You can configure your DNS settings to use ClearCloud with the following IP addresses: Preferred DNS server: 74.118.212.1; Alternate DNS server: 74.118.212. You will find complete instructions for Windows, Macintosh and router configuration here. They also provide a utility that allows you to automatically enable and disable ClearCloud at the click of a button. This can be handy if you run into a blocked site that you actually need or want to load.

Similar to OpenDNS, ClearCloud DNS is a free service that checks every website address your computer is trying to access; unlike OpenDNS, ClearCloud DNS does not provide content filtering as its intent is to be a security device to keep your computer safe from malicious sites. Here’s what they say:

As such, we do a lot more research on sites that try to steal information from you, download malicious files onto your machine, trick you into buying useless programs, and other similar functions. We block a lot more sites that are malicious because that’s what we concentrate on. We process up to a million potential threats a day, and capture any URLs that real threats “phone home” to. We also actively search out malicious sites and have other systems in place to identify who the bad guys are.

It would appear that you now have to make a choice between content filtering and blocking of malicious sites. I don’t know of any way to query two servers at the same time without some major shenanigans.

After you’ve configured ClearCloud, you can test it with 2 pages to verify that it’s working:

test.ssdsandbox.net – ClearCloud block page

clearcloudtest.ssdsandbox.net – Test page – You should see the ClearCloud logo on this page.

They do have some information in their FAQ:

What is ClearCloud™?
ClearCloud is a service that provides safe and reliable web browsing by preventing you from going to websites that are known to perform malicious activity. It’s like having a GPS in your car that won’t let you turn down a street with known criminal activity.

How does it work?
At heart, ClearCloud is a DNS server. DNS stands for Domain Name System. Every website on the planet is located by a number address, known as an IP address, similar to a phone number. For example, Sunbelt’s IP address is 64.128.133.180. While some folks can remember the phone numbers of all of their friends and family, most of us save phone numbers in our cell phone by their names.

DNS works the same way. It’s really a big phone book of all the IP addresses and website names, known as URLs (Universal Resource Locator), the address “name” of the website. It’s much easier to remember “www.sunbeltsoftware.com” than to remember “64.128.133.180.”

I’ve been using OpenDNS for a couple of years with filters enabled, but it appears that Sunbelt Software is being proactive about not even listing the DNS addresses of known malicious sites. Malware that assumes you’re just using regular DNS may try to trick you with a spoofed address like CityBank.com to get you to go to a bad site. That site won’t be available if you use ClearCloud DNS.

I’ll keep you posted on this, but if you’d like to check it out, you can visit their site and see for yourself.