Today, there are plenty of reasons to consider installing a content filter. They are excellent tools for parents hoping to keep inappropriate or explicit material away from their kids. Employers use them as well to increase productivity by limiting employee interaction with the Internet.
There are many different content filters available on the market today to choose from. We have taken a look at some of the most popular brands and narrowed it down to our top five. Simple software doesn’t seem to be enough – most users are using either software and a firewall/proxy server – or even just the proxy server itself. The following content filters range in difficulty regarding installation. Some of them require little more than five minutes of your time while others came be as difficult as setting up a computer for use as content filter that is Linux based.
1. DansGuardian (Free, Cross Platform) – This is the perfect solution for those willing to install it and spend the time tweaking for a Linux operating system. DansGuardian is simple the most versatile Linux based content filter. Multiple settings allow you to really customize the system and its performance. This content filter works on Solaris, Linux, HP-UX, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, NetBSD and Open BSN. Some of the features includes the ability to block any image, disallow ads throughout your entire network, white lists, download blocks that are customizable by extension and fine control over filter effects. It is particularly adept at allowing you to note which computer on your server is accessing blacklisted information. As an added benefit, DansGuardian makes it simply to use different content filters on different computers in the network. You can do this through used of source IP, user or domain. This works great when you are trying to customize a solution for people of varying ages and needs. You will need to pair DansGuardian with a proxy, it will not serve web pages – merely filter them, but Squid works very well for this purpose.
2. K9 (Free, Windows/Mac) – K9 is one of the most popular content filters used in schools today. Among its strengths is its ability to block or unblock very large pieces of the blacklist without having to do too much work. This is made easier by K9’s use of over 60 separate categories. The solution is installed directly to your desktop and once installed, it checks each Internet request that is made against the specified and customizable filters. Recently, K9 launched Dynamic Real-Time Rating. This allows you to access websites and individually ban them if the content falls into one of your filtered categories.
3. OpenDNS (Free/Cross Platform) – OpenDNS is a great solution for anyone who had neither the experience or the time to set-up and performs admin functions for a full-blown filtering server. It simply changes your current server and then lets you filter each connection that comes out of your home as long as your set your router DNS settings up correctly. OpenDNS performs content filter services for any computer accessing your home network, whether it is hardwired in or accessing your network wirelessly. Blacklists and white lists are fully customizable and offer a large range of filtering options.
4. SquidGuard/Squid (Free/Linux) – SquidGuard, like DansGuardian is a filtering tool that stands alone and is connected to a proxy. SquidGuard uses the proxy Squid. There is a lot of flexibility and functionality built into this content filtering solution. You can even block certain sites only for certain hours during the day.
5. Hosts File (Free/Cross Platform) – For those of you that like to have control over every aspect of your content filtering system, Hosts Files is the way. Basically, Host Files works as a directory of IP address and what should be done with them. Manually edit your files or use simple applications to help you (Hostsman is a great one). One draw back – if you do not have a strong blacklist, either one you have created or one you have downloaded, this system is unlikely to work as well as you would like. Your black list must be all-inclusive or sites will fail to be blocked.
Related posts:
Blog
Are these five ‘best content filters’ because of their features? Or because they are free?
Perhaps you should check this out and then comment again?:
http://www.safesquid.com/html/portal.php?page=105
http://www.safesquid.com/html/portal.php?page=107
@Bruce: you are right, the title of this post should have been “best free content filters”. The title is updated.
Your Comments