HOW TO MAKE YOUR INTERNET EXPERIENCE

FASTER AND SAFER

It serves as a phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames

into IP addresses

A “DNS” IS AN ACRONYM FORDOMAIN NAME SERVER

For example, the domain name www.example.com translate to the addresses 192.0.32.10 (IPv4) and 2620:0:2d0:200::10 (iPv6)

Simply, when the user types a web address, or “URL” (Uniform Resource Locator) in the address bar of the browser, the browser checks the computer’s default DNS and converts the website address from words to a numerical address (IP address); thus www.yahoo.com is converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address of 209.191.122.70, a format that can efficiently be used by the internet to connect the user to the desired website.

Some DNS are unfiltered, and let the user connect anywhere they desire, while other DNS offer selective filtering, which can block access to undesired websites, such as pornography and phishing (identity theft).

PITFALLS OF SOME DNS

One of the most widely used alternative DNS is Open DNS (www.opendns.com). Anyone can configure their computer to use OpenDNS instead of their ISP’s default DNS, and may experience faster and more secure internet connections.

There are many other DNS’s available to users, and Google provides a free open-source utility it calls “Namebench” that can automatically test the available combinations of DNS from the user’s computer, and determine which ones provide the best overall performance for the specific user.

This free utility from Google can be found at: www.code.google.com/p/namebench is free and will run on Windows. I downloaded and ran the Windows version of Namebench from my Windows 7-64 computer, and in about 5 minutes Namebench tested hundreds of DNS combinations, and found a combination that was only 20.6% faster than the DNS provided by my ISP, Brighthouse.

How to flush web browser cachesInternet Explorer

1. Go to the Safety Menu and click “Delete Browsing History.

2. Check all boxes3. Click Delete

Mozilla Firefox4. Go to Tools and select “Clear Recent

History”5. Select “Everything” from the drop down

menu6. Click Clear Now

Google Chrome1. Click the wrench icon in the top right

corner and click “History”2. Click “Edit Items”3. Click “Clear all browsing data”4. Select the checkboxes for all the types of

data5. Select “Everything” from the drop down

menu6. Click “Clear Browsing Data”

How to log into your routerType 192.168.1.1 in the address box of our browser.

The window below will appear and type “admin” in the user name and password boxes.

Where to change the router’s name

Next month,Google Chrome

Take a flyer and try out Google’s new web browser,Google Chrome. It’s the fastest browser I’ve seen.

Go to www.20thingsilearned.comYou’re in for a learning treat!