silvervein's dashboard

thanks... I didn't see it before... I originally tried to find an FAQ/manual/intro guide on the site but there wasn't anything. I understand you guys like to use the site as designed but it would be helpful to have a traditional intro guide or something (maybe you do and I missed it... which would mean it isn't easy to find). – silvervein, on July 08, 2008 06:34

I understand how to turn off notifications... but what if I want to turn off only SOME notifications e.g. the ones where my question has been answered. In other words, I post two questions after following several posts one of them gets resolved. How do I turn-off notification for just the answered question?

In the end I did hardcode in the servers of OpenDNS. While Robb command didn't work I did it graphically by opening my "network connections" then right clicking on "local area connection" and choosing "properties" then selecting "Internet protocol" and choosing properties and from there input the DNS server addresses. There are good direction located at: https://www.opendns.com/start?device=...

Mark, thanks for the comprehensive follow-up here is some of the info you asked for and a little bit of questioning to better understand the problem before changing my DNS settings:

OS: Windows XP Pro not OEM, school enterprise license
router:Netgear WGR614 v4
router firmware: V5.0_02 (V5.0_07 is now availble but there is no mention of bug fixes for DNS problems http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_n... )

Running ipconfig shows that my router is the default gateway and DNS server ie. Default gateway = DNS server = router address = 192.168.0.1
In other words, this means it is acting like a relay, right?

I logged into my router and there is no option for turning off DNS relay. I searched the netgear support site for "dns relay" and "relay" but didn't get any useful hits... they are using some other terminology perhaps? The only DNS setting available on my router is manually setting a primary and secondary DNS server within the router configuration... but then it would still acting like a relay, right?

Altogether, from what I can gather, the router's dns relays are failing because of the hardware is aging? Or is it that I'm entering too many page requests simultaneously such that I exceed the capacity of the router (I've got a sense that I lose my internet connection when I open several tabs in my browser at once)?

Oren, I agree. I posted a problem, got a suggested solution, took it and then needed a handful of lines to explain the results (its a technical problem). Having a two line comment box sucked. I ended up posting and editing twice because I missed mistakes

thanks, but I'd like to pursue this further with Robb first as I've already tried speaking with comcast twice on this matter and haven't gotten nearly a technical (and useful) reply as Robb's. I understand home networks add a lot of different places for error (it is the computer, the cables, the router, the electricity, the software?) but in the end I'm paying for a functional connection and if my cell phone company can do it then I expect my wireline company to do it. – silvervein, on April 30, 2008 08:41

Robb, thanks for the quick reply. Here is the catch, if I just reboot the machine the connection always comes back regardless if I have the router as part of the network or not. So I can't tell if it is the problem. I've had the router for several years and it has worked perfectly until I moved to california and signed up for comcast so its hard to blame the router (thought being an engineer I know hardware malfunctions are possible). Furthermore, when the internet cuts out the router indicates it is still online and so does the cable modem, and so does windows. Plus, as I mentioned, outlook can still get email from the email server (I send an email from my cell to my account and get it). So this is just a really weird problem where I can connect to the email server with Outlook but can't connect to the internet with Internet Explorer nor Firefox. Does this bring up any other ideas? – silvervein, on April 30, 2008 08:37