Improve Your Web Surfing Speed with OpenDNS

When you type an internet address in your web browser [like www.google.com], the request first goes to the DNS servers of your local ISP. These “Domain Name Servers” will translate the web URL into some cryptic and hard-to-remember numeric address [like 66.102.7.104]

While this domain name to IP address conversion occurs in the background and is completely transparent to the average internet user, the DNS servers of your ISP (not your modem or computer ) can sometimes be the main reason for slow internet speeds.

For instance, if the DNS server of your ISP is offline for some reason, you will not be able to access the internet unless you are aware of the numeric IP address of the website that you want to visit.

To overcome such problems, you may perform a small tweak in your Internet connection settings and web pages will load considerably faster.

Instead of relying on the DNS server of our local ISP, we can change the DNS server name to point to a more reliable and free service called OpenDNS. There’s no software to download or install, just a small modification in your internet connection settings.

The DNS server can be changed from the TCP/IP Properties section. [Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Local Network Connection -> TCP IP Properties]

You will see a setting called “Use the following DNS Server Addresses” - Type the following values for the preferred and alternate DNS Servers respectively.

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Technically, we have replaced the default DNS server address of our ISP with the OpenDNS servers which will resolve your computer’s request for domain name resolution much faster.

Other than improved speed, OpenDNS helps you surf the web more safely by auto-correcting misspelled domain names [or typos].

For instance, if you type www.gooogl.com by mistake, you’ll be redirected to www.google.com automatically. If you are about to visit a phishing website (that may try to steal your bank login information), OpenDNS may prevent you from doing so if they have a record of that scam website in their database.

[Amit Agarwal is a personal technology columnist and professional blogger.]