DNS or Domain Name System is like an online directory/server for computers that helps them bind the internet together by finding and matching machine-readable IPv4 and IPv6 (IP) addresses with human-readable format or domain names (For example the domain name www.google.com has the IP 216.239.32.0 – 216.239.63.255).
However, many times the default DNS server provided by your ISP can cause noticeable slowdowns when loading websites, necessitating for you to intervene and change your Router’s DNS server to something like 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare DNS) or 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 (Google Public DNS).
That said, if you want to use these DNS settings on any other network outside of your home, then you need to manually configure it in Windows 11 and here’s a step-by-step guide that explains how you too can do it:
- Go to Start and type “View Network Connections”, then open the first search result. This opens a control panel window.
- In the new control panel window that appears select Wi-Fi or Ethernet depending on the type of network you’re using.
- Once selected, right click on it and select Properties from the context menu. This opens a new Wi-Fi Properties window.
- In the Wi-Fi Properties window click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” followed by “Properties”.
- In the new Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window click on “Use the following DNS server address” instead of Obtain DNS server address automatically.
- Once enabled, type in both the Prefered DNS and Alternate server which in this case is 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare DNS) then click on “Ok”. Alternatively, if you don’t care about speed and want to block ads then you can do so by typing in 94.140.14.140 and 94.140.14.141 (AdGuard DNS) instead of CloudFlare DNS.
That’s pretty much it, you can now enjoy a fast and ad free internet browsing experience on your Windows 11 PC or laptop no matter which network you connect it to.
