Windows 10 DNS flush

bruto · 11th February 2020, 12:53 PM

Just thought I'd throw out there, that if your DNS searching has slowed way down, it seems that flushing that cache will help. The command, running as computer administrator, and only in "CMD" not in the power shell, is "ipconfig/flushdns" .

My computer had slowed down to an average of about ten seconds for every DNS resolution (including embedded links), and it's back to normal now.

Hellbound · 11th February 2020, 05:54 PM

Actually, flushing the cache should generally make it take longer...unless DNS addresses for URLs you’re going to have changed in the last few hours.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bruto · 11th February 2020, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Actually, flushing the cache should generally make it take longer...unless DNS addresses for URLs you’re going to have changed in the last few hours.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I would have thought, and that's why I thought it worth mentioning. Apparently if the cache gets bloated, or maybe corrupted, all DNS resolutions become very slow. The best times were rarely better than five seconds, and often long enough just to time out.

plague311 · 11th February 2020, 07:27 PM

If you'd like something that will make that not really an issue, and are relatively computer savvy I posted a thread about a pihole. It'll change the way you DNS, including blocking ads.

Donal · 11th February 2020, 08:05 PM

Did you manually set your DNS or are you using what your ISP comes back with?

bruto · 11th February 2020, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by Donal

Did you manually set your DNS or are you using what your ISP comes back with?

I tried it both ways. Right now I'm back on the automatic DNS. I tried various others that were said to be faster, and none made a significant difference.

I'm about to go on a trip (sans computer) so won't be able to test different DNS servers, including pihole, for a while. But at this point at least the difference will likely be parts of a second, instead of parts of a minute.

CORed · 11th February 2020, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by bruto

I tried it both ways. Right now I'm back on the automatic DNS. I tried various others that were said to be faster, and none made a significant difference.

I'm about to go on a trip (sans computer) so won't be able to test different DNS servers, including pihole, for a while. But at this point at least the difference will likely be parts of a second, instead of parts of a minute.

I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting.

bruto · 11th February 2020, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by CORed

I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting.

As it happens, my ISP assigns the Google DNS, which is why I'm not worrying too much about changing it.

plague311 · 12th February 2020, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by CORed

I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting.

Cloudflare is really good, free, and fast.

1.1.1.1 or 1.0.0.1

Donal · 12th February 2020, 01:03 PM

I use cloudflare, it made a big difference on my home network

novaphile · 13th February 2020, 02:05 AM

By the weirdest co-incidence, I had to do this at work today.

And... counter-intuitively, it really did speed everything up.

Things were going so badly that log-ins to some applications were timing out.

After flushing the cache, I'm back to instant log-ins.

plague311 · 13th February 2020, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Donal

I use cloudflare, it made a big difference on my home network

Ever since I changed my home network to DNS over HTTPS it moves like lightning. I've really become a fan of the PiHole.

Blue Bubble · 13th February 2020, 07:30 AM

Am I alone in thinking that this sounds like a bug in Windows ?

Why on earth should it be necessary for the end-user to resort to such shenanigans ? I don't know any other systems where this would be required.

In other words, Microsoft should fix their buggy software.

Sigh ...

Donal · 13th February 2020, 07:49 AM

Its more the crappy consumer grade networking gear we get on top of the crappy consumer grade internet service.

I get "1 Gbps" service from Verizon and am lucky to see it break 700 Mbps. They even say in the fine print the max is really 800 Mbps

Blue Bubble · 13th February 2020, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Donal

Its more the crappy consumer grade networking gear we get on top of the crappy consumer grade internet service.

I get "1 Gbps" service from Verizon and am lucky to see it break 700 Mbps. They even say in the fine print the max is really 800 Mbps

I don't know what this is a response to, but what on earth does that have to do with DNS handling on Windows systems?

plague311 · 13th February 2020, 11:25 AM

I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows.

Hellbound · 13th February 2020, 11:35 AM

I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem.

Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire.

I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

plague311 · 13th February 2020, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem.

Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire.

I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ipconfig /displaydns

Hellbound · 13th February 2020, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by plague311

ipconfig /displaydns

Doh! Thank you. Autocorrect is out to ruin me

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

plague311 · 13th February 2020, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Doh! Thank you. Autocorrect is out to ruin me

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I saw the phone tag and figured LoL

a_unique_person · 13th February 2020, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

Am I alone in thinking that this sounds like a bug in Windows ?

Why on earth should it be necessary for the end-user to resort to such shenanigans ? I don't know any other systems where this would be required.

In other words, Microsoft should fix their buggy software.

Sigh ...

There's bugs in everything, just about. They will fix it eventually.

Blue Bubble · 14th February 2020, 02:32 AM

Originally Posted by plague311

I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows.

We clearly have very different expectations

(note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations

).

Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't.

Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though).

plague311 · 14th February 2020, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

We clearly have very different expectations

(note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations

).

Maybe. I would venture to say the average end user is probably significantly more knowledgeable than they were 13 years before I was born as well.

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't.

Do a lot of end users use CLI? Admittedly, I don't use Linux as it's not something that's come into play for me. It's an option though, which means linux has had to do it at least a few times.

I'm way more prone to using the command because, by nature, I'm a network administrator or whatever you want to call us. I repeatedly make DNS changes that are easier to manage by flushing DNS's, though I run all my commands remotely and the end user doesn't even see it happening.

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though).

I expect users of any device to know how to properly manage their machines. I'm not a mechanic, but I know I need oil changed. I'm not an HVAC guy, but I know my system needs to get maintained.

I don't think anyone expects the end user to resort to it. If they have a problem, take it to a professional. If they can fix it, they should.

bruto · 14th February 2020, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Blue Bubble

We clearly have very different expectations

(note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations

).

Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't.

Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though).

I agree that the need and the procedure are poorly implemented in Windows, so what else is new,right? Aside from everything else,as comments in this thread suggest, it's also counterintuitive, the kind of thing for which many users probably either pay some geek to fix completely, refresh windows, or just toss the thing. .

I'm far from a computer wizard, but did make sure I knew how to get admin. access, and even so it was difficult, because Windows has two different but similar command lines, and only the older "cmd" recognizes the required command.

I imagine, or at least hope, that the need for this is pretty rare, but certainly there seem to be plenty of people complaining of various Windows slowdowns, and it seems like poor design that the usual recommendation for many is to give it all up and reload Windows.

Apologies if this message is badly typed. I'm using a pretty nasty Android tablet while traveling. Co plain as one might about Windows, if you're used to it and DOS, Android is awful. I never know what button to push or what submerged u to go to to do anything.

Hellbound · 14th February 2020, 12:30 PM

Windows actually has the old cmd processor and the PowerShell command line.

Both will recognize the command. PowerShell back-coverts to cmd if it’s not a PowerShell native command.

The PowerShell equivalents are:
Clear-DnsClientCache
Get-DnsClientCache

Neither requires admin access, either PowerShell or cmd.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bruto · 14th February 2020, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Windows actually has the old cmd processor and the PowerShell command line.

Both will recognize the command. PowerShell back-coverts to cmd if it’s not a PowerShell native command.

The PowerShell equivalents are:
Clear-DnsClientCache
Get-DnsClientCache

Neither requires admin access, either PowerShell or cmd.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not to doubt what you say, but when I asked powershell for "ipconfig" it just said no such thing existed and did not send me to cmd. Since none of the online references mentioned the powershell alternative it was as good as nonexistent unless I asked for help and figured it out. It was easier just to go to the command prompt. I've already forgotten whether I tried the command without logging in as admin, but in any case it wasn't as straightforward as it might have been.

DallasDad · 14th February 2020, 01:06 PM

ipconfig works for me in powershell. Same output as from cmd.exe.

bruto · 14th February 2020, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by DallasDad

ipconfig works for me in powershell. Same output as from cmd.exe.

How odd. I don't have a windows machine handy at the moment but I am pretty sure mine did not, as I assumed at first that I had either mistyped it or that it required admin mode, and I got the same response each time. I also tried just typing the command without parameters and asking for help. All I remember now is that in command and admin mode it worked the first time.

Fortunately, if you do enough searching someone somewhere has usually found a fix.

novaphile · 14th February 2020, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem.

Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire.

I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It should, and when changes are made to our local network infrastructure, everything in the cache is set to expire in 10 minutes (or suchlike) so that old things don't persist and cause problems.

In my case there were a bunch of domain controllers that had been retired, and their entries had persisted in my local cache.

The symptoms of the error were quite weird, while logging in to the main application that I support, I'd often get "user doesn't exist, or account is locked" style errors.

I could see on the server logs that my client was not communicating with the server at all.

So I was sometimes being directed to non-existent domain controllers, but most of the time, not.

I had a good poke around on Friday to find out if a recent patch had caused the issue on my client machine, but couldn't find anyone talking about the problem on the net.

The general 'ipconfig /flushdns' conversation seems to be have been around for a long time.

Hellbound · 14th February 2020, 05:36 PM

That’s odd, wonder if there’s a setting somewhere to disable cmd parsing in PowerShell? Have to look for it now.

I’ve always run cmd commands in PowerShell, even used them in scripts (have one running at work now using dsget, for example).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hellbound · 14th February 2020, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by novaphile

It should, and when changes are made to our local network infrastructure, everything in the cache is set to expire in 10 minutes (or suchlike) so that old things don't persist and cause problems.

In my case there were a bunch of domain controllers that had been retired, and their entries had persisted in my local cache.

The symptoms of the error were quite weird, while logging in to the main application that I support, I'd often get "user doesn't exist, or account is locked" style errors.

I could see on the server logs that my client was not communicating with the server at all.

So I was sometimes being directed to non-existent domain controllers, but most of the time, not.

I had a good poke around on Friday to find out if a recent patch had caused the issue on my client machine, but couldn't find anyone talking about the problem on the net.

The general 'ipconfig /flushdns' conversation seems to be have been around for a long time.

If it was domain controllers, then yeah, I can see that causing issues. In modern AD domains, the DNS is integrated with AD, so I could be issues with that. Especially considering both the computer account and the user account have to authenticate.

But yeah, cache issues should only happen when things change. With DCs I’d expect other issues just related to the fact that they’d changed, though (possibilities for certificate problems and similar there, too...options for error abound!)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bruto · 14th February 2020, 06:29 PM

Of course I don't quite know what my problem was but wonder if the problem was not inherent in the cache itself but perhaps a corrupted file. I've never had the problem on other computers.

novaphile · 14th February 2020, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

If it was domain controllers, then yeah, I can see that causing issues. In modern AD domains, the DNS is integrated with AD, so I could be issues with that. Especially considering both the computer account and the user account have to authenticate.

But yeah, cache issues should only happen when things change. With DCs I’d expect other issues just related to the fact that they’d changed, though (possibilities for certificate problems and similar there, too...options for error abound!)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On my team, everyone twitches any time anyone mentions certificates...

Imagine, eight environments, each with about 30 servers, load balancers everywhere, multiple domains, inside separate forests.

Currently dealing with replacing all the virtual servers with new ones, W2008 and W2012 to W2016 (Note SQL server upgrades and application upgrades at the same time), which means that version of TLS has to be upgraded, which means that the middle ware has to be upgraded, and we're just talking about the windows world at this stage (forget about all the multi-agency stuff, and all the mainframe back ends).

Any day that no-one mentions firewalls or certificates is a good day for me.

novaphile · 14th February 2020, 07:03 PM

Please note, none of the stuff above is 'my work'.

My part is designing services to move information in and out of the databases via the server-side APIs.

jeremyp · 15th February 2020, 03:13 AM

Originally Posted by plague311

I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows.

It is odd to have to clear it to make DNS lookups faster. The whole point of the cache is to make DNS lookups faster by not having to query a DNS server across the network.

The only time I have ever felt the need to flush a DNS cache is when I’ve changed a DNS record and the copy in the cache hasn’t expired yet.

a_unique_person · 15th February 2020, 10:41 PM

There is a probably the equivalent of a memory leak in the cache. Caching is widely used in computer systems so it's a well understood software tool but this just sounds like a bug that will be fixed eventually.

lauwersw · 17th February 2020, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

Caching is widely used in computer systems so it's a well understood software tool

Well, there's this famous joke among computer folks:

There are 2 hard problems with computers: caching, naming things and off by one errors...

And then there's: http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=it%27s...+a+dns+problem

Wudang · 18th February 2020, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by novaphile

On my team, everyone twitches any time anyone mentions certificates...

Imagine, eight environments, each with about 30 servers, load balancers everywhere, multiple domains, inside separate forests.

Currently dealing with replacing all the virtual servers with new ones, W2008 and W2012 to W2016 (Note SQL server upgrades and application upgrades at the same time), which means that version of TLS has to be upgraded, which means that the middle ware has to be upgraded, and we're just talking about the windows world at this stage (forget about all the multi-agency stuff, and all the mainframe back ends).

Any day that no-one mentions firewalls or certificates is a good day for me.

A pal wrote this to monitor that websites were up and to validate certs etc. https://github.com/brabster/website-checker

Originally Posted by brabster

Where an https protocol is specified and a certificate is presented:

checks certificate is valid
checks certificate is trusted by the computer running the check
checks certificate is valid for at least a specified number of days

I wrote a friendlier front-end but it's locked away at my former employer.

jeremyp · 23rd February 2020, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by lauwersw

Well, there's this famous joke among computer folks:

There are 2 hard problems with computers: caching, naming things and off by one errors...

That's the trouble with C. In any reasonable language, it would go

There are 2 hard problems with computers: caching, naming things and

Code:

INDEX OUT OF RANGE ERROR. ABORT CORE DUMPED.

Quote:

And then there's: http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=it%27s...+a+dns+problem

Coincidentally, I spent the whole of last week trying to diagnose an intermittent problem with our internal time recording system. It turned out that one of its two DNS servers didn't know how to resolve the name of the active directory server.

grmcdorman · 24th February 2020, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by jeremyp

That's the trouble with C. In any reasonable language, it would go

There are 2 hard problems with computers: caching, naming things and

Code:

INDEX OUT OF RANGE ERROR. ABORT CORE DUMPED.

That's only roughly 50% of the off-by-one errors, and for the other 50% only those where it's an index into an array or other bounded entity. And any reasonable language doesn't abort on an out-of-bounds index.

BTW: In C++, you can have this behaviour with the standard containers:

Quote:

std::vector v(2);
v[2]; // does not check
v.at(2); // checks, throws an exception you can catch

11th February 2020, 12:53 PM	#1
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Windows 10 DNS flush Just thought I'd throw out there, that if your DNS searching has slowed way down, it seems that flushing that cache will help. The command, running as computer administrator, and only in "CMD" not in the power shell, is "ipconfig/flushdns" . My computer had slowed down to an average of about ten seconds for every DNS resolution (including embedded links), and it's back to normal now.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

11th February 2020, 05:54 PM	#2
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	Actually, flushing the cache should generally make it take longer...unless DNS addresses for URLs you’re going to have changed in the last few hours. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

11th February 2020, 07:22 PM	#3
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by Hellbound Actually, flushing the cache should generally make it take longer...unless DNS addresses for URLs you’re going to have changed in the last few hours. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk So I would have thought, and that's why I thought it worth mentioning. Apparently if the cache gets bloated, or maybe corrupted, all DNS resolutions become very slow. The best times were rarely better than five seconds, and often long enough just to time out.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

11th February 2020, 07:27 PM	#4
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	If you'd like something that will make that not really an issue, and are relatively computer savvy I posted a thread about a pihole. It'll change the way you DNS, including blocking ads.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

11th February 2020, 08:05 PM	#5
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	Did you manually set your DNS or are you using what your ISP comes back with?
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	__________________ SuburbanNerd A blog for making tech make sense

11th February 2020, 09:48 PM	#6
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by Donal Did you manually set your DNS or are you using what your ISP comes back with? I tried it both ways. Right now I'm back on the automatic DNS. I tried various others that were said to be faster, and none made a significant difference. I'm about to go on a trip (sans computer) so won't be able to test different DNS servers, including pihole, for a while. But at this point at least the difference will likely be parts of a second, instead of parts of a minute.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

11th February 2020, 10:14 PM	#7
CORed Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central City, Colorado, USA Posts: 10,007	Originally Posted by bruto I tried it both ways. Right now I'm back on the automatic DNS. I tried various others that were said to be faster, and none made a significant difference. I'm about to go on a trip (sans computer) so won't be able to test different DNS servers, including pihole, for a while. But at this point at least the difference will likely be parts of a second, instead of parts of a minute. I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting.

11th February 2020, 10:51 PM	#8
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by CORed I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting. As it happens, my ISP assigns the Google DNS, which is why I'm not worrying too much about changing it.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

12th February 2020, 09:11 AM	#9
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	Originally Posted by CORed I switched from my ISP's DNS to Google DNS, not for speed, but because my ISP's DNS would send me to the ISP's crappy search engine/ad farm site anytime I tried to access a host it couldn't resolve. I don't think there's significant difference in speed, but, if I attempt to access a non-existent URL (which might due to a typo, or an obsolete link on another site), I'd prefer that it tell me it's a bad URL rather than send me to a junk site that I have no interest in visiting. Cloudflare is really good, free, and fast. 1.1.1.1 or 1.0.0.1
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

12th February 2020, 01:03 PM	#10
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	I use cloudflare, it made a big difference on my home network
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	__________________ SuburbanNerd A blog for making tech make sense

13th February 2020, 02:05 AM	#11
novaphile Quester of Doglets Moderator Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 2,931	By the weirdest co-incidence, I had to do this at work today. And... counter-intuitively, it really did speed everything up. Things were going so badly that log-ins to some applications were timing out. After flushing the cache, I'm back to instant log-ins.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

13th February 2020, 07:09 AM	#12
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	Originally Posted by Donal I use cloudflare, it made a big difference on my home network Ever since I changed my home network to DNS over HTTPS it moves like lightning. I've really become a fan of the PiHole.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

13th February 2020, 07:30 AM	#13
Blue Bubble Sharper than a thorn Join Date: May 2005 Location: Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK Posts: 5,219	Am I alone in thinking that this sounds like a bug in Windows ? Why on earth should it be necessary for the end-user to resort to such shenanigans ? I don't know any other systems where this would be required. In other words, Microsoft should fix their buggy software. Sigh ...
	__________________ eⁱ^π+43

13th February 2020, 07:49 AM	#14
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	Its more the crappy consumer grade networking gear we get on top of the crappy consumer grade internet service. I get "1 Gbps" service from Verizon and am lucky to see it break 700 Mbps. They even say in the fine print the max is really 800 Mbps
Donal Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,331	__________________ SuburbanNerd A blog for making tech make sense

13th February 2020, 08:10 AM	#15
Blue Bubble Sharper than a thorn Join Date: May 2005 Location: Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK Posts: 5,219	Originally Posted by Donal Its more the crappy consumer grade networking gear we get on top of the crappy consumer grade internet service. I get "1 Gbps" service from Verizon and am lucky to see it break 700 Mbps. They even say in the fine print the max is really 800 Mbps I don't know what this is a response to, but what on earth does that have to do with DNS handling on Windows systems?
	__________________ eⁱ^π+43

13th February 2020, 11:25 AM	#16
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

13th February 2020, 11:35 AM	#17
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem. Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire. I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

13th February 2020, 11:38 AM	#18
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	Originally Posted by Hellbound I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem. Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire. I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ipconfig /displaydns
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

13th February 2020, 12:17 PM	#19
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	Originally Posted by plague311 ipconfig /displaydns Doh! Thank you. Autocorrect is out to ruin me Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

13th February 2020, 01:13 PM	#20
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	Originally Posted by Hellbound Doh! Thank you. Autocorrect is out to ruin me Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I saw the phone tag and figured LoL
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

13th February 2020, 11:42 PM	#21
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 42,986	Originally Posted by Blue Bubble Am I alone in thinking that this sounds like a bug in Windows ? Why on earth should it be necessary for the end-user to resort to such shenanigans ? I don't know any other systems where this would be required. In other words, Microsoft should fix their buggy software. Sigh ... There's bugs in everything, just about. They will fix it eventually.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

14th February 2020, 02:32 AM	#22
Blue Bubble Sharper than a thorn Join Date: May 2005 Location: Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK Posts: 5,219	Originally Posted by plague311 I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows. We clearly have very different expectations (note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations ). Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't. Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though).
	__________________ eⁱ^π+43

14th February 2020, 08:52 AM	#23
plague311 Great minds think... Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: North Dakota Posts: 8,389	Originally Posted by Blue Bubble We clearly have very different expectations (note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations ). Maybe. I would venture to say the average end user is probably significantly more knowledgeable than they were 13 years before I was born as well. Originally Posted by Blue Bubble Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't. Do a lot of end users use CLI? Admittedly, I don't use Linux as it's not something that's come into play for me. It's an option though, which means linux has had to do it at least a few times. I'm way more prone to using the command because, by nature, I'm a network administrator or whatever you want to call us. I repeatedly make DNS changes that are easier to manage by flushing DNS's, though I run all my commands remotely and the end user doesn't even see it happening. Originally Posted by Blue Bubble Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though). I expect users of any device to know how to properly manage their machines. I'm not a mechanic, but I know I need oil changed. I'm not an HVAC guy, but I know my system needs to get maintained. I don't think anyone expects the end user to resort to it. If they have a problem, take it to a professional. If they can fix it, they should.
	__________________ "Circumcision and death threats go together like milk and cookies." - William Parcher “There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss

14th February 2020, 09:10 AM	#24
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by Blue Bubble We clearly have very different expectations (note: I started programming 13 years before you were born, so that just might have something to do with my expectations ). Since flushing the DNS cache requires "sudo" or "administrator" access, how do you think "vanilla" users are going to achieve that ? Hint: they won't. Bottom line: I think it's ridiculous to expect end users to have to resort to such shenanigans. I have never once had to flush DNS caches (the only Windows systems I ever have to use are company-provided ones, and pretty well locked down - I do have administrator access though). I agree that the need and the procedure are poorly implemented in Windows, so what else is new,right? Aside from everything else,as comments in this thread suggest, it's also counterintuitive, the kind of thing for which many users probably either pay some geek to fix completely, refresh windows, or just toss the thing. . I'm far from a computer wizard, but did make sure I knew how to get admin. access, and even so it was difficult, because Windows has two different but similar command lines, and only the older "cmd" recognizes the required command. I imagine, or at least hope, that the need for this is pretty rare, but certainly there seem to be plenty of people complaining of various Windows slowdowns, and it seems like poor design that the usual recommendation for many is to give it all up and reload Windows. Apologies if this message is badly typed. I'm using a pretty nasty Android tablet while traveling. Co plain as one might about Windows, if you're used to it and DOS, Android is awful. I never know what button to push or what submerged u to go to to do anything.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

14th February 2020, 12:30 PM	#25
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	Windows actually has the old cmd processor and the PowerShell command line. Both will recognize the command. PowerShell back-coverts to cmd if it’s not a PowerShell native command. The PowerShell equivalents are: Clear-DnsClientCache Get-DnsClientCache Neither requires admin access, either PowerShell or cmd. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

14th February 2020, 12:57 PM	#26
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by Hellbound Windows actually has the old cmd processor and the PowerShell command line. Both will recognize the command. PowerShell back-coverts to cmd if it’s not a PowerShell native command. The PowerShell equivalents are: Clear-DnsClientCache Get-DnsClientCache Neither requires admin access, either PowerShell or cmd. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Not to doubt what you say, but when I asked powershell for "ipconfig" it just said no such thing existed and did not send me to cmd. Since none of the online references mentioned the powershell alternative it was as good as nonexistent unless I asked for help and figured it out. It was easier just to go to the command prompt. I've already forgotten whether I tried the command without logging in as admin, but in any case it wasn't as straightforward as it might have been.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard) Last edited by bruto; 14th February 2020 at 12:58 PM.

14th February 2020, 01:06 PM	#27
DallasDad Muse Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 900	ipconfig works for me in powershell. Same output as from cmd.exe.
DallasDad Muse Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 900

14th February 2020, 01:20 PM	#28
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Originally Posted by DallasDad ipconfig works for me in powershell. Same output as from cmd.exe. How odd. I don't have a windows machine handy at the moment but I am pretty sure mine did not, as I assumed at first that I had either mistyped it or that it required admin mode, and I got the same response each time. I also tried just typing the command without parameters and asking for help. All I remember now is that in command and admin mode it worked the first time. Fortunately, if you do enough searching someone somewhere has usually found a fix.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

14th February 2020, 05:35 PM	#29
novaphile Quester of Doglets Moderator Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 2,931	Originally Posted by Hellbound I’m trying to figure out why this might happen. I’ve worked on windows systems since WfW, and only had to flush the cache for things like changing IP addresses. Makes me wonder what is actually causing the problem. Even then, the local DNS cache is transient; it should clear entries in it as they expire. I’d suspect this is a symptom of some other issue. Try doing an ipconfig /displaying (needs admin) next time to see what’s in your cache; might give an idea of what’s going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It should, and when changes are made to our local network infrastructure, everything in the cache is set to expire in 10 minutes (or suchlike) so that old things don't persist and cause problems. In my case there were a bunch of domain controllers that had been retired, and their entries had persisted in my local cache. The symptoms of the error were quite weird, while logging in to the main application that I support, I'd often get "user doesn't exist, or account is locked" style errors. I could see on the server logs that my client was not communicating with the server at all. So I was sometimes being directed to non-existent domain controllers, but most of the time, not. I had a good poke around on Friday to find out if a recent patch had caused the issue on my client machine, but couldn't find anyone talking about the problem on the net. The general 'ipconfig /flushdns' conversation seems to be have been around for a long time.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

14th February 2020, 05:36 PM	#30
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	That’s odd, wonder if there’s a setting somewhere to disable cmd parsing in PowerShell? Have to look for it now. I’ve always run cmd commands in PowerShell, even used them in scripts (have one running at work now using dsget, for example). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

14th February 2020, 05:40 PM	#31
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 14,348	Originally Posted by novaphile It should, and when changes are made to our local network infrastructure, everything in the cache is set to expire in 10 minutes (or suchlike) so that old things don't persist and cause problems. In my case there were a bunch of domain controllers that had been retired, and their entries had persisted in my local cache. The symptoms of the error were quite weird, while logging in to the main application that I support, I'd often get "user doesn't exist, or account is locked" style errors. I could see on the server logs that my client was not communicating with the server at all. So I was sometimes being directed to non-existent domain controllers, but most of the time, not. I had a good poke around on Friday to find out if a recent patch had caused the issue on my client machine, but couldn't find anyone talking about the problem on the net. The general 'ipconfig /flushdns' conversation seems to be have been around for a long time. If it was domain controllers, then yeah, I can see that causing issues. In modern AD domains, the DNS is integrated with AD, so I could be issues with that. Especially considering both the computer account and the user account have to authenticate. But yeah, cache issues should only happen when things change. With DCs I’d expect other issues just related to the fact that they’d changed, though (possibilities for certificate problems and similar there, too...options for error abound!) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

14th February 2020, 06:29 PM	#32
bruto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Way way north of Diddy Wah Diddy Posts: 27,318	Of course I don't quite know what my problem was but wonder if the problem was not inherent in the cache itself but perhaps a corrupted file. I've never had the problem on other computers.
	__________________ I love this world, but not for its answers. (Mary Oliver) Quand il dit "cuic" le moineau croit tout dire. (When he's tweeted the sparrow thinks he's said it all. (Jules Renard)

14th February 2020, 06:29 PM	#33
novaphile Quester of Doglets Moderator Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 2,931	Originally Posted by Hellbound If it was domain controllers, then yeah, I can see that causing issues. In modern AD domains, the DNS is integrated with AD, so I could be issues with that. Especially considering both the computer account and the user account have to authenticate. But yeah, cache issues should only happen when things change. With DCs I’d expect other issues just related to the fact that they’d changed, though (possibilities for certificate problems and similar there, too...options for error abound!) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk On my team, everyone twitches any time anyone mentions certificates... Imagine, eight environments, each with about 30 servers, load balancers everywhere, multiple domains, inside separate forests. Currently dealing with replacing all the virtual servers with new ones, W2008 and W2012 to W2016 (Note SQL server upgrades and application upgrades at the same time), which means that version of TLS has to be upgraded, which means that the middle ware has to be upgraded, and we're just talking about the windows world at this stage (forget about all the multi-agency stuff, and all the mainframe back ends). Any day that no-one mentions firewalls or certificates is a good day for me.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

14th February 2020, 07:03 PM	#34
novaphile Quester of Doglets Moderator Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 2,931	Please note, none of the stuff above is 'my work'. My part is designing services to move information in and out of the databases via the server-side APIs.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

15th February 2020, 03:13 AM	#35
jeremyp Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Posts: 1,269	Originally Posted by plague311 I don't think it's odd to have to clear out DNS in any system. They have commands and the ability to do it in every flavor of Linux, Apple, and Windows. It is odd to have to clear it to make DNS lookups faster. The whole point of the cache is to make DNS lookups faster by not having to query a DNS server across the network. The only time I have ever felt the need to flush a DNS cache is when I’ve changed a DNS record and the copy in the cache hasn’t expired yet.