• The Internet: How to find and change DNS settings

    Home » Forums » Newsletter and Homepage topics » The Internet: How to find and change DNS settings

    Author
    Topic
    #345017

    What’s a DNS and why should you change it? Third-party DNS servers offer speed and security that may be missing on your machine. Lance Whitney takes y
    [See the full post at: The Internet: How to find and change DNS settings]

    2 users thanked author for this post.
    Viewing 5 reply threads
    Author
    Replies
    • #345117

      Even though I’m not a tech, I strongly recommend this article on ars technica for more advances in DNS security:

      How to keep your ISP’s nose out of your browser history with encrypted DNS

      Thanks to the article, I now have Simple DNSCrypt on two PCs.  Or, to say it more accurately, I have used the app Simple DNSCrypt to install and configure the service dnscrypt-proxy on two PCs, and I have elected to make it point to cloudflare’s new, secure 1.1.1.1 DNS service.

      The article also recommends a similar app for iOS devices, and so the DNS queries from my iPad are now also encrypted.

      Very nice.

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • #345160

      Here in Venezuela I’ve been using DNS-over-HTTPS on my PCs since Firefox started supporting it in the stable releases and it’s fantastic. I had to set the Cloudflare secondary DNS server (1.0.0.1) because 1.1.1.1 is blocked on Telefónica/Movistar, a mobile carrier. Other carriers and ISPs block or spoof DNS requests to blocked domains (like DolarToday) even when you’re using third party DNS servers.

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • #345661

      There are many websites, mostly from VPN providers, that will test and report the DNS servers your computer is using. A list is here

      https://www.routersecurity.org/testdns.php

      Certainly a good thing to check when traveling.

      Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

      2 users thanked author for this post.
    • #345724

      This is something I have investigated recently. In my vista {note use of lower case ‘v’ ;)}, this will be the method large ISPs, including those of cable television corporations in the U.S.A., use to deny access to those World-Wide Web sites they do not really like (for any reason). Subsequently, learning how to change your DNS servers is another aspect of on-line computing we will all have to learn. 😮  A World-Wide Web site I endorse is Public DNS[/url] (WTH? Here is the bare URL. http://www.publicdns.xyz/ ) (Do not freak out at that high-level domain. It is safe. If your anti-virus blares at you for trying to go there; that anti-virus should be dumped.) If you are skeptical of just this link, I encourage you to hit my regular bookmark page[/url], which is suitable for all ages, and upon which I have a rubric of Internet W-WW sites.

      EDITED formatting

      Important links you can use, without the monetization pitch = https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html
    • #345734

      DNS Servers we like to use:

      1.1.1.1  or 1.0.0.1 = Cloudflare + APNIC at https://1.1.1.1/faq/

      Cloudflare supports (a Beta) DoH resolver now.  Info at https://developers.cloudflare.com/1.1.1.1/dns-over-https/request-structure/

      Benefits: Very fast

      9.9.9.9 or 149.112.112.112 = Quad 9 at https://www.quad9.net/faq/

      Additionally Quad 9 now supports direct DoH support for newer devices.

      https://www.quad9.net/doh-quad9-dns-servers/ for instructions on setting it up.

      Benefits: Fairly fast, plus malware domain blocking.

      8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 = Google

      Benefits: Very fast

      Cons: almost certainly aggregating user data (don’t even tell me they’re not . . .)

       

      ~ Group "Weekend" ~

      • #345739

        I should note that the new routers to which I’ve been upgrading clients recently also support DoH . . .  finally!  Unsure if okay to name names here, might be construed as shilling.  But hardware is here that can do this.  Now if MS would support it on their DNS service that would be pretty awesome.

        ~ Group "Weekend" ~

        • #346246

          Please, be my guest… I’m very interested in knowing which routers already support this feature.
          I’m the person from Venezuela who commented earlier btw

      • #345796

        Just curious. Why suggest Google DNS rather than OpenDNS?

        Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

        1 user thanked author for this post.
        • #345827

          I used to use OpenDNS quite a lot, but their performance/response was not near as fast as the first two options I listed.  But I like their advanced blocking features (which registered users can toggle on/off on genre segments as per their preference.)

          For a direct reference, we used Steve Gibsons DNS tester from multiple client sites in making choices.

           

          EDIT:  so just before I posted this, I decided to do another DNS perf run.  And OpenDNS has substantially improved their response latency from the last time I ran a test against them.  So . . .  I think that means they are back in the running for my short list.  😀 What’s shocking is that tonight Quad9 is doing poorly – not generally the case.

          Please note that the chart below is relative, these are all performing at what should be considered very acceptable levels.

          dnstest

           

           

           

           

          ~ Group "Weekend" ~

          2 users thanked author for this post.
          • #346163

            Nice one, NetDef.

            As an alternative, I’ve used Sordum’s DNS Jumper for a while. Results from a run just now:

            DNS Jumper

            Lugh.
            ~
            Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
            i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

            • #346174

              Lugh …

              If I’m not mistaken, in the DNS Jumper listing posted above, Norton DNS & Norton ConnectSafe are no longer in existence – Norton (Symantec) took the service off line in Nov 2018.

              Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
              Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
              Groups A, B & ABS

              1 user thanked author for this post.
            • #346345

              Thanks RDRguy, I looked it up and you’re right. Interesting, I wonder why they returned a result when a few others didn’t…

              Lugh.
              ~
              Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
              i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

    • #346125

      To me, speed is not a reason to pick a DNS provider. I prefer to go by safety. Still, I agree with your short list of DNS providers. All should be better than DNS from an ISP or from a coffee shop or hotel.

      Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

    Viewing 5 reply threads
    Reply To: The Internet: How to find and change DNS settings

    You can use BBCodes to format your content.
    Your account can't use all available BBCodes, they will be stripped before saving.

    Your information: