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Quick DNS fix (for when your telco has borked your gaming domains again, etc)

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When I encounter DNS poisoning, device crippling, or other tampering/network breakage, I tend to just edit the hosts flie of the computer I’m using to route around it.

Not (normally) ideal but a quick way to resolve the problem on a domain by domain basis.

On Windows 10 edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts or on linux (and hence probably Mac) edit /etc/hosts

Add a line for each domain you wish to access correctly, with

<IP address><space><domain name(s)>

If you want it to work for domain.com and www.domain.com create a line like

123.45.67.89 domain.com www.domain.com

You’ll need to edit it as administrator / root

Trickiest bit will be finding the domain’s correct IP first.

On a linux/Mac computer open a command prompt/terminal window and type

dig domain.com @8.8.8.8 (assuming the computer has dig installed, otherwise just try nslookup as below – it’s normally also installed)

On a Windows computer open a command prompt and type

nslookup domain.com 8.8.8.8

8.8.8.8 is a Google OpenDNS server, and so is fairly reliable.

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