Boost Your Internet Speed – Free!
You can probably do two things, right now, to boost your Internet speed. They’re simple, they’re trusted, and they’re palpable changes:
- Open yourself to OpenDNS. They have configuration pages for your OS or hardware router. Both Scott Beale (LaughingSquid) and I have seen dramatic differences in speed since going through their DNS servers. Matt’s happy about it, too. My speed difference was probably even more dramatic, considering I’ve already implemented my second recommendation…
- If you’re on Windows, install FastCache: “Every time you go to a new website, or a website you haven’t been to in a day or so, your computer needs to locate the server again using DNS. Each DNS request can take anywhere from 50 milliseconds, to even a second or more, but most are in the 100 to 200 millisecond range. Want to save a couple hundred milliseconds? Probably not, but what about a couple million or more? That’s what AnalogX FastCache is all about.” I’ve been running FastCache since Mark released it on the first Helpathon. My stats are somewhat stunted, but I’ve saved 6d 18h 27m 53s worth of time (in 118w). It really adds up.
If you use a news aggregator, either one (or both) of these solutions is mandatory. Do not pass Go – do not spend $200. It’s all free for the taking.









59 Comments
bLaugh
August 9th, 2006
at 12:52am
[IMG Senior Netizens] DEAR GREAT, GREAT GRANDSON, THANKS FOR TELLING ME ABOUT OPENDNS LAST NIGHT – MY CONNECTION IS FLYING THIS MORNING. YOU ROXX0RZ! I’M ALSO GOING TO TRY DOWNLOADING THAT DNS CACHING TOOL TO SEE IF I CAN GET PAST THESE DAMN COMCRAP PROBLEMS. STUPID TECH SUPPORT PEOPLE DON
Anonymous
June 21st, 2007
at 12:57pm
I can’t take credit for the original. hamster Related Content:Weird, Strange, and Odd USB GadgetsComcast ProblemsThe Vista Bashing BandwagonBoost Your Internet Speed – Free!Please Don’t Remind MeThe Hacker’s DietA MusedParental Control Software ProblemsTexas SecurityGmail Problems
Hilltronics - Links of Interest
July 30th, 2006
at 5:18am
Boost Your Internet Speed – Free! ~ Chris Pirillo
Artificial Ignorance - Anand Iyer's Blog
July 20th, 2006
at 3:17am
Fine, I shall cave to thee for now, OpenDNS When Chris or Scott post about something in a seriously positive note or, umm not so much, the post sends reverberating vibes through ‘teh’ internet (Chris’s post, Scott’s post). Having worked as a developer at a networking company in the past, I was a little skeptical of the promises that OpenDNS was making. Well, not so much promises, but claims of “advanced speeds in DNS lookups”. So, I decided to test it out.
Industry Stories
August 6th, 2008
at 4:36pm
“http://media.pirillo.com/”>Video Help</a> | <a href=”http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow”>Add to iTunes</a> Home Networking Tools, Tips and Tricks Bandwidth Throttling .INFO Domains are .DEADBoost Your Internet Speed – Free!Chris Have You Updated Your DNS Settings?
LibrarianInBlack
August 7th, 2006
at 8:58pm
Chris Pirillo wrote recently about two services you can use to boost your internet speed for free: OpenDNS and FastCache. Both have thousands of happy users, and seem relatively straightforward. I’ve tried both independently, and then together.
· Vinny Carpenter’s blog
October 19th, 2006
at 3:07am
Chris Pirillio’s blog – OpenDNS is a free service that is designed to make your Internet browsing faster, safer and smarter. And guess what – it does that. OpenDNS is essentially a set of massive distributed DNS caches that allow faster name resolution and yet obey the
Web2.0 - SWiK
July 19th, 2006
at 2:25am
have already made substantial investments in its infrastructure, so perhaps there is some strategic vision that will emerge later. As things stand now, I can’t imagine that it’s going to work. For a different point of view, see positive reviews by Chris Pirillo, Matt Mullenweg and Scott Beale.
bLaugh
August 9th, 2006
at 12:52am
[IMG Senior Netizens] DEAR GREAT, GREAT GRANDSON, THANKS FOR TELLING ME ABOUT OPENDNS LAST NIGHT – MY CONNECTION IS FLYING THIS MORNING. YOU ROXX0RZ! I’M ALSO GOING TO TRY DOWNLOADING THAT DNS CACHING TOOL TO SEE IF I CAN GET PAST THESE DAMN COMCRAP PROBLEMS. STUPID TECH SUPPORT PEOPLE DON
Blah, Blah, Blahg
July 28th, 2006
at 4:28pm
Simple tips to boost your Intarw3b speeds Posted in Random Ramblings, Interesting Reads, Techie at 6:44 pm by ragmanx Chris Pirillo shares a couple of easy to follow tips for improving network speeds on your computer. Open yourself to OpenDNS. They have configuration pages for your OS or hardware router. Both Scott Beale (LaughingSquid) and I have seen dramatic differences in speed since going through their DNS servers. Matt’s
Planet Web 2.0
July 19th, 2006
at 1:59am
have already made substantial investments in its infrastructure, so perhaps there is some strategic vision that will emerge later. As things stand now, I can’t imagine that it’s going to work. For a different point of view, see positive reviews by Chris Pirillo, Matt Mullenweg and Scott Beale.
Latest Industry News
August 3rd, 2008
at 3:33am
a href=”http://media.pirillo.com/”>Video Help</a> | <a href=”http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow”>Add to iTunes</a> Home Networking Tools, Tips and Tricks Bandwidth Throttling .INFO Domains are .DEADBoost Your Internet Speed – Free!Chris Have You Updated Your DNS Settings?
TechCrunch » Blog Archive » OpenDNS wants to watch the web for you
July 18th, 2006
at 11:38pm
[...] For a different point of view, see positive reviews by Chris Pirillo, Matt Mullenweg and Scott Beale. OpenDNS [...]
Limulus
July 19th, 2006
at 2:09am
Thanks for the tip on OpenDNS; keep those platform-independent tips coming! ;)
OpenDNS speeds up my feed reader » at Tom Raftery’s I.T. views
July 19th, 2006
at 10:06am
[...] When you see something new being lauded by Matt Mullenweg (of WordPress fame), Kevin Burton (of TailRank) and Chris Pirillo (of GnomeDex fame) you sit up and take notice. [...]
marusin.com » Blog Archive » I’ve been up to lots of stuff
July 19th, 2006
at 10:55am
[...] – Go switch your settings to use OpenDNS. This is to all of my nerd/non-nerd readers out there. If you have a high speed connection at home (DSL, cable, etc), you should be interested in this. It has without a doubt sped up my browsing at home. It’s a really simple tweak that you can do either on your computer or your router at home. PC or Mac. Wired or wireless. It doesn’t matter. It’s not spyware and doesn’t do anything evil and is absolutely free. Lots of people have been using OpenDNS lately and have had dramatic results in the speed of their internet connections. [...]
phoward.com » Blog Archive » A fast, free DNS service - and it works!
July 19th, 2006
at 11:32am
[...] Today I found out about a company called OpenDNS (from chris.pirillo.com) who provide not only a free DNS service but tools that let you block phishing attempts and suggest sites when you mistype domain names. [...]
OpenDNS: A Valid Web 2.0 Business Model; Is It Good For you? -Simple Thoughts - Java and Web Technology Blog
July 19th, 2006
at 11:53am
[...] Share See more articles on Technology, Web, Web Services, Headline News | | RSS 2.0 | Trackback this Article | Email thisArticle [...]
Bryan Villarin
July 19th, 2006
at 1:16pm
Chris: Would you use the OpenDNS server settings in FastCache, too?
TheBadger
July 19th, 2006
at 6:11pm
Fastcache is actually not a good idea. It might speed up the loading of sites, but it has drawbacks.
Fastcache is overriding the TTL set for the dns record in question. Some providers use this to do maintenance on various “clusters” of machines. They also may use it to send you to the closest cluster for a particular service. It’s not a good idea to cache the record for longer than the TTL set.
Fine, I shall cave to thee for now, OpenDNS » Wagalulu - Microsoft » » Fine, I shall cave to thee for now, OpenDNS
July 19th, 2006
at 8:19pm
[...] a Package? » Bookmark on del.icio.us When Chris or Scott post about something in a seriously positive note or, umm not somuch, the post sends reverberating vibes through ‘teh’ internet (Chris’s post, Scott’s post). Having worked as a developer at a networking company in the past, I was a little skeptical of the promises that OpenDNS was making. Well, not so much promises, but claims of “advanced speeds in DNS lookups”. So, I decided to test it out. Initial impression – it is pretty damn fast. OpenDNS’ claims about getting to sites like myspace, are in fact valid. So far, so good. However, there’s at least one thing about OpenDNS that’s disturbing so far – DNS resolution of sites like ‘usps.gov’ : If you use IE today, and you try to get to ‘usps.gov’, the site will not be found and you get a list of possible sites that can be visited through live.com or your pre-configured search engine. Browsers like Flock and Firefox, auto-prepend the ‘www’ in front of ‘usps.gov’ after DNS fails to resolve the site name, and fetch you the site. However, after using OpenDNS’s servers, I notice that opendns.com is getting back to me with possible sites that I could visit. And the website that lists the possible sites I could visit, has ads on it. That, I do not like. That’s that, so far. There could be other issues in the future about sites or sub-sites that genuinely do not exist getting resolved by OpenDNS. So, try it out. Let’s see what you think… “ai” tags : opendns, dns, laughingsquid, chris pirillo [...]
Nordquist Blog » Speed up your internet connection with OpenDNS
July 20th, 2006
at 12:21am
[...] Oh for coolness. I love coming across a simple tip that speeds up my connection to the net. By using OpenDNS you can speed up your connection and add some cool features. You just change your DNS to point to the following DNS server at either the local machine our router level: [...]
TheBizofKnowledge
July 20th, 2006
at 1:19am
This tip is a new one for me. Has anyone tried it? If so, have you gotten good (meaning “noticeable”) results? I’m probably going to run through this setup now. Thanks for the post!
IT Blogwatch
July 20th, 2006
at 3:37am
OpenDNS opens for business (and Steve Jobs’ blog?…
Namaste. This is IT Blogwatch, in which a very boring — yet utterly vital — part of the Internet infrastructure gets a kick in the pants. Not to mention The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Aged 51 1/2……
PuntoGeek » Blog Archive » Optimizar la conexión a Internet
July 20th, 2006
at 11:05am
[...] Vía | Chris Pirillo [...]
Vishing Warning (GnomeREPORT)
July 21st, 2006
at 11:52am
[...] I consider myself Internet savvy – enough to see and skip phishing attempts. Ponzi’s constantly learning how to detect lures, but that hasn’t kept me from using the OpenDNS phishing filter on our home network (read Boost Your Internet Speed – Free for more information). Given the subject matter in last night’s Free VoIP Gizmo, Lockergnomie Dan Eklund forwarded me a message that came to him from what appears to be his ISP: [...]
Country Keepers by Gary Petersen » Blog Archive » Speed Up Your Internet Connection - For Free
July 22nd, 2006
at 6:07am
[...] One of the tips in today’s Lockergnome newsletters was about a new, free service that reports to speed up your Internet connection by changing the DNS servers used. This article, on Chris Pirillo’s weblog, introduces OpenDNS. Here’s part of how they describe their service: Most DNS servers on the Internet are slow. Your computer uses DNS every time you visit a website or send an email, so you want DNS to be blazing fast. Two things make DNS really fast: a big cache and a good network. We have both. [...]
digg / Technology / Upcoming
July 24th, 2006
at 4:17pm
[...] Boost Your Internet Speed – Free! [...]
Nicholas
July 24th, 2006
at 7:20pm
OpenDNS sounds interesting, but Fast Cache is an outdated piece of junk with many little “gotchas”. I used it a long time ago and ran into all sorts of issues.
SEO ROCK
July 25th, 2006
at 9:19am
Nice, another reason to like Chris.
I would like to shave off some milli seconds and speed up my net.
John Clifford
July 25th, 2006
at 12:42pm
I installed Fast Cache and OPen DNS and changed settings for DNS to OPEn DNS on my D Link Router. The internet is definitely faster on Comcast cable with this change. I don’t see stats or chache hits on FastCache stats tab. Any ideas ?
Flushing Phishing ~ Chris Pirillo
August 4th, 2006
at 10:40am
[...] Certainly, it shouldn’t be a browser’s or plugin’s responsibility – as connectivity is the lowest common denominator. I’ve got the Phishing setting toggled “on” in my OpenDNS configuration, largely because I don’t want Ponzi to be phished when I’m not around. This way, I’m protecting all the systems on my home network – not just the ones that have been upgraded to the latest browser configuration. Phishing should NOT be a problem anymore. [...]
OpenDNS Makes Your Internet Über - PaulStamatiou.com
August 9th, 2006
at 6:49pm
[...] As I mentioned in How To: Start Blogging, whenever you access a website your computer first contacts a domain name server (DNS) to find out what server IP address is paired with that particular domain name. By default without any configuration your computer automatically uses DNS servers provided by your ISP which are commonly overused and slow. As Chris Pirillo pointed out, you can experience anywhere from 50 milliseconds to a second or more when dealing with slow DNS’s before your computer can interact with the actual website. [...]
OpenDNS - Respond DNS queries quicker at AdGlobe Tech Blog
August 17th, 2006
at 7:27pm
[...] As Chris Pirilio point out you can experience anywhere from 50 milliseconds to a second or more when dealing with slow DNS’s before your computer can interact with the actual website. [...]
Is there an echo in here? -- A View from the Isle
August 19th, 2006
at 10:42am
[...] Is there an echo in here? by Tris Hussey at 09:15AM (PDT) on August 19, 2006 | Permanent Link | Cosmos | Got up early this morning (6:30 AM … gasp) and was skimming myfeeds (I am such a geek) while watching Tin Cup (I’m not a big fan of golf, but I do like the movie) and caught a mention about the DNS system as it is can slow down your net connection. Which reminded me of Chris’ post a while back on this topic. So, ambling over to his site, I noticed a post for yesterdayâ€?10 Ways to Eliminate the Echo Chamber. Now at the risk of creating an echo chamber here, Chris’ post is something I think we need at the moment. Of all his ten points, these two are my favs and two that I try to follow in all my blogging: [...]
» Surf faster on your mobile device for free | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com
August 22nd, 2006
at 7:18pm
[...] Chris Pirillo talked about the DNS trick for Windows computers last month and also has a tip for faster surfing with FastCache. Check out these methods and see if your wireless browsing experience improves. Comments | Blog This | E-mail This | Print This | Permalink [...]
shahid khan
August 30th, 2006
at 9:36am
i m looking for boost up the internet speed
shahid khan
August 30th, 2006
at 9:39am
boost up my internet speed please
shahid khan
August 30th, 2006
at 9:39am
please boost up my internet speed
digg / titlesaysitall / dugg
September 4th, 2006
at 4:09pm
[...] Boost Your Internet Speed – Free! [...]
Phishing And Vishing Fix ~ Windows Fanatics
October 12th, 2006
at 12:12pm
[...] I believe that with new versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer (7.0), in combination with services like OpenDNS, we’ll soon see the bad guys cut off at their knees. Have you ever been phished? Related Posts // //]]> Vishing WarningWin An iPod For Reporting Phishing Sites!What’s Your Phishing IQ?Yahoo! Messenger Target Of Effective Phishing ScamNew Phishing & Games Toolbar Add-In For Internet ExplorerMove Over Internet Explorer – Make Way for New Netscape with Anti-Phishing FeaturesWindows Anti-Phishing Tool Free from NetcraftProtect Yourself From Phishing Attacks (Updated)3 Anti-Phising ApplicationsMicrosoft Phishing Filter To Protect Private Info (XP SP2) [...]
hiam
November 4th, 2006
at 5:48am
it’s very useful
Trollando / Alice più veloce, più intelligente, più protetta (a gratis)
November 9th, 2006
at 7:27am
[...] L’ha detto pirillo.exe, l’ha detto PC Facile, lo dico pure io: [...]
Forum NIRWANAPLUS :: Lihat topik - BARU !!! mix OPENDNS+software+NETPLUS= HIGH SPEED INTERNET
December 14th, 2006
at 6:16am
[...] masalah dengan di MIX bersama SOFTWARE speed up yg gratis saya belum melihat hasilnya yang bagus kayaknya tabrakan atau konfigurasi modem dan internet option saya masih yg small punya sihh belum ada dana buat UPGRADE!!! sial;( hehehe. tapi kalau saya MIX dengan software mobile phone tools motorola saya hasilnya hmmm…..FAST FOOD deh:) catatan: BAGI anda yang BROWSING menggunakan MOZILA FIRE FOX saya punya setting MOZILA untuk mempecepat UPLOAD,SPEED,BROWSING dll jadi NETPLUS+OPEN DNS+MOBILE PHONE TOOLS MOTOROLA C650+MOZILA(udah di UPGRADE sendiri) hasilnya = HIGH SPEED…. ================================================ OK saya sementara menemukan SOFTWARE pendukung yg cocok dengan High Speed OPENDNS yaitu, visit: http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/07/18/boost-your-internet-speed-free/ disana dikatakan ada 2 cara meningkatkan speed internet dengan mudah dan booster! sangat cepat yaitu OPENDNS dan FASTCACHE software 1.daftar di OPENDNS atau getstart agar DNS speed anda sudah di stell di komputer anda.kalau anda sudah aktif OPENDNS nya, langsung saja download softwarenya. 2.Download software FASTCACHE sangat kecil hanya 179 K yg ternyata fungsinya memperpendek waktu semakin cepat saat anda browsing dll.(lihat penjelasan) 3.RESTART komputer anda 4.aktifkan saja langsung FASTCACHE anda sangat mudah ikuti saya intruksinya 5.coba browsing dll, dalam 1 atau 2X masih normal namun setelah system berjalan dengan baik ini namanya, NETPLUS+OPENDNS+SOFTWARE=SUPER SPEED selamat nikmati SPEED…… [...]
swordgal
December 27th, 2006
at 7:07pm
sir can u help me out of here….. i m a nu user of ur services so plzz help me….
actually i hv two pcs n internet is shared by croo cabling ….
d ip of one pc is d one provided by my isp n d oders ip is 192.168.0.1
so me juss wanna know how to create ma network settings ……plz gelp me .n afraid of doin some messy things on my own.
ur replies are recived with heartiest welcome.
n again thanx in advance for ur help.
Cory Krug » OpenDNS
March 1st, 2007
at 2:03am
[...] If Chris Pirillo uses it, then why shouldn’t I? [...]
Anton Kunckle
March 17th, 2007
at 12:01pm
I’ve been using OpenDNS for a while now, and it’s fantastic.
FastCache seems okay, but I can’t get it to work for logins other than mine on a multi-user WinXP Pro computer.
Anton
Free DNS - OpenDNS Respond DNS queries quicker at TechMixer
March 19th, 2007
at 8:36am
[...] As Chris Pirilio point out you can experience anywhere from 50 milliseconds to a second or more when dealing with slow DNS�s before your computer can interact with the actual website. [...]
daniel boakye
April 16th, 2007
at 11:34am
THANK YOU
GOD
WILL
BLESS YOU
adam
August 8th, 2007
at 4:09pm
Both services are great, but I wish AnalogX would spring back to life….they had some awesome tools around there….sure FastCache works on my Vista Home Basic 32bit system, but yea, it still could use an update ;)
I was amazed to see some of the small TTLs that domains are uses….some as low as 4ms? And no, I wasn’t reading the wrong column either…lol.
roberto
December 21st, 2007
at 1:11am
thanks for your help
kcskater
December 21st, 2007
at 2:36pm
Thanks..my internet speed seems to be getting slower, i well give it a try
alex
April 8th, 2008
at 2:50pm
Thanks a lot!
bobrich
May 15th, 2008
at 5:21am
Can anybody tell me if FASTCACHE is a useful tool or not. I am planning to use it with opendns but I am not sure if I should download it or not. Any comments about Fastcache?
Senior Netizens : bLaugh
May 26th, 2008
at 8:56pm
[...] FOR TELLING ME ABOUT OPENDNS LAST NIGHT – MY CONNECTION IS FLYING THIS MORNING. YOU ROXX0RZ! I’M ALSO GOING TO TRY [...]
Adosia
November 16th, 2008
at 6:24am
It seems to have already started working, and I’m only on step two… :)
Christopher
May 10th, 2009
at 8:49am
Wow, cool!
thojtzone
January 10th, 2010
at 10:59pm
other than the suggestions u mentioned above, i also recommend dsl speed which can boost ur internet connection somehow
nonoyowbeezwax
January 25th, 2010
at 11:11am
i tried to download it, got win vista home basic, service pack 2
and it requested my permision to run the program, then did nothing!!!!!! what shall i doooo?