Security threats are the order of the day on the Internet. One of them is cybercriminals who are always looking for new ways to profit. However, we must be attentive to more things that can affect our privacy. We could define NextDNS as a firewall for the modern Internet, which will protect us from all kinds of security threats. In addition, it also blocks ads and trackers on websites and applications, therefore, it will provide us with a safe and supervised Internet for minors, on all devices and on all networks.
What NextDNS offers us
In terms of security , it allows us to protect ourselves against malware and phishing attacks, cryptojacking and more. In this sense, we can determine our threat model and adjust the security strategy by enabling more than 10 different types of protections. Other things that are done around this matter are:
- The use of threat intelligence sources, updated in real time.
- DNS analysis on the fly to detect and block malicious behavior.
- Malicious domain detection earlier than classic security solutions.
Another of its most important functions is related to our privacy. Thus, ads and trackers of websites and applications can be blocked. In addition, it is capable of blocking broad-spectrum trackers that record its activity on a device at the operating system level. Its parental control function should also be highlighted to protect minors, and control what they can access online and when. In this sense, for example, all websites that contain pornography, violence and more can be blocked.
In addition, thanks to its analytics and logs you can see what is happening on your devices with its in-depth analysis and real-time logs.
As for the platforms on which it can be used, we find Windows, Android, iOS and more. We will enter this topic later. To finish with this section, we must comment that, although we have access to all the functions in the free version, support and queries vary depending on the version we have. If you want to check the prices you can click here .
Possibilities we have to install NextDNS and its ID
The first thing we are going to do is go to the official NextDNS website and click on the following link . Next, a screen like this will appear and we will click on Try it now or translated into Spanish: try it now.
If we go down further down we will see the ” Installation Manual ” section with the different operating systems and possibilities that we have to use NextDNS.
Although in this case we are going to focus on Windows, it could also be configured to:
- Android
- IOS
- Windows
- MacOS
- Linux
- ChromeOS
- Browsers
- Routers
For example, on Android we could do it using the NextDNS app from the Play Store.
So we would have a main screen like this:
Here we can connect and disconnect the firewall whenever we want. The only thing to keep in mind is that, to use it, we must previously establish our ID in Settings or Settings.
As for the ID, we will explain how to easily get it from Windows. We will explain it from there, because, from there, we can modify the parameters that this firewall offers us more easily. On Android, entering the main website as we have indicated at the beginning of the section, it could also be obtained. The disadvantage it has is that, when configuring things, it becomes more complicated due to the difference in screen between a PC and a mobile.
We are also going to give another example, but this time only with a browser. In this case we are going to use Google Chrome for Windows. For this we are going to:
- Configuration .
- Privacy and security .
- Use secure DNS where we select Custom .
- Put the URL https://dns.nextdns.io/****** where the asterisks would be your ID.
This is an example of how it would be configured:
In this case, it should be noted that it will only affect this browser, it will not affect the rest. If we want to stop using it again, by selecting “With your current service provider” we have it as it came by default.
How to install NextDNS firewall on Windows and find out our ID
The first thing we have to do in the ” Installation Manual ” section, which we talked about earlier, is to download the NextDNS installer from the Windows section.
Here we have the download link and some brief instructions. In this case, we have downloaded the NextDNSSetup-2.0.1 file, which, as its name suggests, corresponds to version 2.0.1. Once we run the installer, we will get a screen like this one and click on Next to continue:
Next, we accept the license terms by clicking on the I Agree button.
Now it is the turn to choose the directory where we want the program to be installed.
In our case, we have decided to leave it as it came by default and I clicked on Install . Then it asks us if we want to install this device software, then we click the red button on “Install”, because otherwise, we could not use the program we are installing. The other option, as we have already mentioned before, would be to use it in a browser.
Once the installation is finished, we will click on Finish and with this we will have finished this process.
As for the program, there are a few things to know:
- It runs automatically when Windows starts, so you will not have to worry about it except on rare occasions.
- For it to work you have to put an ID on it.
- There is the option to disable it if it does not matter.
Let’s start with the ID, which you can access directly from this link .
It should be noted that each one has a different ID so, to fit your configuration, you should only put the one that corresponds to you. The one you have to put is the one that appears in a red box. Another thing to consider is that below you have DNS-over-HTTPS , which is what we put in the section of a browser to use it only there and that we explained before with Google Chrome.
One important thing is that you do not need to register, but the settings we make are only saved in the browser for 7 days. If you want to save your options you have to create an account that is also free. Now we are going to put our ID to the program so we will go to the notification area of the taskbar:
Then we click on the NextDNS icon with the right mouse button.
Here we have three options:
- Disable : to disable the program.
- Settings : that we will press to put the ID.
- Quit : to close it.
In Settings we will put the ID that corresponds to us and with that we will have finished with the program.
Options offered by the NextDNS firewall
Previously, to see the ID we were in the installation tab, but as you can see, it offers us many more options.
Where Personal is written, you have the possibility to create new profiles. If they are highly personalized, then registering an account is highly recommended. You can configure the security, privacy, parental control, black list, white list sections according to your needs and see your resolved and blocked domains in statistics. These are the options that we can modify in Security :
This could be an example of how to configure Parental Control :
Finally, to finish with NextDNS, let’s see how, thanks to his work, he has blocked queries and domains:
So far we have come with this tutorial where we have taught you the NextDNS firewall, which will allow us to easily block domains and prevent us from having infections on our devices, whether PC or mobile.