How to Change the DNS Server on a Windows Computer

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In the last article we discussed about what is DNS and how is it useful to us . Today we are going to guide you through the step by step process on how to change the DNS server addresses on your computer . The process of changing the DNS servers is fairly easy but before we proceed with the actual process . let us make a list of things we would be needing . For this Guide we be using OpenDNS as an example .

Read: What is DNS and How does DNS Work ?

What do we need ?

First of all we need to have the name-servers of OpenDNS or any other DNS services . For a list of other free and public DNS services please check the end of the post . For this guide we will be using OpenDNS’s name-servers which are :

  • 208.67.222.222
  • 208.67.220.220

How to change the DNS server on a windows computer

Follow these images and steps to change the default DNS server addresses on your computer .

  • Open the control panel in windows
  • Click on Network and Internet

control-panel

  • Click on Network and Sharing center
  • Under your active networks , click the active local Area connection

how-to-change-dns

  • In the Local area connection status box , click on properties

local-area-network

  • Select the Internet protocol version 4 and click on properties

local-area-network-properties

  • You will see the following box  .  select ” use the following DNS server addresses “and Fill in the OpenDNS Name-servers details as below .

change dns

  • Click OK to apply the DNS servers and your DNS servers will be updated .

To make the Configurations take effect immediately , you need to open Command prompt and type in the following code “ ipconfig /flushdns “ and flush your DNS resolver cache .

command prompt flushdns

And now your new settings will take into effect . If you want to use any other DNS services , you can follow the same steps above and all you have to do is change the name-servers with your respective DNS service’s name-servers  .

If you want to double check if your DNS servers have been changed , then you can type “ ipconfig /all “  in the windows command prompt and it will display the current DNS servers being used .

check dns servers
Apart from OpenDNS there are many other free and public DNS services available . If you are not seeing any improvements with OpenDNS servers you can try out the following free and public DNS services .

list of free and public DNS services that you can use .

Provider Primary DNS Server Secondary DNS Server
Level31 209.244.0.3 209.244.0.4
Google2 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
Securly3 184.169.143.224 184.169.161.155
Comodo Secure DNS 8.26.56.26 8.20.247.20
OpenDNS Home4 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220
DNS Advantage 156.154.70.1 156.154.71.1
Norton ConnectSafe5 198.153.192.40 198.153.194.40
SafeDNS7 195.46.39.39 195.46.39.40
OpenNIC8 74.207.247.4 64.0.55.201
Public-Root9 199.5.157.131 208.71.35.137
SmartViper 208.76.50.50 208.76.51.51
Dyn 216.146.35.35 216.146.36.36
censurfridns.dk10 89.233.43.71 89.104.194.142
Hurricane Electric11 74.82.42.42
puntCAT12 109.69.8.51

I hope i have covered everything in this guide to change the DNS server on your computer . If you have any doubts then you can ask them in the comments below .

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