This is a very common issue with internet connections: you are able to access certain websites and other sites are inaccessible; websites that you used to access before became inaccessible even though the said sites are up and running; you are getting frequest “Page cannot be displayed” error and something similar and reloading the page loads the site thereafter; and a lot more.
Then you call your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and they will tell you that everything from their end is working very good so you are puzzled as to what is happening to your computer. In worst support cases, they will blame Microsoft for the bloody buggy Windows.
Try Fixing Your DNS Server Setting First
Most internet connectivity issues are caused by a DNS issue. If you are able to access a website now but not later, or if you are not able to access some websites while other websites just display fine, it means your internet connection is there, but is intermittent. To resolve the issue, set your DNS to the Google DNS servers as described below.
The screen shots here are done with Windows 8.1 but the process is very similar when using Windows Vista and 7.
- Open your Control Panel then in the View by option, select Large icons or Small icons. Then open Network and Sharing Center.
- Another and faster way to open Network and Sharing Center is to right-click on the LAN icon in the system tray, the LAN icon at the bottom right corner of the screen near the system time.
- Right click on it then click “Open Network and Sharing Center”.
- In the Network and Sharing Center dialog box, click on Change adapter settings in the left panel.
- In the new dialog box that opens, you shall see various connections there. There are Local Area Connection or Wireless Network Connection, depending on the actual connection used. Also, these connections can have numbers like Local Area Connection 4.
- Locate the actual connection you are using, then right click on it, then click Properties.
- In the Properties dialog box, under the Networking tab, scroll down and locate Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6). These are the items that we are to change.
- Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click on the Properties button.
- Under the General tab, check the option that says “Use the following DNS server addresses”
- Then enter the following IP addresses, these points to the Google DNS servers:
Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4 - It should look like this:
- Then click OK
- Then click on the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties button.
- Under the General tab, check the option that says “Use the following DNS server addresses”
- Then enter the following IP6 addresses, these points to the Google DNS servers:
Preferred DNS Server: 2001:4860:4860::8888
Alternate DNS Server: 2001:4860:4860::8844
- It shall look like this:
- Then click OK
- Then restart the computer then your internet connection problem shall be resolved!
Please give these steps a try and the interface that you may be dealing with could be different. If you need assistance, just comment down below.