Slow browsing? Try OpenDNS

For the last few days my Internet browsers have been taking forever to load pages. Actually it wasn’t the loading that was taking forever, but rather connecting to the site. I figured that the problem was with my DNS settings. I have been using Google Public DNS, which was supposed to speed things up, but something wasn’t working right.

I did some research and came across Open DNS. I created a free account, logged into my router, changed the DNS server addresses, restarted and noticed an increase in speed right away. Before the change Google Maps were taking 5 seconds to fully load, but now they load almost instantly. Before the change, Facebook.com was having a hard time loading, but now it’s super quick.

According to Open DNS, the speed increase is due to the fact that they have a global network of servers and can automatically route my requests to the server that is physically closest to me.

There is also a web dashboard where you can set up content filtering. There are various levels of filtering available, from low, which filters pornography to high, which locks down porn, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and “general-time wasters.” You can also set up a custom content filter.

 Open DNS also provides Phishing protection based on PhishTank, a service that works by having real people look at suspected phishing sites to verify if they are legit or not.

 The service also includes typo correction, so if you type “ww” instead of “www” or “.cm” instead of “.com” Open DNS will automatically fix it for you.

 Setting up the service is painless and free! You just create an account and then walk through the instructions. You’ll need to know your router’s admin username and password, but the site will guide you through the browser with step-by-step instructions for your brand of router.