{"id":31052,"date":"2025-11-11T08:25:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=31052"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:25:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:25:23","slug":"why-you-might-want-to-change-your-dns-settings-and-how-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/why-you-might-want-to-change-your-dns-settings-and-how-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Might Want to Change Your DNS Settings and How to Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why You Might Want to Change Your DNS Settings and How to Do It<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Today, we’re going to show you how to change your DNS settings in Windows 10 and Windows 11 and tell you why you may want to.<\/span><\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s discuss what DNS servers are. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 we\u2019re not going to get all technical on you. We will define DNS servers as simply as possible. However, you don\u2019t need to know what a DNS server is to use this tip, but you should have a basic understanding of DNS and what DNS servers do.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s a simple definition of DNS and DNS servers from Lifewire\u2019s \u201cWhat is a DNS Server\u201d:<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a technology standard for managing names of public Web sites and other Internet domains. DNS technology allows you to type names into your Web browser like lifewire.com and your computer to automatically find that address on the Internet. A key element of the DNS is a worldwide collection of DNS servers.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A DNS server is any computer registered to join the Domain Name System.<\/span><\/p>\n

A DNS server runs special-purpose networking software, features a public IP address, and contains a database of network names and addresses for other Internet hosts.<\/span><\/p>\n

DNS Root Servers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DNS servers communicate with each other using private network protocols. All DNS servers are organized in a hierarchy. At the top level of the hierarchy, so-called root servers store a complete database of Internet domain names and their corresponding IP addresses\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, when you type in https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/<\/a> you\u2019re typing a numerical address like 207.46.129.3, which is resolved by the DNS server to the name you know and love\u2026 www.microsoft.com<\/a>. Due to security issues, many sites will block attempts to directly reach the site by typing in its numerical address\u2026but whoa! We\u2019re getting in way too deep.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without DNS servers you\u2019re not going to get anywhere on the Internet. And if you have not changed your DNS settings, the first DNS server you\u2019ll use to get to the Internet and the websites you want to visit is your Internet Service Provider\u2019s DNS server(s). However, you\u2019re not stuck using your ISP\u2019s DNS servers. You have options. The option we\u2019re going to show you today is to use Google\u2019s public DNS servers, which will let you circumvent your ISP\u2019s DNS servers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lately, we have had several people who were unable to access certain sites at certain times. Sites would randomly be available. In at least two cases, while working with customers using our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service<\/a>, we found that customers could not access Facebook. And one of them could not access Facebook, Twitter, and other sites she liked.\u00a0 In all these cases, instead of the websites loading, they got a DNS error.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re probably using your ISP\u2019s DNS servers. But you don\u2019t have to. Instead, you can use DNS servers run by third parties. Three of the most popular third-party DNS servers are Google Public DNS. Cloudflare\u2019s Public DNS and OpenDNS.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to show you how to change your DNS settings from your ISP\u2019s default settings to Google Public DNS on Windows 10 and Cloudflare’s DNS on Windows 11. All three will work on Windows 10 and Windows 11.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Google\u2019s Public DNS may make your connection a little faster and a bit more secure<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If your ISP is not updating its DNS settings and\/or is lax about its DNS security, using an alternate public DNS service like Google\u2019s (or one of the others) can help increase the speed and security of your connection. And using a third-party DNS service can help block phishing and other counterfeit sites.<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as speeding up your connection, we must tell you this. Please don\u2019t think by changing your DNS settings you\u2019re going to significantly improve the speed of a slow Internet connection and make it fast \u2013 it\u2019s not going to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can use Google’s Public DNS servers in Windows 10 and Windows 11. In this example, we’re going to show you how to use them in Windows 10. And later, we’ll do Windows 11 using Cloudflare’s DNS servers. But you can use Google, Cloudflare, or OpenDNS in Windows 10 or Windows 11; it’s your choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Changing your DNS Settings in Windows 10<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s change our Internet adapter settings to use Google\u2019s Public DNS:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.) Open Control Panel – type Control in the taskbar search and press Enter when you see Control Panel appear in the search results.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.) In Control Panel, click on “Network & Sharing Center”.<\/span><\/p>\n

3.) In Network & Sharing Center, click on \u201cChange adapter settings\u201d (it\u2019s on the left side).<\/span><\/p>\n

4.) Right-click on your active Wi-Fi or Ethernet Adapter and click on \u201cProperties\u201d. (If you use both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, you\u2019ll have to change both adapters, one at a time).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cloudeight<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Properties dialog, find \u201cInternet Protocol Version 4 (TCP\/IPv4), click it to highlight it, then click \u201cProperties\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cloudeight<\/span><\/p>\n

In the TCP\/IPv4 properties dialog, tick the circle next to \u201cUse the following DNS server addresses\u201d and enter 8 8 8 8 next to the preferred DNS server and 8 8 4 4 next to <\/span>\u201cAlternate DNS server\u201d. Please note that you\u2019ll have to press the space bar after entering each number. Press OK when you\u2019re done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Cloudeight<\/span><\/p>\n

After you press OK, you\u2019ll be back in the Adapter Properties dialog. This time, you\u2019ll need to click on \u201cInternet Protocol 6 (TCP\/IPv6)\u201d to highlight it, then click \u201cProperties\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cloudeight<\/span><\/p>\n

In the TCP\/IPv6 Properties dialog, tick the circle next to \u201cUse the following DNS server addresses\u201d and \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Next to \u201cPreferred DNS server,\u201d enter the following (you can copy & paste if you like):<\/span><\/p>\n

2001:4860:4860::8888<\/span><\/p>\n

Next to \u201cAlternate DNS server,\u201d enter the following (copy & paste if you like):<\/span><\/p>\n

2001:4860:4860::8844<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cloudeight<\/span>
\nKeep in mind those numbers must be exactly as shown. So, double-check before you click OK.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now you\u2019re almost done. Open a command prompt (does not have to be an administrator command prompt) and type\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

IPCONFIG \/FLUSHDNS<\/span><\/p>\n

and then press Enter. If you typed the command correctly, you\u2019ll see the confirmation below: \u201cSuccessfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache<\/em>\u201d. If you don\u2019t see that confirmation, then you typed the command incorrectly. Ensure you leave a space after ‘ipconfig’ and before the slash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cloudeight<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s it. If you ever want to change back to your ISP\u2019s DNS servers, just got back to the IPv4 and IPv6 properties and tick the circle next to \u201cObtain DNS server address automatically.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll need to rerun the IPCONFIG \/FLUSHDNS command.<\/span><\/p>\n

Changing DNS Servers in Windows 11<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Changing DNS servers in Windows 11 is almost the same as changing DNS servers in Windows 10. For our Windows 11 example, we’re going to use Cloudflare\u2019s public DNS servers.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

1.) Open Control Panel (Type Control into Start menu search or taskbar search & press Enter).<\/span><\/p>\n

2.) In Control Panel, click on “Network & Sharing Center”.<\/span><\/p>\n

3.) In Network & Sharing Center, click on \u201cChange adapter settings\u201d (it\u2019s on the left side).<\/span><\/p>\n

4.) Right-click on your active Wi-Fi or Ethernet Adapter and click on \u201cProperties\u201d. (If you use both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, you\u2019ll have to change both adapters, one at a time).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP\/IPv4).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

In the TCP\/IPv4 properties dialog, tick the circle next to \u201cUse the following DNS server addresses\u201d and enter 1 1 1 1 next to the preferred DNS server and 1 0 0 1 next to <\/span>\u201cAlternate DNS server\u201d. Please note that you\u2019ll have to press the space bar after entering each number. Press OK when you\u2019re done.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

After you press OK, you\u2019ll be back in the Adapter Properties dialog. This time you\u2019ll need to click on \u201cInternet Protocol 6 (TCP\/IPv6)\u201d to highlight it, then click \u201cProperties\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

In the TCP\/IPv6 properties dialog, tick the circle next to \u201cUse the following DNS server addresses\u201d and enter 2606:4700:4700::1111 next to the preferred DNS server and 2606:4700:4700::1001 next to \u201cAlternate DNS server\u201d. Hint: You can copy and paste these into the dialog.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

Press OK to save the changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Windows 11 you can use the Windows Terminal (Admin) to flush the DNS resolver cache. Right-click on the Start button and choose Windows Terminal (Admin).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

In Windows Terminal (PowerShell) at the prompt type the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

IPCONFIG \/FLUSHDNS<\/span><\/p>\n

And press Enter. You’ll see “Successfully flushed the DNS resolver cache.” appear in the dialog. Close Windows Terminal. And you’re done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

Now you know how to change your DNS settings in Windows 10 and Windows 11 – using Google’s Open DNS servers and Cloudflare’s DNS servers.\u00a0 OpenDNS also offers public DNS servers.\u00a0 You can learn how to use those here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why You Might Want to Change Your DNS Settings and How to Do It Today, we’re going to show you how to change your DNS settings in Windows 10 and Windows 11 and tell you why you may want to. But first, let\u2019s discuss what DNS servers are. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 we\u2019re not going to get\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2317,3472,2145,3948,4299,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31053,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31052\/revisions\/31053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}