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Ivan's picture

Speed up your browsing by using Google's Public DNS

Ivan | Thu, 2009-12-03 23:47
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google dns on MacBy default most of us use our ISP's DNS to resolve web addresses into IP numbers. Google came up with a Public DNS system, which is is supposedly faster (and perhaps safer) than using the ISP's DNS. If you want to test it on your Mac it's really easy to set it up.

  1. From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
  2. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example: To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced. To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
  3. Select the DNS tab.
  4. Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
  5. Click Apply and OK.

Google isn't first with the idea for a faster public DNS. I've been using OpenDNS for years, which is a really nifty service offering many features.

Commenting on this Blog entry is closed.

Alex's picture
380 pencils
Alex | Fri, 2009-12-04 10:35

Here's the google announcement (google code blog).

steveballmer's picture
627 pencils
steveballmer | Fri, 2009-12-04 12:31

MSDNS coming soon! Let the DNS wars begin!

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I am not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be me!

Ivan's picture
Ivan | Fri, 2009-12-04 23:51

Comprehensive DNS tests across the world:
http://www.manu-j.com/blog/opendns-alternative-google-dns-rocks/403/
Google DNS wins internationally everywhere. US users may not see much difference compared to OpenDNS.

JimD's picture
2617 pencils
JimD | Sat, 2009-12-05 14:44

I've found OpenDNS to be a far superior service. The Dashboard offers so many more options.

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steveballmer's picture
627 pencils
steveballmer | Sun, 2009-12-06 01:08

Wait till you see ours!

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http://stevefakeballmer.wordpress.com/
I am not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be me!

William's picture
188 pencils
William | Mon, 2009-12-07 09:03

You should all try using NameBench:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/32784/namebench

This will test hundreds of public DNS servers like Google, OpenDNS, UltraDNS etc. This will tell you exactly which are the fastest DNS servers for you to use.

OpenDNS has several great features for managing things like shortcuts, VPNs and preventing the spread of virus' etc. An example would be that they could let you know if any computer on your network had the conficker virus, by monitoring requests for conficker servers.

Will

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