How to Change DNS to 8.8.8.8 for Faster Browsing

What DNS Actually Changes (and What It Doesn't)

DNS translates domain names into IP addresses. Your router, by default, usually hands out your ISP's DNS servers, and some ISPs run resolvers that are slow, overloaded, or inject ads/redirects on lookup failures. Switching to a faster, more reliable public resolver like Google's 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 or Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1 can noticeably cut the time it takes to resolve a new domain — the delay you sometimes notice right before a page starts loading.

Option 1: Change It for Your Whole Network (Router)

Setting DNS at the router level applies it to every device on your network, not just one PC. Log into your router's admin panel (commonly 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 — check the label on the router itself) and look for a DNS or WAN setting, typically under Internet/WAN configuration. Replace the DNS fields with:

• Primary: 8.8.8.8 (Google) or 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare)
• Secondary: 8.8.4.4 (Google) or 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare)

Save and reboot the router. Every device that connects afterward inherits these settings automatically.

Option 2: Change It on Windows via Settings (GUI)

1. Right-click the network icon in the system tray and choose Network & Internet settings.
2. Click your active connection — Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
3. Scroll to DNS server assignment and click Edit.
4. Change the dropdown from Automatic (DHCP) to Manual.
5. Toggle IPv4 on.
6. Enter 8.8.8.8 as the Preferred DNS and 8.8.4.4 as Alternate (or the Cloudflare equivalents 1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1).
7. If you also use IPv6, toggle it on too and set 2001:4860:4860::8888 / 2001:4860:4860::8844 for Google, or 2606:4700:4700::1111 / 2606:4700:4700::1001 for Cloudflare.
8. Click Save.

Option 3: Classic Control Panel Route

1. Press Win + R, type ncpa.cpl, and press Enter.
2. Right-click your active adapter and choose Properties.
3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.
4. Select Use the following DNS server addresses.
5. Enter 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
6. Click OK on both dialogs.

Option 4: PowerShell (Fastest, Scriptable)

First, find your adapter's exact name:

Get-NetAdapter

Then set the DNS servers for it (replace "Wi-Fi" with your adapter's name from the output above):

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ServerAddresses ("8.8.8.8","8.8.4.4")

To revert back to automatic DHCP-assigned DNS later:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ResetServerAddresses

Step: Flush the Cache and Verify

After changing DNS, flush the existing cache so old lookups don't linger:

ipconfig /flushdns

Then confirm the new server is actually being used:

nslookup example.com

The "Server" line in the output should show 8.8.8.8 (or whichever resolver you configured), confirming your query went through the new DNS server rather than your ISP's default.

Google vs. Cloudflare vs. Others

• Google (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4): mature, extremely reliable uptime, widely used.
• Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1): markets itself as privacy-focused with a stated policy of not selling query data, and independent latency tests frequently show it edging out Google in raw response time depending on your location.
• Quad9 (9.9.9.9): blocks known-malicious domains at the resolver level by default, at a small tradeoff in flexibility.

All three support DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and DNS-over-TLS (DoT) if you want encrypted DNS queries — configuring that is a separate step from the plain IP-based setup above, done under Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi/Ethernet > DNS server assignment > Edit, where you can select the DoH template alongside the IP address on Windows 11.

Troubleshooting

• No change in speed: your ISP's DNS may already be fast, or your browser/router was already caching most lookups. Try a fresh browser profile with cache cleared to get a fair comparison.
• Some internal/work sites stop resolving: corporate VPNs and office networks often rely on internal DNS servers for internal hostnames. If that breaks, revert to automatic DNS while connected to that network.
• Setting doesn't stick after reboot: some routers reassert their own DNS via DHCP on each renewal — set it at the router level instead of per-device if this keeps happening.