The DNS server is a piece of equipment that translates between IP addresses and domain names (e.g: from 173.194.33.174 to www.google.com and vice versa). By default computers will use the DNS servers provided by their Internet Service Provider (ISP) but occasionally these servers may be slow or unreliable and so it is a good idea to change the DNS settings on that computer to use a third party DNS service such as Open DNS or Google's Public DNS. This can result in better speed and performance. The steps to change these settings are described below:

Windows 8

1. Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center

2. Click on the connection you wish to alter (e.g: Ethernet or Wireless) and select properties.

3. Select Internet protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and properties

4. Select 'Use the following DNS server addresses:' and enter the following: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 for OpenDNS or 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for Google Public DNS.

Save these settings and try to open any webpage to test that the new setup works. If it does not, go back to 'Obtain DNS server addresses automatically'.

Flushing the DNS Cache

This will clear out and overwrite any older/out of date/incorrect translations of domain names and IP addresses that are stored in the server cache and may be preventing the client from accessing certain web pages.

Open the command prompt by clicking Win+R and typing cmd and enter. Then type ipconfig /flushdns which should return the following: