[KNRover]

Although I'm pretty computer savvy (one of those guys who winds up fixing the computers of family and friends), the article by Marco Chiappetta "Change DNS Servers to Improve Internet Speed" brought to light something about which I was totally unaware -- that you could force your computer to use specific DNS servers from which to obtain domain name IP addresses. So, naturally, I downloaded and ran Namebench (find.pcworld.com/72402) on both my XP desktop and my Win 7 laptop, both of which connect to the Internet via my D-Link router.

The runs uncovered two issues with the article: (1) It implies that Namebench only works with Win 7, and the instructions in the article are only for that. But it also works with XP, although you have to figure out how to get to the same dialog boxes yourself (which takes about 30 sec.). (2) After running it the first time, it occurred to me that the fastest servers it recommended might be influenced by the fact that those servers happened to be the least busy during the period of the test. So I ran it again on both computers. Sure enough, it recommended different servers. Running it again resulted in different servers than either of the first two runs.

I will say, however, that in most cases, many of the previously-identified "fastest" servers were also on each list -- just not #1 and #2. So I think that choosing any of the servers in the upper part of the list will result in faster connections than letting your system select the server on its own. I think it would have been prudent for the article to have noted these facts.

[KNRover]

I'm just adding to this thread.

Today I downloaded and ran Gibson Research's version of Namebench. It is more sophisticated, but in one respect, does the same thing that Namebench does: Every time you run it, you get a slightly different result. The PC World article suggests using both "to see [if] they yield consistent results." Each one is inconsistent from one run to the other, and the results of the two programs are TOTALLY inconsistent.

My conclusion: Pick a few servers that come up in the upper part of these programs; it's the best you can do.

[Nneil]

KNRover, I came on here to learn more about how to apply the information in that article. Thanks for sharing this information.