Don’t you want your browsing sessions to remain a private affair? If you don’t reset your Domain Name System (DNS) on Windows 10, you’re exposing all your browsing information to the world.
Online exposure to such information can be harmful. You need to know how to flush DNS on Windows 10 to stop others from accessing information on your browsing habits.
Why Do You Need to Flush DNS or Clear DNS Cache?
DNS is essentially a phonebook for humans to access information on their online practices and internet usage. Several web browsers interact with user IP addresses to collect information on their recently-viewed sites and web pages.
So, when you don’t flush DNS on Windows 10, you may no longer be able to access certain websites. Also, your internet browsing information is made accessible to online websites.
This information can reveal valuable data on your online spending habits. It can also expose your privacy during browsing and web surfing experience.
You need to flush DNS on Windows 10 for many reasons,
- Remove all the domain entries
- Delete invalid IP addresses
- Refresh your browser settings for a better, spam-free web surfing
- Repopulate your browser with new addresses before accessing those websites
In addition, you need to clear DNS caches on your Windows 10 as well.
DNS caching, meanwhile, stores the locations of web servers. It keeps a record of IP addresses of web pages that you’ve recently viewed.
In several cases, the location (IP address) of web servers for certain web pages gets changed. If this change is prior to your DNS cache entry, you can’t access the site any longer.
That’s the main reason why you need to clear DNS cache in Windows 10 from time to time.
How to Flush DNS on Windows 10
So, you want to hide your browsing ways from the online world by flushing out your DNS.
Here’s how you do it.
- Open the Run dialog box on Windows 10 by pressing Windows key and the “ R ” key
- Type the following in the Run dialog box - ipconfig/flushdns
- Press the Enter key to run the program
Your computer clears out the DNS and your browsing habits are completely veiled.
How to Flush DNS Cache on Windows 10
If you want to clear DNS cache on your Windows 10,
- Click on the search box next to Windows 10 Start menu on your desktop
- Type “ cmd ” in it and press the Enter key
- Click on the Command Prompt program from the search list to open it
- In the Command Prompt window, type the following
ipconfig/flushdns
- Press the Enter key to execute the command
Once the process is complete, close the Command Prompt window and restart your computer.
You can always check if your DNS cache is properly cleared or not. Follow the steps to open Command Prompt window, and type “ ipconfig/displaydns ” command. Press the Enter key and you’ll see the DNS cache entries (if any).
If you want to turn on the DNS caching in future, you can type “ net start dnscache ” command in the Command Prompt window and press the Enter key. To put this into effect, restart your computer after executing this command.
To clear DNS, Windows 10 users can try out the above simple steps. There’s no technical assistance required for executing the flush DNS command, so get going!