OpenDNS-WOT How Different?

OpenDNS was recommended to me as an anti-malware measure. (Actually it was ClearCloudDNS)

I checked out the various "security" DNS services available and it didn't appear that any one jumped out as being the best. Then I thought, "I already use WOT so would a "security" DNS really add anything."

Clarification of significant differences and recommendations would be appreciated.

 

WOT is just community based ratings which may or may not be total garbage. Anyone can rate any site however they see fit regardless of if the site carries malware, rogueware, etc.

I use DynDNS (See sig). So far it has worked great for me. Id rather have a DNS service over WOT.

 

well yeah, WOT gives you a ranking based on user's criteria... which is kind of unaccurate... and a DNS service will (for sure) stop you from actually going to the site (unless you choose otherwise). ClearCloud DNS specifically blocks only malware-hosting domains but doesn't give you the option to get to the website.

 

community based ratings arent entirely reliable, but not everyones vote is ranked equally, voters with higher reputation, or have been a member longer, etc. etc. not sure what other categories they look at, but basically different people have different vote weighting.

 

I've used OpenDNS for a couple years now but I use it mainly for filtering and not malware blocking. However, by eliminating certain categories of websites at the DNS level your threat surface is greatly reduced. Other sites like Nortons DNS and ClearCloud focus more on malware domain blocking. I've used WOT but have never seen any value in anonymous opinions of websites.

 

WOT may give some inaccurate results at times, but it gives you the option to read the responses when a blocked page appears, and still continue to the site if you know it's safe.

DNS services, personally I've found they block very little. Has the potential to make your browsing that bit slower than before.

WOT has some solid contributers, go to the malware testing sites, try download samples, you'll find contributers are ranking sites as 'bad/unsafe/with malware' as soon as malware samples are posted. That's WIN for the click-happy novice.

About opinions, this forum is about opinions, we listen to and respect the advice of others. WOT's the same. Sure you get the odd piece of bad advice on here (Wilders), same with WOT, few duds. But overall, advice/ratings are solid.

 

I second that, especially by blocking porn webpages, it also blocks ads and downloads from those webpages (IPs), even when they are posted on legitimate webpages.
I consider OpenDNS as an outside antimallware, because it blocks it before it even gets into PC at DNS level, so it is not slowing down PC as much as a realtime aplication.

 

I've yet to notice OpenDNS block any ads or malware to this day. It only ever blocked phishing and the categories I selected. I'm pretty sure OpenDNS has no ability to block ads and malware blocking is for paid-only clients.

Services such as ClearCloud and NortonDNS would be your choice if you just wanted strong malware blocking.

 

Yup! I too got the impression that malware-screening is only for the paying customer.

 

It blocks ads and downloads from selected categories and porno = mallware, because mallware is ussually hosted there as well. I remember a small testing like ICQ trojan link, when I clicked on it, it downloaded into PC, but when I enabled OpenDNS, it was blocked or visiting a webpage with mallware ads triggered AV, but not with OpenDNS. As for blocking ads, I like to watch free stream videos and I allways got 2-3 ads blocked by OpenDNS, but I just can not find anything to post a screen, nevermind, it just works.

 

Anything you saw blocked as advertising was probably blocked as something else. OpenDNS has an advertising category but does not allow you to block it. However, if something else loads in a category you have blocked (e.g. porn), it will display all the categories that page falls under on the block page, so you must have mistaken it.

I disagree on the grounds that pornography is malware, but I guess that's something everyone will have a different opinion of.

 

OpenDNS doesnt seem very focused on malware prevention, but i think its malware blocking does focus only on major outbreaks and popular viruses and doesn't really correspond to a large virus database like the DNS services offered by actual antivirus companies

 

I agree. Porn is not malware... Malware as we all know is intended to cause harm on the target's system or to violate target's privacy...

 

Well in those ads was written "blocked by OpenDNS" as well as blocked ID number, like when it blocks a webpage. As for porno, it is mostly clean, but I have noticed, that mallware uses the same domains (IPs), of course I can not say that it is 99%, but as you say, it is just my opinion, like I know, that p2p or warez is mostly clean from mallware. Anyway I do not consider mallware to be a big issue these days, so it is not really a problem for me. OpenDNS has some settings, that looks nice like this.

 

if u r talking about anti-malware DNS, I'm sorry but they actually DO block A LOT. Test'em out and see.

 

Thanks for the input so far. I am still reading and evaluating.

I have a new Windows 7 build and I am determining how to use the Win 7 machine and what software to load on it.

My standard has always been FF, WOT, NoScript, KeyScrambler all running in Sandboxie protected by Panda Cloud and DW3.

I realize this is a bulletproof setup but there remains a chance I could let something outside the Sandbox and anyway, I (like many on Wilders) just want everything as good as we can get it.

Thanks again.

Decided to go ahead and test ClearCloud DNS which I'm doing now.

 

I have both Norton DNS and the WOT extension.

Today, I came across mention of query***explorer*** a sort of malware that someone claimed had altered his default search engine.

I searched for the term and among the hits were a few red-ringed by WOT.

Since I've set up WOT to warn, I clicked on three of the red-ringed sites wanting to see if Norton DNS would kick in. It didn't. I got the WoT warning screen instead.

 

Ok so WOT flagged a site as malicious because random "someone" with no computer knowledge may have submitted a bad rating. How do you know it was a malicious site? How do you know "Someone" had the credentials to give the site the rating it receive and it wasnt just rated on hearsay?

 

i doubt it was only 1 person voting because as i said in my earlier post, different people's votes have different weightings based on their qualifications based on several things like a new member wont be weighted as highly as someone whos been a longtime user etc.

 

Ok so it could be one person who votes on alot of sites all of which are total BS, but since they have a higher weight in their voting it takes less for their vote to be noticed. Still not an efficient system or reliable by any mean and even adds more insult to injury.

 

of course any thing thats user based isnt foolproof, but im sure they have some sort of system in place to stop some random person from constantly going around and voting everything as malicious even when theyre well known common sites, i doubt the system is that stupid that there wouldnt be failsafes

 

You keep talking about all these things and have no proof of how WOT works. If one person has more weight in a rating over another based on how many things they rate they are already setting themselves up for a poor system just based on how it works.

 

notice how i say "i doubt" and "im sure" as in, im implying they would most likely have something in plac to stop abusive of the system, its would be rediculous if they didn't have any countermeasures for that...

the part about vote weighting is true tho, ill try to find where i read it again

 

It's free, it's an add-on, why complain?

You think hordes of people are all registering an ID, clicking on a site, ranking it as bad, and writing a review saying the site is bad, just for 'fun'? (Yeah, that's how I'd spend my afternoons filled with fun!)

I doubt it - today's world 99 per cent of people are plain lazy and can't be stuffed to write even an email or provide any response to any website. Most people who write a WOT response do so because a site has caused them some concern, and that concern, drives them to spend the time to log in and write a response.

 

Your naive if you think people out there have something to do other than cause issues on the internet.

All Im saying is WOT is extremely flawed by design, Firzen is grasping at straws making claims he cant back up yet again, and comparing WOT to a DNS service that actually works and is reliable should be a no brainer.