Faster, more reliable internet access, and greater control and privacy over your online activity sounds like a myth, right? Not if you have a customizable DNS resolver.
Setting up a personal DNS resolver can seem daunting, and knowing where to begin can be difficult – especially if you’re not a techie.
Luckily, with Control D, you can be up and running from start to finish within minutes – we’re not joking.
Let’s show you how.
Table of Contents
How to set up Control D for personal use
- Create your personal account
- Create and customize your Profile(s)
- Add your Endpoint(s) and/or router(s)
How to set up Control D for personal use
To set up your Control D account, simply follow a 3-step process:
- Create your personal account
- Create and customize your Profile(s)
- Add your Endpoint(s) and/or router(s)
1. Create your personal account
All you need to get started is to enter an email address and password. Once that’s done, click ‘Create Personal Account’ to be directed to the Control D dashboard.
The dashboard will present three main sections:
- Profiles
- Endpoints
- Analytics
The Analytics dashboard – as the name suggests – is where you’ll be shown all your data. However, since you haven’t set up your Profile or Endpoints (devices) yet, this section will be empty.
So, let’s explore how you can set those up first.
2. Create and customize your Profile(s)
Profiles are the rules, settings, and configurations your DNS resolver will enforce on your Endpoint or network. As such, it’s the most important aspect of Control D.
A blank profile will be set up by default, which you can edit to your liking. However, you can also create your own.
Simply navigate to the Profile section, click the green + icon in the top right-hand corner, and enter a Profile name.
After creating your Profile, you’ll want to customize it to your preferences. There are four areas to be aware of:
- Filters: categories to be blocked
- Services: websites, apps, or platforms to be blocked, bypassed, or redirected
- Custom Rules: rules that can be applied to specific domains
- Profile Options: customizable behaviors.
Let’s look into these in more detail.
Filters
Filters allow you to block websites and domains within a particular category. Examples of categories include Crypto, Government Sites, Adult Content, etc. You can also block Ads & Trackers, and Malware from here.
This holistic approach to your DNS configurations will suffice for some people. But, if you want more control over what’s resolved and what isn’t, navigate to the Services tab.
Services
Services provide more oversight over specific websites, apps, and platforms that are resolved while leaving others untouched.
For example, you only want to block Spotify on your Endpoint. To do so, go to Services > Audio and toggle on blocking services for Spotify. Just like that, you’ve successfully blocked Spotify while leaving all other audio platforms as is.
As you’ll notice, you can apply two additional rules besides blocking: Bypass and Redirect.
- Bypass - all domains are resolved to their true IPs.
- Redirect - all domains are spoofed to a proxy location. You can choose from over 60 countries to spoof to, or enter a specific IP address.
With over 1,000 blockable Services to choose from, you can tailor the DNS resolver to your needs. However, you can also utilize Custom Rules if you require more granular control.
Custom Rules
Custom Rules enable you to create up to 10,000 rules for specific domain names and platforms. As with Services, you can choose between setting up a Block, Bypass, or Redirect rule, which will then apply to all Endpoints within that Profile.
While some people may not need to fine-tune their DNS configuration to this level, the option is there.
Profile Options
Profile Options are an advanced setting that allows you to customize your Profile to enforce certain behaviors, such as DNS Rebind Protection, Compatibility Mode, and Enable DNS64.
If you’re not sure what these mean, don’t worry. You can always go to our documentation for more information on each one.
Now that you’ve set up your Profile(s), you can begin to add your Endpoint(s) and/or router(s).
3. Add your Endpoint(s) and/or router(s)
Our guide on how to set up Control D for routers goes into much further detail on the topic. Therefore, this article will focus on adding Endpoints.
With Endpoints, you’re not just limited to a laptop or computer. You can also add browsers, Smart TVs, and mobile phones. Here’s how to add one:
- Click the green + icon
- Select the operating system of the Endpoint or browser you want Control D to run on
- Enter a name or email for this Endpoint
- Assign it to a Profile
- Click Create Endpoint.
Once your Endpoint has been created, you will then be presented with your secure DNS resolvers for the specific device as well as a Resolver ID.
You can change your DNS settings by manually entering these IDs on your device, but the easiest way to implement this is by using the ‘Automatic Setup’ function.
Selecting this option will prompt you to install the GUI Setup Utility on your device. Once that’s done, paste your Resolver ID into the GUI Setup Utility and click ‘Configure.’
All the heavy lifting will be done in the background with no additional work required from you, and within seconds, your device will be configured to the settings associated with its Profile.
At this point, you have successfully set up Control D on your device.
The next step is the easy part: browse the internet with confidence, knowing you’re fully protected from ads and trackers, malware, and any unwanted content you’ve filtered out.
Conclusion
Protecting yourself on the internet shouldn’t be difficult, which is why we created Control D.
As we’ve just explored, deploying it onto your device or network is effortless – it only requires three easy steps, one of which is to create your account.
Once it’s been set up, you don’t have to worry about it again. It will always run in the background without additional input from you.
Check out our documentation for a more detailed explanation of Control D’s features and its use cases.
