okay, Here seems as good a place as any to ask. for those familiar with openDNS Cool, for those not, head to www.opendns.com Short version ,it's a free DNS server, that tends to be quicker than those used by most ISP's and gives you control of your DNS features (content blocking, shortcuts, etc.)
personally I'm a huge fan of OpenDNs, and on their forums even several users have requested some sort of Firefox plug in, but it hasn't happened yet.
using Firefox portable on public machines means i often don't have admin access, or even any sort of way to get to TCP/IP settings etc. yet I would love a way to still use open DNS (it'
s as simple as changing your preferred DNS server address)
does anyone know of a plug in, or some other software, or have any ideas/theories at all, on how I might be able to use OpenDNS with my portable Firefox on the go? Perhaps through some sort of proxy tool? not sure
any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance
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Personally I use my SSH server using PuTTY Portable with Mozilla Firefox Portable. Combine Mozilla Firefox with Quick Proxy to quickly disable the proxy settings when you don't need PuTTY proxifying and you can have a good browsing experience.
So what I did is:
Created my own SSH server (CopSSH is pretty straightforward about creating a Windows-based SSH server) and modified it to work on port 443 in order to masquerade the encrypted data stream when I'm accessing it from port-restricted areas.
After that, I set a proxy tunnel in PuTTY, to work on Dynamic port 1080 (SSH -> Tunnels, Dynamic destination, Source port 1080). After the connection is made in PuTTY, I minimize it and let it run (PuTTY Tray is nice for this).
When I established a connection, I launch Mozilla Firefox, and set the proxy to SOCKS 5, set localhost as the proxy server and associate port 1080 to it. Quick Proxy is ised to switch from the proxy settings to automatic settings when I don't use it.
As the proxy is used, it will use the DNS settings from the SSH server as it resolve the hostname from there.
I know it can be complicated for most users, but I find it very convenient from locations where you don't have admin rights, and therefore cannot connect to a VPN.
although a valid solution, this requires the person to have a home-system with a permanent connection, that they can set up as the server and then tunnel through. I'm looking for something that works on it's own, as I'm living off my USB drive for the time being.
however I am interested in the applications of your approach, does all data then transmit through the SSH server, (which would seem horribly inefficient bandwidth wise) or just DNS queries?
The way the browser works is it will send DNS request through the available network connection. If you use a direct network connection, it will use the DNS settings set on the network adapter in use. By setting a proxy into Firefox, you trick it into thinking that you direct connection is coming from the remote server.
Everything goes through the SSH proxy. That is the only way (so far) I've found to use a different DNS server without administrative privileges.
The goal of my SSH server is not only about using a different DNS server, but to secure my browsing datas from untrusted locations.
EDIT: Sorry for the delays, I'm not coming often on the forums
No worries, I'm a patient man
I appreciate the feedback, I'm the type of guy who doesn't jsut want my question answered, I like to learn as I go
sounds like for the time that would be my only solution, however save convincing a friend/relative to let me set it all up on on of their computers I think I may be out of luck :9
thanks a ton for the info/advice though. once i get my own Box back up it sounds like something that is definitely worth looking into.
No problems, I like to share my acquired knowledge whenever I can. If you have any other questions you can ask anytime