Yearly Archives: 2015

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  What is OpenDNS? Why should I use it, and how?

  Posted on May 6, 2015 by pcwrt in Technology.

  When you type in a website name in your browser (for example, www.google.com), it is translated into a numerical address (i.e., IP address) that is used by your computer to communicate with the server. The piece of software that translates the name www.google.com (the domain name) into its numerical counterpart is called the Domain Name […]

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• Parental control: is something better than nothing?

  Posted on April 24, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Technology.

  When it comes to parental control software, something is not always better than nothing. If your kids won’t actively seek to break out of your content filtering “jail” and won’t try to stay on the Internet throughout the night, then you need nothing more than the free OpenDNS service. Otherwise, you probably need something beyond […]

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• How to avoid crowdfunding fraud

  Posted on April 23, 2015 by pcwrt in How To, News.

  Just two days ago, Yahoo! reported that the second most successful campaign in Indiegogo history was plagued with a lawsuit and questionable claims. That is by no means the only such incident in the crowdfunding game. In 2013, the Kreyos Smartwatch raised $1.5 million with nothing to show for its supporters. Instacube, which raised more […]

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• 

  Best Parental Control: Software or Router?

  Posted on April 21, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Technology.

  There was a time when you have one or several computers at home, and the only way to get on the Internet is by using a browser on one of the computers. You would install parental control software on these computers to prevent kids from seeing inappropriate material, or spending too much time “surfing”. Nowadays, […]

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• 

  How to block inappropriate images from Google search

  Posted on April 18, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control.

  Since the images are coming from the Google domain, some suggest that you block Google image search altogether. But that would be a drastic measure. Fortunately, Google offers “Safe Search”, which effectively filters out objectionable images from their search results. Here’s how to turn it on. Go to Google Search Settings: http://www.google.com/preferences Check “Filter explicit […]

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• 

  How pcWRT solidifies OpenDNS parental control filtering

  Posted on April 18, 2015 by pcwrt in Technology.

  There are two ways kids can land on a bad web site. They can either stumble upon one accidentally, or they can intentionally find it. OpenDNS, once configured on your wifi router, works really well for the first case. Bad contents will be blocked as you’d expect. However, in the second case, OpenDNS is pretty […]

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• Is pcWRT a Skydog router alternative?

  Posted on April 10, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Technology.

  Quite a few people asked whether pcWRT is a Skydog router alternative. To those who don’t know, the Skydog router is (was) a wireless router that helps managing your home network, including parental control features. It started as a successful Kickstarter campaign, and enjoyed a good reputation on Amazon. The company which made Skydog was […]

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• Three Essential Requirements for Effective Internet Parental Control

  Posted on April 2, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Technology.

  First of all, Internet parental control is not about prohibiting Internet use or monitoring your kid’s every move on the Internet. It’s not about showing who’s the boss. To achieve its goal, Internet parental control should facilitate the productive use of the Internet while avoiding the dangers that might be harmful to your children. Tools […]

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• The Origins of pcWRT

  Posted on March 26, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Router, WiFi.

  My first wireless router was a Belkin with 2MB flash and 8MB RAM. It was the cheapest among all 54G routers in the store. Since none of the products advertised CPU, ROM and RAM sizes, etc., and all of them were labeled 54G, why shouldn’t I choose the cheapest? In retrospect, that may or may […]

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• Does your parental control software work?

  Posted on March 23, 2015 by pcwrt in Parental Control, Technology.

  Many wireless routers ship with some parental control feature. Most of the time, you’ll be asked to enter a list of URLs you want to block, and maybe some time slots during which Internet access is prohibited. While it might be able to block all Internet access for the specified time slots, the URL blocking […]

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