OT: RE: Verizon wildcarding DNS

[Chris Rendall]

I'm not sure if this would fix this issue, but I use OpenDNS.com for my DNS servers.  It's very fast, free and also helps block phishing websites.  You can also configure it to block adult sites at the DNS level.  I have my Windows domain servers have DNS forwarding pointed to OpenDNS.com's DNS servers, and if someone types in a non-existent URL it will comes back with a search result of probably what you were looking for.

I've been using this for over four at home and at work and it works great.  I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Brody [mailto:kenbrody at bestweb.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 12:51 PM
To: filePro mailing list
Subject: OT: Verizon wildcarding DNS

As you probably recall, Internic got reamed a couple of years ago
for wildcarding all of *.com, causing any non-existent domains to
resolve to their (pay-per-click?) advertising page.

Well, it appears that Verizon is doing the same thing for ("to"?)
their customers.

I mistyped one of our domain names into my browser, and it took me
to a Verizon search page.  I was pretty sure that the domain name
I actually typed didn't exist (and a whois confirmed that).  Delving
a little further, I found:

    You reached the preceding search results page because Verizon
    is using specific Domain Name Service (DNS) Servers to look up
    domain names. These DNS Servers eliminate dead-end "no such name"
    error pages you can encounter as you surf the web. This search
    service is designed to make your web surfing experience more
    productive. No software was installed on your computer for this
    service to work.

They do, however, allow you to "opt out" of their "DNS assistance"
service, and you can download a simple 9-page PDF with instructions
on reconfiguring your router to do so.  (At least, the one for my
particular router was 9 pages long.  Each router they supply has
its own PDF on how to reconfigure it.)

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| Kenneth J. Brody        | www.hvcomputer.com | #include              |
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