What happens when private DNS is off?

This is a problem that is getting more and more problematic.

The other day, I installed a bunch of applications one of my machines, including Firefox 7 with Flash 11, so I went to look for a way to get the DNS records for the apps (and the websites that were going through them, of course).

And then what happened? Firefox 7 decided to install adobe flash on top of everything else, including my antivirus software. I tried to undo it but couldnt. So now, I'm forced to run my internet from my own machine, like I did before I had Windows! :

My question is, is there any way of finding out what websites are trying to connect to what other websites? I'm wondering whether it's because of some malicious program, or am I just getting an extra dose of some sort? I tried finding the DNS settings for the machine, but its not listed anywhere. There is a way to find that, of course, but I don't remember how - and it seems that I've forgotten most of it by now.

Does anyone know how I can figure out exactly why my computer is trying to get info from servers I dont' own? And if you're not inclined to help me with that, do you know of any resources that will teach me a bit more about finding answers? :X. Re: what does my computer want in other websites? I am pretty sure that whatever is using your computer is looking for resources (which it then makes use of and sends back to a website) either from a malicious or hacked server (for advertising, etc.), or simply from a server within the network. You need to know what's on the server you are looking for these things on.

For instance, a while ago I tried to load some files to transfer it to a friends PC. When it attempted to download the information from somewhere on the web it tried to use my ISP's server and couldn't find it. All I had to go on was that it was an adult website being hosted by my ISP. As the location of the host server wasn't accessible without a login the only option left was to login via my ISP's website. Once logged in I could view the files being requested and send them to my friend.

Which is the best DNS for Android?

The Android world is full of DNS providers, some of which are very good and others which are very bad.

This article will be a complete guide to selecting the best DNS for Android.

This guide will help you get an Android device with the best possible DNS settings. It will not be just about pointing a DNS to a specific IP. Many factors need to be considered in order to get the best possible DNS settings.

For a simple way of getting a DNS address, go to Settings>Network>DNS. If you have an Android device, this is the easiest way to get the DNS address.

There are many DNS settings providers on the internet. But there are some popular and well known DNSs which are used by many Android users. So this is a list of the most commonly used DNS settings providers. This list doesn't include all the DNSs available on the internet. These are the well known ones.

How does DNS work? The DNS or Domain Name System is a set of protocols used for setting the IP address of the computers connected to the internet. It is also used for getting the IP address of the Android device.

When a user connects his/her computer to the internet, it is a dynamic process. As soon as the connection is established, the system automatically downloads a list of IP addresses from a DNS. The DNS contains IP addresses of all the servers that are accessible through the internet. For example, if you are connected to a Wi-Fi network, there will be a DNS that will provide you a list of IP addresses for the Wi-Fi network.

After connecting to the internet, the DNS sends a request to the first IP address on the list and waits for a response from it. Once the response is received, the DNS moves on to the second IP address on the list, and again waits for a response. When the last IP address has been contacted, the DNS can move on to the next request.

The DNS works on the principle of waiting for a response. So when there are many requests, the DNS can respond to the fastest one. It is like a queue where one IP address responds to the DNS request.

Different DNS providers on Android. Different DNS providers offer different services. Some are focused on providing the DNS for the users. Some are focused on providing the DNS to the service providers.

What is private DNS used for?

From the article: "The public Internet DNS servers that run at the root level are designed to resolve a broad range of names from a broad range of servers.

With the exception of a small number of root nameservers, the public DNS hierarchy simply does not allow for private resolution. This is because the root name server does not know about a smaller number of servers that are owned by a larger number of companies and organizations, which allows you to have the ability to make specific requests for data inside the network behind the small group of people who own that content."

What else can we do? Well, you could use your own DNS resolver if you're willing to manage your own recursive cache, but then you will not be able to use all the features provided by the public recursive servers. So I guess we're pretty much stuck with this situation. It sucks because the Internet should be open and accessible. That being said, I hope to see some new developments on this topic in the next year or so, and maybe there will be a chance of a public DNS resolver that allows us to have better control of what gets cached, similar to how web browsers let you choose which DNS resolver to use. Until then, the best option for me is to either setup my own recursive DNS cache or use a product like dnsproxy, which I believe does just that.

In case anyone is interested, my own experience of using dnsproxy is quite good. The product does what it is supposed to, caches dns records, and they have been extremely reliable for me. I think their pricing is pretty affordable, too. Just the way I like it.

I use a public recursive DNS resolver myself (name-base) and it works perfectly fine for me. For local sites (within our internal network), I have configured my own internal recursive DNS resolver (which isn't really a recursive resolver anymore, since it looks up the IP addresses on demand and doesn't cache those results).

Since this is an off topic post (it is about privacy and censorship), here is an example of what is considered "private DNS" in Russia, as seen from IP address 175.122.69:

This is a list of "domain name to IP" addresses for sites that have been censored by various government agencies within Russia.

Should private DNS be on or off Android?

I love Android.

It's got its share of issues, sure. I haven't had any battery related problems yet. Everything else that's wrong with Android has been fixed by now.

What I just realized though is that a good number of my phone call/sms/google maps problems that I have are due to DNS. I can't remember ever getting these problem on iOS.

If it's possible to disable DNS on and see if things start to improve, I'll happily buy an Android phone today. Why have an app to make calls for your carrier if you're going to let your phone resolve IP addresses? No Android device should have this behavior. And if it's truely a problem with my SIM card. That's fine too. I was actually thinking that Google may be doing this since carriers will charge extra for SMS messages that come from unregistered numbers? Or maybe they've got their own deals with carriers.

Well, the problem appears in all Android phones. My wife's Moto X works great (and she's one of those who thinks it's awful if I don't know how to do things) because she doesn't use DNS at all. However, I have found Google apps in general very slow. They seem to try to reach stuff via DNS, even in non-proper ways, like "open" - not through web, but via some weird internal "open" URL. Which gets me to another one of my pet peeves - that Google Now, or some other widget, tries to tell me what to wear or eat based on historical data. Yeah, it sounds impressive, but for me it actually makes no sense. But I digress .