Best Free Parental Filter

OpenDNS is now my first choice in this category. It does require a little more technical savvy to get started but once you do I believe it's worth the effort.

Like K9, OpenDNS is a web based service that in conjunction with your own system's network configuration redirects all your browsing through OpenDNS servers where it is filtered for content.

OpenDNS is a replacement for your ISP’s DNS servers. A quick change to your network IP settings will allow you to bypass your ISP's domain servers and use those provided by OpenDNS. So If your ISP has unreliable DNS servers like some ISP's I know of, OpenDNS may likely be the solution.

By default OpenDNS only blocks Phishing sites. In order to enable content protection you will need to register for a free account with OpenDNS. Once you register, OpenDNS automatically detects the IP address assigned to you by your ISP. Since most ISP's do not provide static IP's, the next time you connect to the Internet, your IP address often changes. OpenDNS overcomes this by supporting Dynamic IP addresses. You'll need to install dynamic DNS client IP update software to periodically update OpenDNS with your new IP address. OpenDNS Updater has a mere 253 KB footprint on your hard drive.

After registering you'll have access to the OpenDNS "Dashboard" A password protected control panel where you can configure OpenDNS with one of 5 pre-set categories designed to provide protection levels from minimal to high as well as 54 categories with which you can configure your own custom settings. You can also designate OpenDNS to restrict or permit individual sites. Filtering is outstanding. In four weeks of testing I didn't encounter any sites that should not have been blocked nor any that should have been.

Reports on sites visited and usage charts are far more useful in OpenDNS. With OpenDNS you can view total requests, total unique domains, total unique IP's and total blocked domains in a far more readable and useful format plus you can print reports or download stats in a CSV file.

OpenDNS also supports Mac, Unix and Linux SUSE and Ubuntu platforms.

Two other cool features give OpenDNS the edge. One is the ability to customize the look of the "Block" page with your own message, logo or picture and the other is the ability to create URL "shortcuts". Enter a short word instead of a long address in the address bar and you will be taken to that website. e.g. tsa instead of www.techsupportalert.com

On the down side you'll want to stick with K9 if you have to have time restriction and keyword blocking features.

Two added benefits of using OpenDNS:

1. It may also give your web browsing, e-mail, FTP, and Internet access in general a speed boost.  It's faster because the OpenDNS domain servers have a massive cache. If you ask for the same IP address that other users have requested, OpenDNS doesn't need to look any further than it's own servers.

2. Increased Internet security. Security expert Dan Kaminsky has discovered what could be a nasty DNS exploit that would allow cyber criminals to hijack the URL you enter or the link you click and take you to a malicious website hosted by a bad guy who has loaded it with malware and phishing attempts. Using OpenDNS servers will protect you from this exploit. For more information on these issues check out the following articles.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/007444.html?tk=nl_spxblg

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2277177,00.asp

The second choice in this category is K9 Web Protection by Blue Coat Systems. It's a web based service that uses a special driver installed on your PC to redirect all your browsing through K9's servers, where it is filtered for content. This means that the filtering works with any browser installed on your PC.

The filtering seems quite accurate; in one hour of browsing, I found only one site which I felt should not have been blocked. I also liked the optional blocking of Spyware and Adware sites. I tried, but failed, to cripple the filter in a few of the obvious ways, such as uninstalling the product or disabling the driver. That fact should be comforting to parents. I suspect, though, that a determined tech-savvy teenager might eventually find a solution. The only real downside was that my browsing speed was slightly compromised as a result of being re-routed through the K9 servers. This will likely be of concern to dial-up users only.

If that's you then you might like to try Naomi, which has the advantage of filtering locally. In my tests it caught all the offensive sites I tried, though occasionally it caught an innocent site as well.

Like K9, it's also difficult to disable. As with K9 I tried the obvious tricks of defeating the filter by terminating the Naomi service and deleting the autostart entry, all without success. Naomi also works with any browser on your system, not just Internet Explorer.

On the downside, it filters by terminating the browser session without warning whenever a banned site is encountered. I found this to be a real annoyance, especially when I had several browser tabs open and lost them all. Naomi is certainly a very capable parental filter but, on balance I preferred K9's smarter logic, greater configurability and friendlier behavior. Modem users will, however, appreciate Naomi’s speed advantage.

Product Details 

OpenDNS
Website: https://www.opendns.com
Author: OpenDNS
Date: August 2008                                                                                                                                             Size:171KB
License: Freeware
Browser: All
System Requirements: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, or Vista
Support for non windows operating systems: Yes: Mac, OS 9xx. Unix/Linux SUSE and Ubuntu.
64 Bit Capable: Currently the OpenDNS Updater is not 64 bit compatible but is in development.
Language Support: English Only

K9 Web Protection
Website: http://www.k9webprotection.com/
Author: Blue Coat Systems
Date: August 2008                                                                                                                                            Size:6.23KB
License: Freeware
System Requirements: Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista
Support for non windows operating systems: Yes: Mac OS X 10.4.7 and Higher. (Next, they will be working towards K9 for Vista 64bit. Linux is still a bit down the list.)
64 Bit Capable: No
Language Support: English Only

Naomi
Website: http://www.radiance.m6.net/
Author: Radiant Morning Technologies
Date: February 2007
Size:1.3MB
License: Freeware
System Requirements: Windows XP, 2000, NT, Vista. (Not tested with windows 98/me).
Support for non windows operating systems: No
64 Bit Capable: No
Language Support: Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Dutch, German, Indonesian, Portuguese Brazilian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian and Greek.

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