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Knowledge Base > Configuring & Using OpenDNS > Web Content Filtering and Security
Adjusting Web Content Filtering
Some OpenDNS solutions, such as Basic, VIP and Enterprise, allow OpenDNS Administrators to configure comprehensive Web content filtering, which limits the Internet to only Web content that is not filtered for that network.
Other OpenDNS solutions, such as FamilyShield, use preconfigured Web content filtering to block specific categories of websites. These settings are managed by OpenDNS and combine our proprietary algorithms with direct input from OpenDNS Community members.
To adjust Web content filtering on a network, OpenDNS Administrators must log in to the OpenDNS Dashboard. Under Settings for: select the network to be adjusted (you must have appropriate permissions for that network) and click on the Web Content Filtering link. Choose the filtering levels or specific categories and click Apply.
Settings made to one network can be applied to all networks if multiple networks exist. Once you apply the new settings, it may take up to 3 minutes before they are in effect on all OpenDNS global servers.
After you make Web content filtering changes, OpenDNS recommends that you clear the local DNS cache to ensure that new settings are made effective. To do this, see Clearing the DNS Cache.
Web content filtering can be applied to networks in several ways, each of which are explained in the following topics:
OpenDNS solutions such as FamilyShield use preconfigured Web content filtering and blocking that is not adjustable. OpenDNS's preconfigured solutions provide easy-to-implement protection for networks where manual configuration is not desired. To use a preconfigured OpenDNS solution, set your DNS parameters to the appropriate IP address.
For example, FamilyShield uses the IP addresses 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. Configuring these DNS servers on your network automatically protects end-users from websites that contain adult material and blocks websites that support phishing attacks or spread the Conficker botnet.
OpenDNS solutions such as Basic, VIP and Enterprise allow custom Web content filtering. OpenDNS simplifies the configuration by providing 3 predefined tiers of commonly blocked Web content categories. Each category filters hundreds to tens of thousands of websites.
The tiers comprise the Web content categories as detailed in the following table.
Web Content
Filtering Level (Tier) | Categories of Websites Filtered |
| Low | Pornography; Tasteless; Sexuality; Proxy/Anonymizer |
| Moderate | All Categories of Low plus: Adware; Alcohol & Drugs; Dating; Gambling; Hate & Discrimination; Lingerie & Bikini; Nudity; Weapons |
| High | All Categories of Moderate plus: Adult Themes; Chat & Social; Classifieds; File Storage; File Sharing & Point2Point; Forums & Message Boards; Games; Instant Messaging; Photo & Video Sharing; Visual Search Engines; Webmail |
| Whitelist Only | Blocks end-users from accessing all websites except those on the whitelist as specified by Never Block within Individual Domains. |
OpenDNS provides a dynamic list of Web content filtering categories that you can apply to your Internet network. The Web domains that compose a category are determined, in part, through our Domain Tagging service and through proprietary OpenDNS technology. These domain identification methodologies ensure that the categories contain relevant websites and are always current.
The custom setting allows filtering from over 55 Web content categories. Each category filters hundreds to several tens of thousands of websites, providing significant control of your Internet experience through a user-friendly interface.
OpenDNS provides Web content filtering at the individual domain level, which enables administrators to Always Block (adds domain to the blacklist) or Never Block (adds domain to the whitelist) the Internet domains that you specify. When you manage domains directly, these settings override any specified through category filtering.
For example, if you are filtering the Social Networking category but specify to Never Block the domain facebook.com (adds to whitelist), then end-users of your network are able to navigate to Facebook.
To manage individual domains, log in to your OpenDNS account, select the network and navigate to Web Content Filtering. Select the action you want to apply for a domain and enter that domain in the blank text box. Select Add Domain and repeat as necessary.
OpenDNS Basic supports management of up to 25 individual domains.
OpenDNS VIP supports management of up to 50 individual domains.
OpenDNS Enterprise supports management of up to 500 individual domains.
Tip: OpenDNS recommends to specify the root of a domain and always omit the "www", e.g. "example.com" not "www.example.com". This will block all sub-domains of example.com including www.example.com, mail.example.com, and so on.
OpenDNS can block all Top-Level-Domains (TLDs) except .com. Entering a TLD such as .net, .cn, .ru, and so on, will block all sub-domains that end with that TLD name.