Are you still using your service provider’s DNS servers? If you’re on Comcast, you probably noticed their DNS servers completely died recently, taking down the internet—but anybody using the more reliable OpenDNS or Google DNS had no problems. Here’s how to set it up on your Mac OS X computer.

There’s lots of other reasons to use OpenDNS or Google DNS other than just their rock-solid reliability—they are often much faster than your ISP’s DNS server, and in the case of OpenDNS, there’s loads of extra features like content filtering, typo correction, anti-phishing, and child protection controls.

If you’re using Windows, be sure and check out some of our other articles on the subject:

• Speed Up Your Web Browsing with Google Public DNS
• Easily Add OpenDNS To Your Router
• Protect Your Kids Online Using Open DNS

Otherwise, keep reading for how to set it up on your Mac.