If you manage a network at home, or an office, you might want to take control of what is happening on your network. There are different solutions available, but one of the most effective options is to leverage the Domain Name System (DNS).
Because of how DNS works, you don’t have to use a content filtering service like CleanBrowsing (we wouldn’t be mad if you did) to leverage this technology.
TLDR – get to the point with these quick links:
1 – 1-Click configuration with CleanBrowsing
Local DNS Resolvers
One option that is often overlooked is your ability to manage DNS locally on the device. Whether a Windows, Mac or Linux Operating System (OS) you have the option to build whatever rules you want on the machine by modifying the systems HOSTS file.
Windows
If you’re using Windows, the hosts file is located here: c:windowssystem32driversetchosts
Tech talk: Open this file using NotePad, but open NotePad as administrator for changes to take effect.
Mac / Linux:
If you’re using a Mac or Linux, the hosts file is located here: /etc/hosts
Tech talk: Open this file using sudo with your favorite terminal editor.
These simple files allow you to create your own mappings for the internet. This means if you own the device, you can do something like this: 0.0.0.0 badexample.com
This tells your machine to go to 127.0.0.1 to look for badexample.com. This configuration will route all requests from your localhost, which means it will fail and the user on the device will not be able to access the requested domain.