The Importance of DNS and How It Can Boost Your Browsing Experience
If you've ever been interested in boosting your internet speeds without paying extra for it, you may have seen that changing your DNS settings can help. But what exactly does DNS mean, and how can it make a difference in your browsing experience?
DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is a crucial part of how the web functions. The primary job of DNS is to take the host name of a website, such as youtube.com, and translate it into a numerical address called an IP address. This IP address tells your computer what server it needs to connect to in order to load that web page. Think of it like a phone book - just as a phone book would look up your phone number to connect you with the correct person, DNS looks up the host name of a website and connects you with the correct server.
When you type in the name of a website or click on a link, your system sends a DNS query to determine the correct IP address. However, this process takes time, and a slow connection to a DNS server can result in delays before the page loads, which we refer to as latency. But here's the thing: most major internet service providers default to DNS servers that are pretty fast. Although it's still possible to save some time by changing to a faster DNS server if you're noticing frequent problems with loading websites.
It's likely that making this change won't make much of a perceptible difference if you're only saving 10 or 20 milliseconds. This means that the advice to adjust your DNS settings may not be as useful as it seems. However, we'll explore why DNS is still important and how it can significantly improve your browsing experience.
Filtering DNS Services: Blocking Ads and Reducing Latency
While most internet service providers default to fast DNS servers, there's a more impactful way to boost your browsing experience. It involves switching to a filtering DNS service that blocks ads. You're not just making one DNS request for the actual website you're visiting; instead, your system has to send lots of DNS requests because the ads on that page often live on completely different domains.
This adds more latency since you're making additional requests, and loading all these ads can seriously slow down your browser's performance. Even if the ads aren't that large in terms of file size, modern ads often involve a lot of scripts, which are essentially extra code your browser has to run. This can make your browser feel sluggish or even nonresponsive, especially if the script contains malware.
The issue is exacerbated on smartphones, where all those ads take up a lot of screen real estate and your phone's CPU has a hard time keeping up with all those scripts. This can be an issue on lower-end PCs as well. However, filtering DNS services can mitigate this problem by blocking DNS requests to known advertising servers.
This means none of these scripts or other junk from ads makes it to your PC or phone in the first place. So, why would you want to use a filtering DNS service? One advantage is that it's easy to do: all you have to change is a setting in your operating system or on your router. This doesn't introduce any software overhead, which means it lightens the load on your CPU and reduces battery consumption.
Moreover, using a filtering DNS service assigns protection to you no matter where you go. Instead of relying on the DNS server provided by your cellular provider or a random public Wi-Fi network, you're in control. To learn how to change your DNS settings and get started with filtering DNS services, we'll provide instructions in the article below.
Changing Your DNS Settings: A Step-by-Step Guide
Don't worry if you've never changed your DNS settings before; it's not hard to do. Here are the steps:
1. Find out what DNS server your internet service provider uses.
2. Look for a filtering DNS service that blocks ads and reduces latency.
3. Sign up for an account with the filtering DNS service of your choice.
4. Change the DNS settings on your operating system or router.
There are many filtering DNS services available, including cloudflare and Google. However, keep in mind that these services may not be as effective at blocking all types of ads and malware. For a more comprehensive solution, you may want to consider using multiple filtering DNS services.
One thing to remember is that unlike ad-blocking extensions, filtering DNS services can't clean up the web page for you after blocking ads. This means you'll just see a blank space where the ad was supposed to be. However, this shouldn't deter you from using a filtering DNS service if it's worth the trade-off.
Conclusion
In conclusion, DNS is an important part of how the web functions, and changing your DNS settings can significantly improve your browsing experience. While most internet service providers default to fast DNS servers, there's a more impactful way to boost your browsing experience: switching to a filtering DNS service that blocks ads. By blocking these ads and reducing latency, you can make your browser feel faster and more responsive.
Additionally, using a filtering DNS service assigns protection to you no matter where you go, making it an easy and effective way to block unwanted content online. To get started with changing your DNS settings and using a filtering DNS service, we hope this article has provided the information and instructions you need.