Quite often you can resolve web connection issues by flushing your possibly corrupted or out of date system DNS cache. To flush the DNS cache whilst using Microsoft Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 is relatively trivial, making use of the standard ipconfig executable.

First, we need to open a command prompt running under Administrator rights:

  1. Click the Microsoft Start Button in the bottom left corner of the screen
  2. Click All Programs
  3. Click Accessories
  4. Right-click on Command Prompt
  5. Select Run As Administrator

In the command window type the following and then hit enter: 

ipconfig /flushdns

If everything runs correctly, you should see the following confirmation:

Windows IP Configuration Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache

Nifty.