Speaking of protecting users.. a very usefull layer of protection, not from viruses but from phishing and general malware is a service like OpenDNS.com. This service simply warns you if a link you have clicked on is taking you to a dodgy site. It does not run on any of your hardware and does not slow down or interfere with any of your work flows. How?
We all use a DNS (Domain Name Service) without thinking about it every time we access a website. The servers and communication equipment on the internet do not use domain names and URL's. They use numerical IP addresses. Every time we type a URL in the address bar or click on a link your browser sends a request to the DNS server to match the domain name in the url to an IP address. DNS is usually provided by your internet service provider (ISP). OpenDNS.com simply provides an alternative DNS that also provides filtering and alerts. You use it by setting the DNS preferences in your computer or router to use the OpenDNS servers instead of those provided by your ISP. Clear instructions are provided on OpenDNS.com. As usual there are free and payed options. You can set the filtering level to include basic physhing and malware right up to parental controls and corporate controls. I use the free service which is sufficient for our needs... and no I do not get a commission :-) Bear in mind that this type of service, while it does protect against windows malware, is most usefull to help protect users from inadvertantly accessing sites which are likely to swindle your money or pollute your mind and these are things that the great Mac OS cannot protect you from. Anyone else use a filtering DNS service? Regards Shayne On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Stephen Chape <ch...@westnet.com.au> wrote: > > Exactly right Paul !! > > On 09/11/2010, at 9:04 AM, Paul K wrote: > > > > > Software could protect the iMac but cannot protect people, especially > > kids, that is our responsibility. > > > > > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > > Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> > > > > > Regards, > Stephen Chape > > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
