The next time you request to access that same website, there will be a redirection to a fake and corrupted URL. Hackers can access and corrupt your saved DNS cache records.įor example, they could manipulate and change the IP address associated with a Domain Name of a website you have already visited and map it to a malicious one. Flushing the DNS cache prevents network security threats, malicious attacks, and DNS cache poisoning from happening.When DNS updates happen on a website, your Mac is still using the old, inaccurate information to load the requested page.įlushing the DNS cache makes sure cache information is up to date. Keep in mind that your local cache information can become outdated over time. You may be getting DNS errors in your browser, such as the 'DNS Server Not Responding' message when trying to access a site and establish a connection. Flushing DNS is a helpful step for troubleshooting Internet connectivity issues.You should flush the DNS cache for a few reasons. When you visit that same website for the second time, the lookup process is more efficient, and the lookup time is much shorter.

It temporarily stores and keeps track of your computer's activity records like recent website visits.Įach time you visit a website by typing its URL (short for Uniform Resource Locator), the DNS cache will save the IP address associated with that website. Think of the DNS cache as a local storage area on your Mac. Their format is not that human-friendly since it is hard to remember an exact sequence of numbers each time you want to visit a website.ĭNS then maps to its associated IP address - 104.26.3.33. These numbers identify a device connected to the Internet. IP addresses (IP is short for Internet Protocol) is an address that is machine-readable and consists of a unique series of numbers. Think of what a phonebook does – it maps a person's name to their respected phone number.ĭNS (short for Domain Name System) maps domain names to their associated IP addresses.Ī domain name, such as, is easily read, understood, and recalled by humans. How to clear DNS Cache for your MacOS versionĭNS acts much like an internet phonebook.How to access the terminal application on MacOS.Here is what we'll discuss in this guide: In this tutorial, you will learn why flushing your DNS cache is important, and how you can clear the cache on your local system.

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