Till now you might have heard/knew about many DNS services such as GoogleDNS and OpenDNS that speeds up your internet connection or blocks inappropriate websites, meet Norton ConnectSafe DNS service by security vendor Symantec protects from unsafe, malicious and phishing websites based on protection policy chosen by the user three policies to choose from. No software installation is needed, very easy to setup for your PC or router. Norton ConnectSafe leverages Norton safe web database which contains information on millions of websites. This service offers free cloud based browsing protection and web content filtering service for home and personal use.
Norton ConnectSafe aka Norton DNS Service blocks unsafe websites automatically
Norton ConnectSafe content filtering policies
Norton ConnectSafe offers three types of content filtering policies to protect you from unsafe websites, you can choose any one from the below
Policy 1: Security- This policy blocks all sites hosting malware, phishing sites, and scam sites. To use this policy you need to use IP addresses: 198.153.192.40 and 198.153.194.40.
Policy 2: Security + -In addition to blocking unsafe sites, this policy blocks access to sites that contain sexually explicit material.
Norton ConnectSafe IP addresses to use for this policy are: 198.153.192.50 and 198.153.194.50.
Policy 3 : Security + Non-Family Friendly- In addition to blocking unsafe sites and adult sites, this policy also blocks access to sites that feature mature content, abortion, alcohol, crime, cults, drugs, gambling, hate, sexual orientation, suicide, tobacco or violence.
Norton ConnectSafe IP addresses you need to use to apply this policy are: 198.153.192.60 and 198.153.194.60.
Configuring your PC or router for Norton ConnectSafe
Setting up your PC or router for Norton ConnectSafe is simple, not that much difficult. All you need to do once you’ve selected protection plan, add that plan DNS servers IP addresses to your router so that they applies to all web connected devices on your network or for individual computer you need to configure DNS settings of your network connection.
You can setup your router so that Norton ConnectSafe protects all your devices on your home network. You can find the instructions in configuring your router here.
Setting up your PC for Norton ConnectSafe in Windows 7
- Control Panel>Network Connections> Select active network connection, right click on and select Properties>select Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties
- Now Select “use the following DNS Server addresses”, enter them and click Ok.
- Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
To check Norton DNS you’ve done is right and working visit http://setup.nortondns.com/.
We’re unlucky as Norton SafeConnect not worked on my system after configuring my connection’s DNS Settings with IP addresses mentioned in protection plans. Tried three, none worked, don’t know why.
Bottom line, try it again. It should work now. If you live in flyover country like I do, west of the Mississippi, give it another week then try it again.
When you wrote this many ISPs were intentionally hijacking DNS traffic because of the whole DNS changer virus mess. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNSChanger
Yesterday I discovered that, at least both where I live and where I work, my Baby Bell ISP left their DNS hijacking in place. I stumbled across your same issue and put 2+2 together. I reported it through my ISPs account team and it should be corrected soon.