"Resolving Host..."

[Mildredop]

(Not sure if this is the right place to post this)

My Mac often hangs when on the internet. I'm forever seeing it say "Resolving host..." when loading a webpage (outlook.com is particularly bad - it can take several minutes) and then often just says the site can't be reached.

What is it about the host that my Mac is trying to resolve??

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

The "resolving host" is name resolution - it is taking a name like "outlook.com" and resolving it to an actual internet address. Do you have any other devices on the same network? Do any of them exhibit the same problem? You can check your current name server settings by going to settings->network->choose the network connection on left->advances->DNS tab.

 

[JohnDS]

Your local ISP's name servers may be slow. In the DNS tab referred to by Scooby try adding the following two DNS servers (these are Google's public servers):

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

(You add them by clicking on the + button at the bottom left of the panel)