Speed Up Your Web Browsing with OpenDNS

Posted by Rakesh under FYI, Linux /GNU, Technology, Uncategorized

Are you looking for a faster way to browse the Internet and have pages load faster? If so, you might be interested in trying out OpenDNS (208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220). Adding OpenDNS to your router or home computer will speed up your web browsing.

DNS (Domain Name System) translates an IP address to an easy to remember hostname. If you use your ISPs DNS settings by default, it may not be the fastest way to get to your favorite sites.

First, let you know – What Is OpenDNS?

Like many people, I use OpenDNS on my home network. It is a free DNS service that translates the URLs of Web pages into IP addresses.

OpenDNS theoretically helps speed up Web browsing by using better DNS servers to resolves URLs faster than your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The increase is probably too small for you to notice on a regular basis, however. More importantly, the service gives you better control over the Web sites you and your family visits, and contains built-in controls to protect against hackers hijacking your browser.
In operation for just over five years, OpenDNS now is serving upwards of 20 billion DNS queries per day. I’ve never experienced an outage or performance problem. Kudos to the folks at OpenDNS for running a fine service.

Read this post to add OpenDNS (DNS Servers: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220) to your PC to Speed up Web browsing.

Add OpenDNS to your PC to Speed up Web browsing

Posted by Rakesh under FYI, Howto, Linux /GNU, Uncategorized

OpenDNS theoretically helps speed up Web browsing by using better DNS servers to resolves URLs faster than your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

To add OpenDNS (DNS Servers: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220) to your PC to Speed up Web browsing, choose your computer and change your DNS (just follow as below):

Configuration for Linux (Debian/ Ubuntu/ Fedora)

1. Right-click on ‘Network Icon’ (located at top-right panel by default) and click on ‘Edit Connections’ to open Network Connections Manager.
2. Choose the type of connection you have. For this example, we will use ‘Wired’.
3. Under ‘Wired’, highlight ‘Auto etho’ and click on ‘Edit’.
4. Inside ‘Editing Auto etho’ window, click on ‘IPv4 Settings’ tab.
5. Under ‘IPv4 Settings’, change the ‘Method’ to Automatic (DHCP) addresses only.
6. Put these nameserver addresses as your ‘DNS Servers’: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
7. Click ‘OK’ and reboot your machine. You can then visit http://welcome.opendns.com to confirm you are using OpenDNS.
8. NOTE:

To avoid having your settings get revoked after reboots, or after periods of inactivity you may need to make the following changes via the command line:

$ sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.auto
$ gksudo gedit /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf
# append the following line to the document
prepend domain-name-servers 208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220;
# save and exit
$ sudo ifdown eth0 && sudo ifup eth0

You may be required to change eth0 to your own network device’s name if it uses a non-standard name.

Configuration for Windows 7

1. Click the Start Orb, then select Control Panel.
2. Click on Network and Sharing Center.
3. Click on Local Area Connection under ‘Active Networks.’
4. Click the Properties button.
5. Highlight ‘Internet Protocol Version 4′ and click Properties.
6. Click the radio button ‘Use the following DNS server addresses:’ and type in OpenDNS’ addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.
7. Click OK button, then the Close button, then Close again. Finally, close the Network and Sharing Center window.

Configuration for Vista

1. Click the Start Orb, then select Control Panel.
2. Click on View network status and tasks.
3. Click on View status.
4. Click the Properties button.
5. Vista may ask for your permission to make changes. If so, click the Continue button.
6. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), then click the Properties button.
7. Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses: and type in OpenDNS addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.
8. Click the OK button, then the Close button, and the Close button again. Close the Network and Sharing Center window.

Configuration for XP

1. Select Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click Network Connections from the Control Panel choices.
3. Choose your connection from the Network Connections window.
4. Click Properties button.
5. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
6. Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses and type in OpenDNS addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.

Configuration for OS X Leopard

1. Go to System Preferences
2. Click on Network
3. Select the first connection in your list and click Advanced
4. Select the DNS tab and add 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 to the list of DNS servers. Click OK

Configuration for OS X Tiger

1. Select System Preferences… from the Apple menu.
2. Click Network from the Internet & Network row.
3. Click Configure… button at the bottom of the screen.
4. Type in OpenDNS addresses in the DNS Servers field, then click Apply Now.

Configuration for Wii (video game console released by Nintend)

1. Make sure your Wii is connected to the Internet.
2. Click Wii Options.
3. Click Wii Settings.
4. Click Internet.
5. Click Connection Settings.
6. Select the connection profile you are currently using.
7. Click Change settings.
8. View Auto-Obtain DNS settings.
9. Click No, then Advanced Settings.
10. Click on Primary DNS and Secondary DNS fields and type in OpenDNS addresses.
11. Click Confirm.
12. Click Save, then click OK to start the connection test.
13. Click Yes to perform a Wii system update.

Configuration for Router

Choose your router’s brand (e.g. for NETGEAR”):

1. Type the router’s setup URL (http://192.168.0.1) into a web browser address bar.
2. Enter the password.
3. Type in OpenDNS addresses in Primary DNS and Secondary DNS fields.
Please write down your current DNS settings before switching to OpenDNS, in case you want to return to your old settings for any reason.

The addresses for OpenDNS are:
* 208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

Note: The Netgear WGR614 versions require a firmware upgrade in order to be compatible with OpenDNS.
4. Click Apply button.
5. Wait for the settings to be updated.

Mobile Firefox: Walk away from your computer and keep on going on your phone

Posted by Rakesh under Uncategorized

Much awaited Mobile Version of Firefox is out for Nokia N900 smartphone owners with the Maemo OS. But still it has to come out for other smartphones like BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.

Now, at the end of the working day you can walk away from your computer and keep on going on your phone. The N900 users will be able to download Firefox in Nokia’s Ovi store. It will be able to synchonise with the desktop version of browser it means that if there is any pages open in your desktop browser will directly be opened in your mobile version of the browser means a total sync between desktop and mobie device.

I personally use Opera Mini on my BlackBerry smartphone but the options in firefox makes me a fan of it. The mobile version of Firefox is already out for Nokia N900 but still I’ve been waiting for BlackBerry and iPhone smartphones. Soon, it will be on my finger.

Firefox for mobile is packed with your favorite features, including:

Firefox is the first mobile Web browser to support add-ons. With add-ons, you can customize your Firefox by adding features that help make your browser your own. Add-ons like AdBlock Plus, URL Fixer, TwitterBar, language translators, and geo guides become especially handy when you’re out and about on your mobile device. You can both discover and install add-ons directly from your Nokia N900. There are currently more than 40 Firefox add-ons available for mobile and the number is growing every day.

If you are fan of YouTube I strongly recommend that you install the YouTube Enabler add-on from within the Add-ons Manager. Tap on the install button, restart Firefox, and you’re all set to watch YouTube videos.

Download Firefox for mobile:

Enjoy mobile version of Firefox!

Test whether the mobile version of your blog or site is correctly working or not

Posted by Rakesh under Uncategorized

How to test whether the mobile version of your blog or site is correctly working or not. For this, you can use Firefox browser’s about:config preference.
Here I’m giving an example for iPhone and BlackBerry (follow the same for setting other browsers’ specific useragent string).

Follow these steps:

1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press EnterReturn.

The about:config “This might void your warranty!” warning page may appear. Click I’ll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.

iPhone

To use your Firefox web browser as if it’s the Safari browser inside the iPhone, follow this guide to change the user agent of Firefox. The user agent string to use is as follow:

For general.useragent.override in about:config preference:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543 Safari/419.3

For User Agent Switcher add-on (you can get it from here):

Description: iPhone

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)

App Name: AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko)

App Version: Version/3.0

Platform: Mobile/1A543 Safari/419.3

BlackBerry

For general.useragent.override in about:config preference:

BlackBerry9500/4.7.0.78 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124

For User Agent Switcher add-on:

Description: BlackBerry

User Agent: BlackBerry9500/4.7.0.78 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/124

App Name: BlackBerry 4.7.0.78 External link

App Version: BlackBerry9500/4.7.0.78

Platform: BlackBerry 4.7 run on RIM OS 4.7

Make a mobile version of your Wordpress blog or site

Posted by Rakesh under FYI, Howto, Uncategorized

Last week, while seeing my site in my BlackBerry smartphone and iPhone, it seemed weird to me. Then I decided to make my site Mobile friendly. Saturday night on the last weekend, I created a mobile version of my blog – A|RAKESH’s Weblog.

Are you looking out for ways to make your Wordpress blog or site Mobile friendly? Here is the solution for you.

If you are using WordPress for your site and you are looking for a mobile version (e.g. for iPhone, BlackBerry Smartphones, Google Phone, Nokia, etc) of your existing site to use, you should really consider WordPress Mobile Edition OR WordPress Mobile Pack for WordPress.

WordPress Mobile Edition Plugin 3.1 is compatible with WordPress 2.9.1 (WordPress 2.9.1 + Plugin 3.1 = works).

You can download WordPress Mobile Edition Plugin 3.1 from here.

WordPress Mobile Edition is a plugin that shows an interface designed for a mobile device when visitors come to your site on a mobile device.

Mobile browsers are automatically detected, the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page.

Read for How to install a WordPress plugin

1. Drop the wp-mobile.php file in your wp-content/plugins directory
2. Drop the carrington-mobile-(version #) directory in your wp-content/themes directory
3. Click the ‘Activate’ link for WordPress Mobile Edition on your Plugins page (in the WordPress admin interface)

API

There is a filter cfmobi_check_mobile that allows you to affect if a mobile browser is detected.

There is an action cfmobi_settings_form that allows you to add to the settings page for this plugin. Handling form posts and other activities from anything you add to this form should be done in your plugin.

Notes:

1. As iPhones and other “touch” browsers of version 3.0 support.

2. You can also create a link that forces someone to see the mobile version. The link can be added to your theme by using the akm_mobile_link() template tag:

Note that this does not work if you have WP Cache enabled.

Enjoy mobile version of your site !! …

Read for How to test whether the mobile version of your blog or site is correctly working or not. For this, you can use Firefox browser’s about:config preference.