddit.com, and the WayBack Machine at archive.org is blocked in the family filter, but not blocked in the less restrictive filter. Also, on the family filter I think they filter out some videos on YouTube sometimes, like even one of EliYah’s got filtered out (I think?) which had closed captions. Maybe it was a false negative or detected something in the closed caption text that triggered it? I don’t know. I’m using the stricter family filter right now but when I needed to use the WayBack machine I just switched to the less restrictive one, then switched back to family filter when I was done.
Here are the links to get started but if you want me to help you or have questions, give me a call on the first day of the week or 6th day of the week (earlier in the day is better).
Mac: https://cleanbrowsing.org/guides/macos
iPhone: https://cleanbrowsing.org/guides/iphone
For advanced users, Routers, Android Phones, etc.: If you want to use this filter for your entire home network, you can modify your router settings. If your internet provider’s router doesn’t give you those options, you can get a router at a store and connect it to your internet provider’s router and make that your primary home router, and configure it using instructions on their website – just browse the cleanbrowsing.org guides and knowledge base links and you’ll find the link for routers, android devices, etc. etc. if I didn’t list what you need here. I couldn’t test on an android so that’s why I didn’t post the link directly to the android instructions.
Note For All Versions: After you use the program you test what your DNS is at https://dnsleaktest.com – click on Standard Test – if the Hostname shows only one host name and that host name has cleanbrowsing.org in it – then everything is configured correctly. You should not see more than one Hostname listed. If you do, you might have to take additional steps to fix that. Again, please remember that the “family filter” WILL block sites like Reddit because they are considered “mixed content” sites. I don’t know what that means exactly or which sites are considered “mixed content” – maybe it means Reddit is not a good website after all. I don’t know much about it but I’ve found answers for questions on search engines there sometimes – but if it’s a bad enough site to get kicked out by the family filter then maybe it’s better to avoid anyhow. If you go to a website you would normally “think” would work and it doesn’t work, then it could be due to the CleanBrowsing.org DNS filters and then you might want to switch to the less restrictive one. I haven’t had any major issues – just a few minor things as mentioned in this post. Call if you have questions.
Note about Windows and iPhone: I tested the Windows and iPhone apps and I got it working easily. I only tested on Windows 10.
Note for Linux: Their instructions for Linux did not work for me on Ubuntu so that’s why I didn’t post their instructions link here, but I figured out how to configure it myself on Linux. If you are using Linux you may have to tinker with network card and/or Firefox proxy settings to get it to work. I had to use the Firefox network proxy settings. I chose “Manual proxy configuration”. Then at the bottom I checked “Enable DNS over HTTPS” and put in the URL https://doh.cleanbrowsing.org/doh/family-filter/ and also use the terminal command “sudo systemd-resolve –flush-caches” (no quotes).
Edit/Update: I found out on Shabbat that the Family Filter also blocks the live streams on YouTube for EliYah.com but I was able to listen through EliYah.com/live with the family filter on just fine.