System: You are Obsidian Copilot, a helpful assistant that integrates AI to Obsidian note-taking.
User: Hello ^^


Assistant: Hello! How can I assist you today? 😊

User: Hello? :O


Assistant: Hello! How can I assist you with your note-taking needs today?
User: Look into this note for me [[DNS]]



[[DNS]]:


TL; DR? Change your DNS.

# What is it?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a system that translates human-readable domain names (like example.com) into IP addresses (like 192.0.2.1) that computers use to identify each other on a network. It acts as the "phonebook" of the internet.

#### Example:

When you type "youtube.com" into your browser, it doesn't actually knows what "youtube.com" is. But when you hit enter, it works anyway, and that's cause of DNS. Every site has an IP address, a bunch of numbers, and those are the numbers you would, in theory, need to know to visit that site, cause web browsers only interact through IP, not domain names. But for us, humans, mere mortals, it might be hard memorizing those numbers and remembering them every time we wanna visit a site in the web. So DNS acts as a translator for that.

### How it works and why it's important

When you type a website address into your browser, your device sends a DNS query to resolve the domain name into an IP address. Once the IP is found, your device can connect to the correct server to access the site or service.

DNS is essential for browsing the web, but your DNS requests can be seen by your ISP, which may log or track your activity. Changing DNS providers can improve **privacy** and **speed**.

The DNS can be configured on the OS, for example, but it can also be configured on the browser, and it can also be configured on the router. When you configure it on the OS, it is only being applied to that OS, when you configure it on the router, it is being applied to all devices connected to that network.
As far as I know, when you buy a new device, or when you install a new OS, like reinstalling Windows, or anything like that... It comes with the DNS settings configured to "automatic" or anything like that. That probably means it is using the default DNS settings configured in the router, so it's probably using your ISP's DNS. And if you're using mobile internet through your phone, then I'm almost sure it's using your ISP's DNS.

### About privacy

So since DNS is like the phonebook of internet, when you use any provider's DNS, is like you're going there and using their phonebook to look up IPs for domain names. And since the phonebook is theirs and not yours, they can see what you're looking for in the phonebook. That means a DNS provider can see which websites or services you're requesting.

If you use a particular provider's DNS (like Google or Cloudflare), it’s like using **their phonebook**, meaning they could potentially see all the domains you’re looking up. This is why some DNS providers offer privacy-focused services, claiming they don’t log or track your queries.

Cloudflare claims to be that privacy focused DNS provider. Should I trust them?... Well I don't know, but what I know is that I prefer using their DNS anyway rather than any ISP's DNS.

**Changing DNS won't hide your entire internet activity—just the domain requests.**
A [[VPN]] would be more suited for that.

### About speed

What is important to say here is that switching to a different DNS provider can **improve internet speed**. Basically:

- **Faster DNS Lookup**: When you visit a website, your device sends a DNS query to resolve the domain name to an IP address. The faster the DNS provider responds with the IP address, the quicker the website will load. Different DNS providers have different **response times**, so some can give you the IP faster than others.
- **DNS Caching**: Some DNS providers have **better caching** systems, meaning they store frequently requested domain names. If you’re visiting popular websites (like Google or Facebook), a provider with good caching can speed up the DNS lookup.
- **Proximity of DNS Servers**: The closer the DNS server is to your physical location, the faster the query can be processed. Providers like **Cloudflare (1.1.1.1)** and **Google DNS** have globally distributed servers, which makes them faster than many ISP-provided DNS servers.

- **Switching to a faster DNS provider** (like Cloudflare or Google) can reduce the time it takes to resolve a domain name, which may lead to **faster page load times**, especially for websites you haven’t visited before.
- Once the DNS lookup is complete and your browser starts loading the website’s content, the **DNS provider doesn’t affect the rest** of the speed (like download speeds or video buffering). That’s determined by your internet connection, server speeds, and so on.

TL;DR:
**It can improve internet speed to a certain extent.**

### About blocking content

DNS can be used to **block** certain websites, ads, or malicious content at the **DNS level**.
Some ISPs use DNS to block access to specific websites, often for regulatory or legal reasons. For instance, certain websites might be blocked by an ISP based on government censorship or copyright concerns. This is typically done by redirecting DNS requests for those sites to a **block page**.

In Brazil, the blocking of Twitter was initially done via DNS...

**Changing your DNS can help bypass blocked content**. If you're using the ISP's DNS, and they're blocking Twitter, changing to another DNS provider can circumvent that. It's the same for any DNS provider.

Using DNS to block ads is not as efficient as using Pi-hole.

## DNS with a [[VPN]]

Using a DNS with a [[VPN]] is **redundant** and **unnecessary**. Most VPNs automatically make you use their DNS when you connect to them. So even if you changed your DNS, when you connect to a VPN, you'll end up using their DNS anyway.
It's important to have your DNS changed for when you're not using a VPN, cause of privacy and speed, but if you're already using a VPN, then you're not using the DNS you changed too.

# Summary and set up:

Humans access information online through domain name, like "youtube.com" or "google.com.br". Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.

Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer alphanumeric IP addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).

**You should change your DNS** every time you have a new device or reinstall your OS. If you can, change the router DNS to affect all devices on that network, that way you don't need to worry anymore if you ever reinstall the OS or buy a new device.

Cloudflare seems to be the best DNS provider by now. They claim privacy, and they also offer a very good speed. So they have the best balance between privacy and speed. Google's DNS also tends to be very fast and have low latency. But Google and Privacy are usually not in the same sentence.
###### How to check the fastest DNS provider for you:
Open CMD and type ``ping (DNS number)`` Replace (DNS number) with the number of the DNS provider.
Here's a list of DNS providers:

| Provider       | IPv4         | IPv6                 |
| -------------- | ------------ | -------------------- |
| Google DNS     | 8.8.8.8      | 2001:4860:4860::8888 |
| Cloudflare DNS | 1.1.1.1      | 2606:4700:4700::1111 |
| Quad9          | 9.9.9.9      | 2620:fe::fe          |
| AdGuard        | 94.140.14.14 | 2a10:50c0::ad1:ff    |
| Mullvad        | 194.242.2.3  | 2a07:e340::3         |
| Control D      | 76.76.2.2    | 2606:1a40::2         |
OBS.: This list only prioritizes the ones that are free, reliable and somewhat private (Google is not, but it's fast)

Just choose the IPv4 for testing, I don't know why but the IPv6 usually seems to show a higher ping. So you can just type ``ping 8.8.8.8`` and this will print 4 responses with the ping from Google's DNS.
![[Pasted image 20241021004154.png]]

> [!NOTE]
> **DNS DOESN'T HAVE ANY PING IMPACT WHEN GAMING, IT WON'T REDUCE PING NOR IMPROVE DOWNLOAD SPEEDS. IT CAN ONLY HELP WITH FASTER INITIAL CONNECTION TO THE GAME SERVER, AND POSSIBLY CONNECTION STABILITY, BUT NOT MUCH BESIDES THAT**

You can do that for all of those in the list and choose the one with lower ping. Google is usually the fastest one.
My choices in the moment I'm writing this note are: **Cloudflare** and **Quad9**. They seem to strike the better balance between privacy and speed.

##### Change the DNS on Windows

Right click the internet icon in the taskbar -> Network connections (Conexões de rede em Portugues) -> Right click your internet adapter (If you're on Desktop in should be Ethernet) -> Properties -> Look for IPv4 on the connection list -> Click to select it -> Click on Properties -> Select the box to specify the DNS.
![[Pasted image 20241021010810.png]]

Then you'll do the same for IPv6, just look for IPv6 on the list.

##### Don't forget to change DNS on the phone too. If you can change on the router, even better.

##### Check the browser

- DNS over https (DoH) encrypts DNS queries, preventing ISPs or attackers from snooping on your DNS requests. 
- Some browsers like Firefox or Chrome allow you to enable DoH in the settings.

So just check the browser you're using for anything related to DNS. Sometimes there's an option like "Secure DNS" or anything like that. That's usually related to DoH or DNS encryption.

Assistant: