A great Web Filtering Solution

#11

dkjorgi wrote:Here is a tip from my 15 year old son:

"Dont forget to also install the K9 software on any virtual images (VirtualPC or VmWare) you might use"

He is right, it took him 5 min to work that one out.

LOL, they are truly amazing, aren't they!

Stephan-p40 · #12

We are using http://www.opendns.com/ at work. Its free for home users and does not require any installation. You simply change some settings on your Internet Connection and they do the rest.

They have over 50 categories and you can block any you want. Great system.

#13

Stephan wrote:We are using http://www.opendns.com/ at work. Its free for home users and does not require any installation. You simply change some settings on your Internet Connection and they do the rest.

They have over 50 categories and you can block any you want. Great system.

I have used OpenDNS too and it is great. The reason I liked K9 is because I found it to be a great alternative to OpenDNS for those situations where OpenDNS is not bulletproof.

For those situations where you can (and user feel confident enough) access your router or where all users have limited user accounts then OpenDNS is great.

For those situations where the user is not confident accessing the router or where they only have a modem then using OpenDNS would require them to change their internet settings and that means people with user admin accounts can easily undo those changes.

Not long ago I had a family who asked me which they should use. Everything looked like it could be OpenDNS until I found out the kids had admin accounts (some games require it) and then we went for K9. It just shows both are great products but depending on the individual situation one might be better suited than the other.

JamesAnderson · #14

Sure it's not 100 percent, but that is because the Internet changes all the time, new sites come up and old ones even die on occasion. Or change their focus, etc.

But I've never hit a bum one, even by mistake, using K9. There are some white papers on the company site that show how good it is at blocking pornography. Even spyware sites, once found, are taken care of just as solidly.

#15

I've had great success with a product called "FreeProxy".

http://www.handcraftedsoftware.org/

It's primary use is to set up a proxy that the browsers would then be configured to work through.
In our case we use it in our family history centers and it functions well. You can configure it to accept or deny just about anything you want.

russellhltn · #16

Techgy wrote:In our case we use it in our family history centers and it functions well.

How does that work in conjunction with the church's proxy to get access to the FHC on-line portal? I believe LANDesk tries to write the Church proxy into the browser automatically.

#17

Russell,

We're not using this on the Admin machines. It's only used on the Family History computers. We have one machine in the FH center that acts as a "server" of sorts. It's not running server software but instead all the machines are connected in a peer-to-peer network. The workstations are configured so the browsers point to the proxy address on the one machine. I can then control what I want the workstations to be able to access. It's actually more effective than the Church Controlled firewall, which is still in place.

The ward machines will ultimately connect directly to the ASA which will bypass the FH proxy machine.
It's actually quite simple but it works very well. At the moment the ward admin machines are not hooked in but that will change next week as we bring the first building on-line with a wireless internet.

LakeyTW · #18

Techgy wrote:Russell,

We're not using this on the Admin machines. It's only used on the Family History computers. We have one machine in the FH center that acts as a "server" of sorts. It's not running server software but instead all the machines are connected in a peer-to-peer network. The workstations are configured so the browsers point to the proxy address on the one machine. I can then control what I want the workstations to be able to access. It's actually more effective than the Church Controlled firewall, which is still in place.

The ward machines will ultimately connect directly to the ASA which will bypass the FH proxy machine.
It's actually quite simple but it works very well. At the moment the ward admin machines are not hooked in but that will change next week as we bring the first building on-line with a wireless internet.

Are the family history computers still behind a Church provided firewall? If not, they should be.

russellhltn · #19

Techgy wrote:We're not using this on the Admin machines. It's only used on the Family History computers.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about - the FHC machines used by the patrons.

Techgy wrote: We have one machine in the FH center that acts as a "server" of sorts. It's not running server software but instead all the machines are connected in a peer-to-peer network. The workstations are configured so the browsers point to the proxy address on the one machine.

OK, I understand that. Two questions: Does your "server" then have the church proxy setup to allow access to the FHC on-line portal (https://www.fhc.familysearch.org Note: this link will only work in a FHC - even then you must have the right stuff installed on the computers.)

Second, do you have a problem with LANDesk trying to overwrite your proxy settings with the FHD's?

#20

First of all in response to the ASA question - yes, everything goes through the firewall, including the FH workstations.

Second, the family history machines do not require the 5.5 desktop since they're not administrative machines. Some of them are too old to support that anyway. So the Landisk isn't an issue on the FH machines.

Since the ASA doesn't block the use of Email, I use the proxy to specify enhance the restrictions on these machines. I have all Email blocked and only allow sites that are related to family history. This hasn't been an issue since most everyone is currently using NFS in our stake anyway. Although we do permit, Ancestry, Rootsweb and a few other popular ones.

My biggest concern was with someone downloading software, or opening an Email that was infected. With the proxy in place I have full control over what's available. And yes, everything goes through the ASA.