Get web safe filtering using OpenDNS!

Sadly, it’s a common occurrence to see many home computers that are STILL not protected from the spoils of the internet, and I don’t just mean things like virus or spyware protection, I mean the actual content on the web. Introducing a content filter at home is an easy way to ensure your PC isn’t inadvertently taken to a damaging website which can do harm to your PC and it also helps keep young eyes from viewing inappropriate material.

A simple, quick and extremely effective way (did I mention it's FREE as well!) of doing this is by using a service such as OpenDNS. Now these guys don’t even need you to install software on your PC, all you change is a couple of settings on your computer and then sign-up for a free account which then provides you with a complete control panel enabling you to choose with categories of website you will allow or deny.

If you have more than one PC at home, the recommended method of introducing this service is to configure your internet router and the guys at OpenDNS provide concise instructions on how to go about doing this and if you can browse the web, you can configure your router!. Furthermore, if you password protect your router (and you'd better) it means your tech savy kids still won't be able to bypass the filter from their own computer although please read all the instructions available from OpenDNS which will help decide which categories are best to block.

Oh, nearly forgot, using OpenDNS's service can also increase the speed of your internet connection as you surf through their DNS servers rather than your own ISP's and OpenDNS claim to have the fastest servers around, I've used their service for some time now and I can confirm that their servers do make a difference to my browsing speeds and while not significant it's definately an improvement!.

Visit their site now https://www.opendns.com/ and start the process https://www.opendns.com/homenetwork/start
Enjoy!!
Marko

Your favourite freeware!

Have you used a freeware title recently, or found it long ago but still use it, that you just couldn't be without? One of those downloads that makes you truly appreciate freeware? I'm not talking about a list of favourite freeware, I'm talking about THE ONE, if you had to decide which one out of them all?? Not so easy now eh?!

For me, and I know this is really boring, but it would be between the Opera and Firefox browser, and if pushed I'd say Firefox. Because I have always had to use a computer and always been on the web for most of my jobs and hobbies and the browser became (and still is) my portal to the world, my lifeline through my career and my source of knowledge. Firefox has always strived to provide maximum functionality with it's vast array of add-on's and plugins and I have never been let down with it. Internet Explorer is a distant memory for me to be honest, although I have to use it now and again to check formatting on web pages, etc, but it more or less collects dust on my desktop!.

I can't honestly say much against the other freeware browsers out there as they are all great examples and fit particular needs of particular people, it's just Firefox was most definately my first browser love (YUK!)

George Michael - Different Corner

One of my favourite tunes for your amusement

FreewareBB Newsletter

We're currently formulating plans to send a weekly newsletter to our members which will be crammed full of useful info and the best offerings from our site and as always, we'd love to hear from our members on what they think would be a useful addition to the newsletter. We want to make sure that when you receive our newsletter, you find it useful and informative and not just something that takes up space in your inbox, so no matter what the suggestion we're keen to hear them all
Cheers
Marko

PS - Here's an example of how the newsletter will look ...

Daily updates for non-members will stop Tue 18th Nov

Unfortunately our daily updates in it's current form will cease on Tuesday 18th November 2008 and will be replaced with a members only much improved version (see below) type newsletter sent on a weekly basis. Over the past year or so we have experienced huge volumes of signups for our daily updates, mostly from non-members. The effect of this is now clear from a few mail providers, in particular Yahoo.

When someone enters their email address to subscribe to our daily updates they are automatically enrolled without confirmation and although clear instructions were given on each email sent on how to unsubscribe to the service we feel that some subscribers may have simply marked our mail as spam after deciding they no longer wish to receive the updates thus causing Yahoo to believe that further mails from us were unsolicited and putting us within a greylist or blacklist. As our daily updates did not require confirmation from the subscriber, it's possible also that our updates were sent to those who didn't request it and therefore, again, our mail would be classed as spam.

Making our newsletter available to members only means upon registration the member has a clear choice whether they want to receive emails from us or not and they can, at any time, remove this permission. Members are also required to validate their email accounts which means our mail can then only be sent to those who have specifically requested it upon registration.

I can only apologise if anyone experiences inconvenience through this issue although we really do have little choice.

If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding this matter, please feel free to reply here and you can also have your say in THIS POST regarding our new planned weekly newsletter and in the meantime we hope to take on the matter once again with Yahoo and with the assistance of our host get a satisfactory resolution to the matter for current and future members.

Here's a screenshot of how our new daily updates will look ...