Switching your DNS servers on your Mac can speed up your internet experience; it can make translating domain names into IP addresses faster. If you’d like to change your DNS server, we’ll show you how to do it.
First, open System Preferences by clicking the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac’s screen and selecting “System Preferences” in the menu that appears.
When System Preferences opens, click “Network.”
In Network preferences, use the sidebar to click the network adapter you’d like to configure the DNS for, such as “Ethernet” or “Wi-Fi.” Then click “Advanced.”
Under the advanced settings for the network adapter you selected, click the “DNS” tab, then click the plus (“+”) button just below the list labeled “DNS Servers.”
A text input area will appear in the “DNS Servers” list. Type in the DNS address you’d like to use, then press Return.
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For example, to use Google DNS, add all four of these these addresses to the list using the plus button. The first two are IPv4 addresses, and the second two are IPv6 addresses:
- 8.8.8.8
- 8.8.4.4
- 2001:4860:4860::8888
- 2001:4860:4860::8844
You can also use other alternative DNS services such as OpenDNS, or any other DNS servers you’d like.
After that, click “OK” to close the advanced network settings window.
Back on the main Network preferences page, if you’d like to configure DNS servers for a different network adapter as well (such as “Ethernet” if you plan to use that as well as Wi-Fi), click it and repeat the steps above. When you’re all done, click “Apply” in the lower-right corner of the Network preferences window.
From now on, your Mac is now using new, alternative DNS servers. Happy browsing!