I currently use Comcrapstic otherwise known as Comcast Xfinity. There Domain Name Server services are notoriously bad. One option is to use third party DNS servers like Google or Open DNS.
However, on Linux for many years I have used a caching name server on my local machines to improve website response times. You see each time you browse a website, first your computer waits for a reponse from your Domain Name Server. Once your DNS server responds, then your web browser begins downloading website content.
If you have slow or heavily used DNS servers, this can cost you time. I found a DNS cache proxy called Acrylic. This FREE tool allows you to install a caching name server on your Microsoft Windows computer.
Acrylic supports Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 operating systems. There are two versions of Acrylic. A portable version allows you to preview this software without install, hence the word portable.
Also, each time you reboot your computer you will need to start the portable version of Acrylic. The install version of Acrylic starts at Windows boot. Once you download and install this softare, you will need to edit a configuration file.
You really only need to add your Domain Name Servers to this configuration file. Here is an example of a DNS server added to this configuration file:
PrimaryServerAddress=8.8.4.4
You can add multiple Domain Name Server addresses. I insert four DNS server addresses in my configuration file. This file will sequentially access your DNS servers.
This is excellent in case your primary and or secondary Domain Name Server’s are down or having problems. This is an example of the four DNS server addresses I have added to my Acrylic configuration file.
PrimaryServerAddress=8.8.4.4
SecondaryServerAddress=8.8.8.8
TertiaryServerAddress=75.75.75.75
QuaternaryServerAddress=75.75.76.76
I actually added Comcast Xfinity DNS server’s into my configuration file even after complaing about them. They are my second to last and last server’s that this program will try to resolve a domain name address. I used to use Open DNS server addresses until they started blocking some websites.
I am glad I found this FREE DNS cache utility. On Linux I use DNSmasq exclusively. According to Acrylic developers this can potentially you save around an hour of time per couple of weeks of web surfing.
What this program does is cache website Internet protocal addresses and their domain names into a database. Instead of sending a request to your Internet service providers domain name servers, having to wait for a response and then waiting for web pages to download, this program connects to your local DNS cache first. This over time can increase your performance.
Some Internet service providers use domain name service servers that can take multiple seconds to respond. This program tries to reduce your response time to as close to zero as possible.