There are few good free DNS services that you can use, and now you can add one more to that list. Google Public DNS is a new service that Google has just rolled out. To use Google Public DNS, open up your router or your computer’s network configuration and add Google Public DNS’s server IP addresses (“8.8.8.8″ and “8.8.4.4″). OpenDNS is the other great free DNS service. As of now, OpenDNS has more features than Google Public DNS. Although, features are cool, but the whole point of utilizing a free DNS instead of your ISP’s DNS is to improve the Internet experience in terms of speed and security. DNS is known as Domain Name System, and don’t mistake DNS with a Domain Name Registrar.
On the Internet, when you and I are visiting a web address (website’s domain name), DNS translates a web address into a number in a form of IP (i.e., x.x.x.x); without DNS, servers on the Internet won’t be able to know how to relay your requests from one destination to another. So why should we use Google Public DNS or OpenDNS? Free DNS services that have good security measures may be able to prevent you from visiting malware websites and malicious websites that are using hackers’ techniques such as phishing and so on. After all, DNS is a service that directs you from one destination to another over the Internet. Free DNS services are concentrating in providing fast domain name translation, because it’s in their interests to do so, and by using them, your Internet browsing experience may also improve.
Windows 7 users who are directly connecting to ISP’s modem (i.e., not connecting to a router) can change DNS information on a computer by go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings, right click on a connection that you are using (wireless users use Wireless Network Connection, but most people are using Local Area Connection), click on Yes when UAC asks for your permission, highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click on properties, select Use the following DNS server addresses, and enter the free DNS services’ IP addresses. Remember to click OK to activate the new DNS service. To use Google Public DNS, you need to add the IPs of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Each IP represents a network of servers that is responsible for translating domain names into numbers when you’re using the Internet. For using OpenDNS, you can visit OpenDNS for their DNS IP addresses. For enabling DNS service on your router, please refer to your router’s instruction on how to do so. Source.
Vinh Nguyen
