D-Link Securespot Internet Adapter

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DLINK Securespot Rocks!
Reviewer: tvinzant from Bryant, AR on Aug 18, 2006
72 out of 107 found this review helpful

Let me start by saying that I am a father of two very Internet savvy kids. I purchased the DLink Securespot on July 17, 2006. As of today I have had it up and running for about 4 weeks. I love it! It was easy to install and it performs as advertised. The support teams have been terrific, as I have made a few requests for future updates that they are considering.

I think every responsible parent should buy this product immediately, regardless of your computer knowledge. So many families are unaware of how to actually protect their kids from the ugliness of the Internet. In many cases the kids actually know more about the computer than the parents. The DLink Securespot is a simple to use yet powerful solution for protecting your family. Whatatrue blessing. Thank you DLink and Bsecure! ***** FIVE STARS *****

Background: About 5 years ago I realized that I was going to have to work very hard to protect my kids as the Internet was beginning to show its ugly side. The good stuff was great,but the X-Rated stuff had to be blocked. I originally purchased a hardware router appliance that offered a limited number of IP addresses and provided a content filter that had an annual subscription fee. It worked well with one or two PC’s, but then Ibought more PC’s and a couple of DVRs that needed to get to the Internet for weekly TV listing updates. Because I now have (4) PC’s and (2) DVRs and a Slingbox (nifty TV thing) and a Wireless AP, I ran out of IP addresses. I constantly had to dump IPaddresses and reboot the router. That went on for about 2 years. I hated it, but I had no other alternative. There was no other “Hardware” solution on the market that offered content filtering the way we had become accustomed. Not to mention the hassle of having to update the Virus Software on (4) machines. Over the years I had purchased McAfee twice, but couldn’t justify the annual subscriptions for (4) machines. I had turned to AVG for virus protection. It was fine, but all of my machines had infections in the vault that I couldn’t remove. That doesn’t include the Adware, SpyBot and Spyware Doctor apps that I had to run constantly to keep all (4) machines running. I didn’t have the time to keep up. I was drowning in upkeep.

The Scope: The product out of the box will cover up to (4) machines for 1yr, more precisely (4) MAC addresses. This means that the hardware and all of the software updates are free for 1yr. The subscription after the first year to cover (4) machines is approx $80.00 per/year. Additional systems beyond the standard (4) can be purchased too. To cover (4) machines on the Virus Protection alone for 1yr is a bargain, the rest is gravy.

The Best Features: The Virus Protection software is up and running on all (4) systems and they are all updated regularly with little to no personal interaction. I tend to tinkle with it manually to make sure it’s working. I’m beginning to relax now that it has proven itself. The Content Filtering is extremely powerful and yet very flexible. The options listing for the content filtering is a lot more detailed than the product that I had before. The Reporting feature is probably one of the best things about the whole product. I have the ability to login to a secure website fromhomeor work or anywhere, and see what sites have been visited and how many times. There is also an optional limit to how many times a site can be blocked before the machine has to be rebooted. There is also a parental password override for any blocked site, so if a site is blocked you can enter the bypass password and the site will come right up. The Spam blocking seems to be working very well as I get no more SPAM in my Outlook – No SPAM is a very good thing. The Spyware (Immunizing) needs somework,but I’m confident that future updates will resolve these deficiencies soon.

Installation Tips: Out of the box you’ll need to go to the DLink website and download the latest Firmware update. Install the Firmware Update right away. Do not proceedwith the installation instructions until after this has been accomplished first. If you have a wireless router already you’ll be in great shape, but if you don’t already have a newer model, I would recommend the DLink DI-634M Wireless 108G MIMO router.This willcover your home needs perfectly. I only had an Access Point before and had to buy a new router to complete the installation. I was initially a little disappointed with the added expense, but the newer technology has increased my coverage areatremendously. I am very pleased with the much needed upgrade. Once the firmware update has been accomplished you will have NO problems following the easy to follow instructions that come in the package. What a breeze!

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works for me
Reviewer: Chrisnva from Ashburn, VA on Mar 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I bought this about 6 months ago for $99. The main reason I bought it was for the parental controls. With the parental controls you can set it up so that no driver is required on any pc. So anyone on the network is blocked from sites based on categories you choose. I had to tweak the categories a bit because it tends to err on the side of caution and block sites you might normally allow.

It has a lot of other features but I already have a firewall and antivirus so I didnt bother with them. I also use myrouter to control times and port forwarding etc...

the other option for parental controls was to put it on each PC which tends to slow them down and are a nightmare to manager. This is a much better solution.

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great idea - not for all users
Reviewer: allebni from bronx new york city on Oct 31, 2007
5 out of 13 found this review helpful

this unit is a great idea to stop illegal downloads however this product will only work for customers who have a seperate dsl / cable modem and router. noone tell you this unit will not work for combined units. this unit is a great idea, bad martketing

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