Internet Option How To Use The

Go to the network adapter settings for your computer, or the Wi-Fi settings on your phone or tablet, and enter the DNS server addresses.

Former Lifewire writer Melanie Pinola has 5 years experience writing about consumer-oriented technology and is an expert telecommuter.

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You can also modify the DNS servers on each computer or device through network adapter or the Wi-Fi settings.

The DNS is like the internets phonebook, mapping website names like lifewire.com to a specific computer (or computers) where the site is hosted.

When you access a website, your computer looks up the addresses, and the choice of DNS server can affect how fast a website loads.

The network settings for your computer, router, or access point allow you to specify which DNS serversprimary and secondaryto use.

By default, these are likely set by your internet service provider, but there may be faster ones you can use.

Several utilities can help you find the best DNS server by running benchmarks that test how each server responds specifically to your location.

GRC DNS Benchmark is a great tool for Windows and Linux users, and namebench is a quick and easy tool that runs on Mac, too.

Many offer extra privacy protections, various levels of filtering, and more.

Internet Option How To Use The

Heres how to use the free open-source namebench utility (it should work similarly in GRC DNS Benchmark).

If it isnt entered for you automatically, youll have to find it yourself.

On a Mac, open a Terminal window by going to Applications Utilities Terminal, then enter cat etcresolv.conf.

In namebench, type your current nameserver address as you found it displayed above, and then select Start Benchmark.

Wait for a new browser page to open with your benchmarking results.

Youll see the recommended primary, secondary, and tertiary DNS servers that can help you get a faster internet connection speed than what youre getting with the current DNS servers.

Youll also see a list of tested DNS servers and how long each took to load web pages.

Exit namebench and close the page that opened in the browser.

Now you can change your DNS server on either your computer or your router.

If you use several devices or if many friends and family connect to your network, log in to your router as an administrator to make the change there.

That way, every device that gets its addresses automatically from the router is updated with these DNS servers for faster web browsing.

Internet Option For Mac