Set up parental controls on your router
LEARN HOW TO QUICKLY AND EASILY BLOCK ACCESS TO ADULT AND ILLEGAL CONTENT USING YOUR ROUTER’S BUILT-IN CONTROLS.
ALTHOUGH FOR PROPER parental controls, we’d absolutely recommend a software solution like Norton Family ( family.norton.com) or Bitdefender Parental Control ( www.bitdefender.com.au), many users would prefer to set up parental control on the router. It’s more limited and less granular than the software solutions, but it does provide a global access control, as well as having the advantage of being free.
Setting parental controls on a router is a multi-stage process. First comes the site filtering, for which most people use OpenDNS. Then you have internet access scheduling, which can be more complicated. We’ll start with OpenDNS.
SITE FILTERING WITH OPENDNS
OpenDNS ( opendns.com) is a special service that offers a “custom internet feed” that limits access to sites according to content rules (like no nudity or hate speech). Netgear routers actually have it baked in using the genie App, but for other routers, just follow these steps:
* Go to signup.opendns.com/homefree. Create an account, then log in.
* Go to Settings. Select a network in the ‘Settings For:’ field.
* Set your content filtering level. You can use the predefined levels or click Customize to get more granular control over filtering.
* Click on the Support tab, then Download the OpenDNS Updater for your platform. This is a small resident app that keeps OpenDNS apprised of your current IP address (as we discussed in our DNS story last issue, this is so that OpenDNS knows that it’s you, and can apply your personal filters to any request coming from your IP).
* Run OpenDNS Updater and log in with your OpenDNS account. You don’t have to do anything else — the app just needs to be running. Just click on the close button (it will stay running in your taskbar).
* Now we need to set up your router to use OpenDNS. You need to log into your router’s admin page, which can be found in your router’s manual.
This part is tricky, because manufacturers do it differently. You have to find the router’s DNS settings.
* On Linksys routers, they’re usually found under ‘Connectivity > Local Network’, under the DHCP server field.
* On D-Link, click on ‘Setup > Manual Internet Connection Setup’ and change only the DNS server fields under Dynamic IP.
* On most ASUS routers, click on ‘LAN > DHCP
Server’ and look for the DNS server field.
* On Netgear, click on ‘Basic Settings’, then Use these DNS servers.
* On TP-Link, click on ‘DHCP’ in the lefthand panel, then on ‘DHCP Settings’.