1- What is Norton DNS?

Norton DNS is a cloud-based Web filtering service that helps protect users from accessing malicious and phishing sites. Our new BETA service can also block access to sites with unwanted or offensive content.

2- How does it work?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a phone book. Each time your computer visits a web site, it needs to get the IP address of the site. Computers only connect to IP addresses, not human-friendly names. When Norton DNS is used, it delivers these IP addresses very fast, plus it does a quick check on each site to make sure that it isn’t bad. If it is, you are protected from the site but you will get detailed information on why we think that the site is bad. This information comes from our Safe Web database. You can search any site at http://safeweb.norton.com/. Norton Safe Web processes billions of requests each day to deliver ratings for users when they are searching on the Internet.

3- Where can I get Norton DNS?

Several options are available. To protect all Web-connected devices accessing the Internet via your home router, you can manually configure your home router to use Norton DNS (see router setup). To enable Norton DNS on your PC, if you are tech savvy, you can simply set your DNS server addresses to 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.1 (see PC setup). Otherwise you can download a small PC client that will automatically make the configuration changes for you.

4- How do I know if it is working?

After you manually change your DNS server addresses or you install the Norton DNS client, you can visit http://setup.nortondns.com/. This page will let you know if you are currently using Norton DNS.

5- Do I need software?

To get malware site blocking you can set your DNS servers manually on your PC, smart phone, or on your router. However, for laptop PCs we recommend that you install the PC client software to ensure that your DNS will always work, even when you are on a network that blocks alternative DNS servers. In addition, to use Norton DNS Web content filtering (BETA), you will need to install the Norton DNS PC client and sign in using your Norton Account username and password.

6- How do I manually set my DNS servers on Windows?

1) Open the Control Panel from your Start menu.

2) Click Network Connections and choose your current connection.

3) On the General tab of the Connection Status screen, click Properties.

4) On the General tab of Connection Properties, scroll down and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click Properties.

5) On the General tab of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties, select Use the following DNS server addresses, then enter the two Norton DNS IP addresses 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.1.

7- How much does it cost?

Usage of Norton DNS malware site blocking service is free for non-commercial use.

8- What languages does Norton DNS support?

Currently Norton DNS PC client and Web site are only available in English. Future versions of Norton DNS may support other languages.

9- Where are Norton DNS servers located?

We are continually working on adding more servers to the global Norton DNS network. At the moment, Norton DNS servers are hosted at 17 data centers across the world.
Below is the list of Norton DNS data centers:
North America: Ashburn (VA), Chicago (IL), Dallas (TX), Los Angeles (CA), Miami (FL), New York (2 locations), Newark (NJ), and Seattle (WA).
Europe: Amsterdam (2 locations), Frankfurt (DE), and London (UK).
Asia: HongKong, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.
Click here to view the Norton DNS Network map.

10- Can I use Norton DNS on my smart phone?

Norton DNS protection is available on a smart phone when connected to a Wifi network. If you are technically savvy and your device supports it, you can change your smart phone’s WiFi DNS settings to use Norton DNS.

11- I want to use Norton DNS all the time on my smart phone, not just when I am connected to a WiFi hotspot. How do I make this work?

Currently Norton DNS protection is only available when connected to a WiFi network. Norton DNS protection is not available for Over The Air Web access from your carrier.

12- Does Norton DNS make my web browsing faster?

Everyone will have a different experience, but many users find that Norton DNS performs better and is more reliable than their default DNS provider. In fact, a number of serious DNS outages recently have proven how easy it is to switch to Norton DNS to ensure a reliable, fast Internet experience.

13- If I have Norton DNS do I need any other security solution?

Norton DNS only provides basic security — malware site blocking. It is not a substitute for a full, multi-layered, client-based security solution such as Norton Internet Security or Norton 360. On the other hand, lots of devices today (tablets, TVs, smart phones, etc.) are susceptible to some attacks and Norton DNS (BETA) can help keep you safe or protect your family from unwanted or offensive content.

14- How do I remove Norton DNS from my computer?

If you installed the Norton DNS client, simply uninstall it, and it will revert your DNS settings back to the previous settings.
If you performed a manual installation, follow the same instructions above, but on step 5, select Obtain DNS server address automatically on the last screen (or replace our NortonDNS addresses with your recursive resolver IP addresses).

15- Is Norton DNS supported? Where can I go for support?

For questions regarding malicious site blocking, please post your questions/comments on the Norton Forum:
http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/bd-p/other
To get help with our Web content filtering beta service, please contact us at nortondns@symantec.com

16- How can I check to see if the service is operating normally?

If you think that something might be wrong with the service, first check here:
https://status.nortondns.com

17- Where does Norton DNS get its ‘security’ from?

Norton DNS leverages the Safe Web database. Safe Web contains information on millions of sites and it is queried billions of times each day. Norton DNS is updated every few minutes and new security information is propagated throughout the network every 10-15 minutes.

18- How does Norton DNS (BETA) Web content filtering work?

Norton DNS utilizes the Web content categorization data from our own Symantec RuleSpace. With Norton DNS Web content filtering service you can create customized Web content filtering policy by selecting from over 40 different content categories you want to block. Our content categorization data include more than 50 million hosts covering Web sites in 23 different languages. Each year our content categorization system adds more than 10 million new Web sites and also removes roughly 10 million dead sites. Click here for a list of Web site categories supported by Norton DNS.

19- It looks like Norton DNS is blocking my site. Where can I go for help?

To request re-evaluation of your Web site, please visit http://safeweb.norton.com/help/site_owners. You will need to create a Norton Account and complete the site owner validation process in order to submit a re-evaluation request.

20- I offer public WiFi and I’d like my customers to benefit from Norton DNS protection. What do I need to do?

Great, please email us at nortondns@symantec.com to get your business set up with Norton DNS.

Known Issues

To upgrade from a previous version of Norton DNS to the current Beta version, you will need to uninstall your current Norton DNS client first, then install the new version.