DNS stands for Domain Name System, and what does this mean? Well the main purpose of a domain name service is to turn domain names (the address or URL of a website) into something meaningful to humans. Essentially the internet is a massive number of computers which all connect to one another and every computer that has access to the internet has a number the usual format is something like 111.222.3.44. The way you access websites is by telling your computer to go and get information off another computer using a given number. Due to the fact that the internet would be largely unusable to us if we had to remember these numbers each time we wanted to visit a site, we have domain names. each domain name is an easy way of presenting the string of numbers the computers use to talk to each other.

Normally when you type in an internet address you’re computer speaks with your internet service provider who then gets the page your looking for. However services such as OpenDNS allow you to direct your internet traffic through their data centres rather than through that of your own internet service provider. This is achieved by either re-directing at each of the computers on your network or you can tell your router to control this allowing easy set up for all computers on your network.

If for nothing else the benefit of using a service like this enables a good speed boost to your web browsing experience. On some of my tests I noticed that sites were loading around 2 seconds quicker than they previously were through my ISP’s service.

I feel that all households should make use of a service like this in large for the security features that they offer. If you have children it may be of interest to know that you have the ability to specifically blacklist websites that you want to restrict access to. This is often more effective than the built in parental controls on the computer itself becuase it is being controlled by a third party service externally, therefore it is not possible for them to work around this. There are presets provided by OpenDNS which allow you to quickly and very easily filter your web access the presets include:

• None: no restriction to your browsing, you may select this if you’re not using the service for security
• Minimal: protects you against phishing websites and attacks
• Low: protects you against limited adult material & phishing attacks
• Moderate: protects against all adult material & illegal material & previously mentioned items
• High: restricts all adult material, illegal activity, social networking, video sharing, general time wasters plus previously mentioned items.

If you run a business you may find the high level of protection suitable to protect you and your employees from accessing unwanted websites and material. To further add to the offering, if you are so inclined down the big-brother kind of path you can enable stats. This logs all websites that are visited and makes them available for you to view, this can of course be turned on or off.

One of my favourite uses of this service is mainly because I’m lazy, and this is the shortcuts feature. Once you have set this up within the dashboard on your OpenDNS login you simply add a website to the list and give it a shortcut. For example I have it set so that when I type ‘fb’ into my address bar, it will automatically direct me to facebook.com. Pretty handy if you can remember your shortcuts. There is always bookmarks in your browser of course. To add to this is the auto correct feature, this means that if I type facebook.cmo by mistake it recognises this and redirects me to facebook.com instead of giving me a 404 page not found error.

One of the last things that I will mention here for personal users is the ability for the service to redirect when you come accross a site that either no longer exists or you have entered incorrectly and isn’t able to be auto corrected. What happens is that if I am to try and go to fabebook.com, this is obviously spelt wrong but instead of my browser giving me the very annoying 404 page not found error, OpenDNS spits up a page which politely says why you weren’t taken to the page and gives you a list of alternatives or you can do what looks to be a google search.

These are some of the reasons why I feel that this is a service that all homes should be using, and the best part is that for the basic account which gives you all of the things I have mentioned here it is all free! No theres no catches all free. If you’re a business and want some of the more advanced features that this kind of service can provide you do pay a fee. So even if for nothing else but a bit of a speed boost to your browsing head over to OpenDNS.com

Well Apple have addressed this as well! Now in Australia we don’t have the saturation of Apple Stores that they do in America, but they truly are the best way to buy your mac. You get your own personal shopper to help you choose your preferred machine, if you need an Apple Genius will give you free training to get you up and running on your new computer and they will even help you migrate all of your data from your old machine (windows or mac) to your new computer. The stores always have a host of free workshops that you can attend as well that cover all different areas from basics of using your computer to getting the best out of photos, movies etc. Not to mention that they do have a very good reputation for helping out their customers if something goes wrong i.e hard drive crash, machine faults etc. There have been many stories of customers with computers out of warranty going in with a failed hard drive and having it replaced at no extra charge while they wait in the store. Now that I’m not sure would apply all the time but the point is it does happen.

If you don’t have the luxury of going to a store you can order online or over the phone or go to one of the many resellers – not always as knowledgeable but usually have a pretty good idea. With every computer you get a full year Apple Car (thats like their warranty) if you have any hardware issues and complementary 90 days free tech support. I have used this several times and the tech support is great! They are not condescending in any way and more than happy to help get your issues sorted. If you feel that you need further phone support than you can purchase additional Apple Care, definetely worth it if you are one to often call tech support.

I do feel that they look after their customers well and go beyond what is normally expected in retail – and really isn’t that the kind of service we all expect. Especially when paying a premium price in the first place? My belief is that if a company can provide continued good customer service, they will keep my business far longer than a company who doesn’t give two hoots about me.

So this concludes the series, I hope that these posts have been of some help without me coming across as too much of an Apple ‘Fanboy’ (the name they give to people who are fanatical about macs) but the reason I have posted this is because I believe there are just too many people out there who are too frustrated with the experience they get from their PC’s that they don’t use them to the full ability. I’m passionate about this because we made the change and haven’t looked back since – those photos sitting on your hard drive, you will do things with them on a mac. Have home videos that you never got of the tapes and haven’t looked at them since? I promise you will finally do something awesome with them on a mac!

A little clip you might enjoy

When it comes time to look at purchasing your new computer you will undoubtedly think about how much you want to spend. Now before you look at the price tags on the Mac compared to the PC cousins in the stores there are a few things that you really should be aware of. It is no secret and Apple don’t pretend to hide the fact that they have a premium product with a premium price tag, in fact Microsoft advertising frequently reminds us of this. Here are a few reasons why I believe it really is worth spending the extra $’s.

1. Software: Yeah fair enough, you can get a PC at a nice price, but what you fail to realize is just how much you will then need to spend on software to do what you want. One of the benefits of Mac’s is that they come bundled with a stack of preloaded software. The iLife suite of programs is the best example of this and it includes iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD, iMovie & Garageband. To get movie editing software even equivalent to iMovie on a windows system you would be spending in the range of $200 up, and that’s one program! This all comes bundled with your computer, you also have the choice to pay about $100 and get a fairly full featured lineup of Word Processing, Spreadsheet & Presentation software. That price tag really beats microsoft’s Office price! By the time you spend what you need to on your PC you would have spent enough to buy a Mac anyway!

2. System Longevity: We all know that the computer and Technology industry progresses at an astounding speed, and no matter what computer you buy it will become outdated quicker than you would like. Traditionally speaking if you purchase a windows system, once Microsoft release a new version of their operating system if you want to get it you would have to upgrade your system for a faster meatier one. Windows 7 will be an exception to this rule as it actually has lower system requirements than Vista, however with the Windows 7 price tag – you’re going to wait until you purchase a computer with it already installed anyway. Mac’s just keep trucking! A great example of this is Melissah’s mums computer is an Apple eMac. These were built between 2002-2006, I would put its age at probably 2004 ish. Now admittedly it is slower than our much newer system (of course) but it has kept up and doesn’t suffer any of the problems that a PC of a similar age would be suffering. Also on this point, Apple prices new operating systems at incredibly reasonable prices, the next one to be released in September will be priced at about A$50, that is if you already have the most recent OS, but standard pricing is about A$130, that sure beats Window’s $700 OS in my books any day!

So I really feel that the benefits of spending a little on your system initially will reward you in the long term with lower operating costs in terms of upgrading your OS when that time comes as well as running the appropriate software you need.

I will start by saying that if you are a gamer and a serious one – you will undoubtedly be better off with a Windows machine. If you are the person that your family and friends come to when they have an issue with their computer then chances are that you have a pretty good knowledge of computers while also having the patience to troubleshoot when things go wrong. If you are this person then switching to a Mac may not suit you but wouldn’t be out of the question

I believe that the typical home user should be able to use their computer without having to worry about having to worry about knowing what a system registry / .dll file / driver is: they should have the ability to use their computer with ease and without frustration and know that when they open a program it is going to do what they want – the first time. It is for these people especially that I would suggest a Mac.

The thought of buying a computer can be daunting enough without even thinking about going to a system that you haven’t had any experience with – this I know – while I consider myself pretty technically savvy we had just had enough of our PC’s, they were giving us all kinds of trouble. Being the impulsive type of people we are, drove all the way to Brisabane (Toowoomba didn’t have anywhere selling Mac’s at the time) and purchases an iMac our first Apple product other than an iPod. We were walking back to the car with our new computer in hand and all I could think amongst the excitement was ‘Oh my God what have we done!! We don’t know the first thing about Mac’s and this could’ve been a very expensive mistake that we have just made’. It turns out that within the two years of our initial iMac purchase we were so thrilled with our new system that we had purchased another two laptops, our little Apple famliy.

So hopefully over the next couple of days as I post my 5 reasons for choosing a Mac over Windows, this may lessen your hesitance to buy a Mac and help you understand why I truly believe they are a better choice for the General home user.

You may enjoy these ‘Get a Mac’ ads from the Apple Website > click here