What does Advanced DNS do?

Question

I recently got a new D-Link router and when I was setting it up it asked if I wanted to use Advanced DNS because it provides "Faster and more reliable Internet browsing" or something along those lines so I decided to enable it. Turns out one of the things it did was that every time I use my address bar to search it came up with search results quick "powered by yahoo" which I did not like so I disabled it.

I tried looking up what it even does and whether there are any noticeable benefits to enabling it but couldn't find anything. I did see a few things where it suggested you try OpenDNS or Google's Public DNS as an alternative but I don't really understand anything on this topic. I'm just wondering if anyone could explain why I would change from my ISP's to Automatic DNS or any other DNS like OpenDNS?

Answer 1

From what can be found through Google, the Advanced DNS setting will change the DNS servers over to some that are operated by either D-Link themselves or OpenDNS or a similar service. The reasons given to enable it are protection from malware and other evil websites. So basically it's a opt-in web filtering at the DNS level. This is not very effective, and also can lead to more advertising like in your case (Yahoo is certainly happy to have that traffic).

There are several factors that would lead you to not use your ISPs DNS servers. At least one company in Germany I know also redirects non-existent hostnames to a search web page. In some countries providers are required by law to filter certain web sites, and often they do so via DNS redirection.

Answer 2

Advanced DNS is a service of Best Path Network, a subsidiary of OpenDNS. So there is no reason to switch to it if you prefer using your ISP's servers over OpenDNS'.