NortonDNS.com

[ajc196]

How lame. My system is lockdown, and this is the only explanation. I starting testing Norton DNS yesterday (manual server settings, did not install client). Then after a reboot today, guess what downloaded and added itself to my startup? Norton download manager. And it started (trying) to push Norton Internet Security onto the sytem.

Needless to say I killed it, deleted the exe and startup entry, and reverted back to Google DNS.

Norton had something good on their hands, and they flubbed it up in trying to spread their AV. Shameful.

[chrisaroz]

Interesting. We've been testing it for about a week and haven't seen anything similar. I wonder if something else happened and it's just a coincidence?

Has anyone else had this happen?

We plan to start aggressively testing some other services later this week.

[ProTech-MN]

Originally Posted by chrisaroz

I brought this up because this resource has been around for about 7 months I haven't seen it mentioned. We are still testing it, so don't take this as gospel, but there's been a lot of misconceptions thrown out here, and I want to clear them up in case others are becoming confused.

1) NortonDNS is NOT designed or promoted as being a way to speed up your surfing. It has one purpose, to provide an EXTRA layer of security. MOST 3rd party DNS servers are slower that your ISP anway though, so that doesn't matter.

2) Not all DNS services do the same thing. OpenDNS DOES NOT PROTECT AGAINST MALWARE! According to the comparison page on their site, ONLY the Enterprise version protects against malware, and something tells me your clients are NOT using that version. This is a common misconception, and one reason we started looking for another solution to provide.

3) Hosts file have their downside. They don't auto-update and large lists can have a negative impact on system speed and performance.

4) It's a quick and easy way to add another layer of prevention to your clients machines.

Upfront disclaimer: We're an OpenDNS MSP Partner.

I agree with you on most of these points, but the testing I've done in the past with several area ISP's against OpenDNS and Google DNS found them to be faster than the ISP's. Also I've noticed DNS propagation seems to happen faster with them over the ISP's DNS servers too.

You are correct in that OpenDNS's free solution does NOT provide malware protection (just some botnet & phishing protection). Their Enterprise offing does in fact offer malware protection but does come with a cost. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a free solution that provides malware DNS filtering similar to this.

I view security as a layered solution and these DNS services can serve as another layer in an overall solution, but should not be considered a solution all by themselves. We're still experimenting a bit with OpenDNS's Enterprise service with our customers, but so far it's been looking good and has effectively blocked several confirmed malware infected sites. My customers have found value in these services when presented as another layer in their security solution and have also expressed interest in their additional features such as content filtering, reporting, etc. that they find useful.

As for NortonDNS, I knew about it, but dismissed it immediately because, well.. it's Symantec and I can't stand their products. (I've often wondered if Norton's products themselves couldn't be categorized as Malware - it slows down your system, locks it up, blocks access, and can be very difficult to remove!)

[chrisaroz]

Thanks for the info on OpenDNS. We have looked into their MSP program but haven't jumped on board. The pricing seems very reasonable for all you get.

The layered approach is really the best as well IMO. Water processing is a decent analogy. Water from the lake pases through at least half a dozen filters before it's deemed safe to drink.

[dbdawn]

Can anybody shed any light on the following?
I have not really tested this at all, but I have read various online articles that state that online streaming video can be hindered by a 3rd party DNS instead of the ISP DNS? true /false?

[chrisaroz]

I have not really tested this at all, but I have read various online articles that state that online streaming video can be hindered by a 3rd party DNS instead of the ISP DNS? true /false?

I've read similar reports, but haven't experienced anything like that myself.

As for ajc196's experience with software downloading, it seems this is common. While we didn't experience this, we found this comment over on Avast's forums:

I gave up on NortonDNS. It downloads software (even if I don't use the configuration
utility) & uses system resources.

For what it's worth, we are adding this to our list of DO NOT RECOMMEND.

(you can go ahead and say it, "What else did you expect from Norton?")

[ajc196]

Forgot to report back, but I found where it went. It plops its installer into the Public profile's download folder, and then it adds it to startup.

[MobileTechie]

Shame this thread got derailed with the usual anti-Norton rhetoric and other non-relevant info from page 1. I see no reason to compare the antimalware service to OpenDNS since it is not offering a directly comparible service. That some people don't rate Norton AV products is not relevant. t

The main questions, surely, are whether this alternative DNS server offers useful malware protection and if it does, whether it performs well enough to be usable.

I added the two supplied IP addresses as forwarders to my server's DNS settings. You need never download or use the software if you enter the servers manually into your DNS server, NIC or router setup so no concerns there.

I've been trialling it, and it seems to work just fine.

I went though a list of malware sites from malwaredomainlist.com and it blocked most of them. My Kaspersky IS already blocks sites and is pretty effective at it but one that it missed was blocked by Norton DNS so there is one concrete example of it adding an additional layer of security. For people and companies who do not use an AV which has website blockeing then it's likely to add quite a significant layer of safety, preventing users from accessing a decent % of infected sites.

It allows access to porn, violence and extreme political sites and so allows free access to the web for adults which is desired in some cases.

Performance-wise it's slower than my ISPs DNS but then so are opendns, clearcloud and amazon. I've never found a 3rd party DNS that is quicker than my ISPs. However the speed difference in terms of practical usage is not significant in my opinion. I'm not sitting there with a stopwatch measuring the tiny delay between clicking on a site link and the page starting to load. I cannot notice a difference. It's not like DNS is the same as bandwidth.

So overall, as far as I can tell, this is a very useful service and one that I will be trialling with some clients.

[ajc196]

I never doubted its ability as a domain blacklisting service, it is simply adware in addition to that. That cannot fly if I recommend a product.

[MobileTechie]

Originally Posted by ajc196

I never doubted its ability as a domain blacklisting service, it is simply adware in addition to that. That cannot fly if I recommend a product.

In what way is it adware when used as described above?