One of the key services that you get from your internet service provider is the use of their DNS servers. DNS, or the Domain Name System, is the reason you can type www.techsupportalert.com into your browser instead of http://72.52.134.16. They both work equally well, but DNS provides the lookup mechanism to your PC and other devices which avoids you having to remember the numbers for each web site you want to visit.

Not all DNS servers are reliable, and a troublesome DNS means that the internet will be unusable until your provider fixes it. Plus, because the DNS server knows your own IP address and also the names of all the web sites you've visited, some ISPs sell that data or use it for their own marketing purposes.

If you want to try using a DNS server other than the one that your PC is currently configured to use, Verisign will let you use theirs for free. You just need to spend a couple of minutes changing a setting on your PC or router, and the job is done. And if you don't like it, you can always put things back to how they were (so long as you remembered to make a note of the previous setting before you changed it).  Read More