Welcome to Gaia! ::

DNS means "Domain Name Server". A DNS server keeps information which web address relates to which IP address on the internet (like how google.com is 74.125.45.100). It's sort of like how "Jack's house" means "123 Oak Tree Lane" in the real world.

Normally your computer will use the ones assigned by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), but those can break sometimes, or malfunction. When this happens certain sites may not work for you at all (while they still work for other people), or on larger sites (what use different servers for things) various sections of the site may not load right, such as the images or CSS. In addition, an infection will often misdirect your computer, sending it to the wrong websites.

Telling your computer to use an alternate DNS server is a good troubleshooting step.

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Post 2 will be the instructions for XP.
Post 3 will be for Vista.
Post 4 will be for 7.

You can use one of two choices for the DNS servers, the OpenDNS ones or Google's DNS servers.

The Google DNS server IPs are below.
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

The OpenDNS server IPs are below.
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

• 1. Click the Start Orb, then select Control Panel.
  
  
  
  
  
• 2. Click on View network status and tasks.
  
  
  
  
  
• 3. Click on View status.
  
  
  
  
  
• 4. Click the Properties button.
  
  
  
  
  
• 5. Vista may ask for your permission to make changes. If so, click the Continue button.
  
  
  
  
  
• 6. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), then click the Properties button.
  
  
  
  
  
• 7. Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses: and type in the DNS addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.
  Please write down your current DNS settings before switching, in case you want to return to your old settings for any reason.
  
  
  
  
  
• 8. Click the OK button, then the Close button, and the Close button again. Close the Network and Sharing Center window.
  
  
  

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