DNS address same as my gateway address

[comp builder]

I have assigned my xbox 360 a static ip address so i can port forward to that address, anyway i was bored so i thought i would make all the computers in the house static ip.
I went into 'command' to find out my ip address (i typed in ipconfig /all) and i noticed that i had only 1 DNS address and it was the same as the gateway address (192.168.1.1). I looked this up on google and apprently it means that the DNS is 'caching' off the gateway.
I'm not too sure what this means, but i think it means it's taking up speed. So is there anyway to change my DNS address? or dosn't it matter?

also in my router there are 2 DNS addresses and they are 91.x.x.x, however when i type these in the internet dosn't work???


one last question lol
is there any point in me assigning static ip's to my computers or does it make me more vunerable to hackers?
what i mean is once they ip scan and find my address with it being static they can just keep coming back to it

 

[MHayes]

DNS is kind of like a phone book, it shouldn't affect download speed but only the resolving of domain names, some routers assign themselves as the DNS server and then do DNS lookups themselves, it can help reduce external traffic or most likely kill the router.

you need to find your ISPs servers and enter them or factory reset the router to clear the cache to speed things up.. Who is your ISP?

static IP is fine, it is still a local IP so no real increased security risk

 

[tolien]

It isn't "taking up speed", and it might be beneficial to use your router's ability to work as a caching DNS (especially if your ISP's DNS servers are crap). It might also cause issues, so you're generally better pointing at your ISP's DNS servers.

There's no real point to manually assigning your machines static IPs, except that the IPs won't ever change (but you can achieve that and still use DHCP). It doesn't change things security-wise, because the only IP that's visible is your router's IP - how you address the machines behind the router doesn't change.

 

[comp builder]

i'm with orange broadband. I know everyone thinks they're crap but to be honest i don't have a problem with them. I have the 8mb one, although i'm only getting 4mb but as i understand that is a hell of a lot from orange. On top of that i got a £430 laptop for £70 (i joined the offer ****** were making)

I think i may just leave it as is. With all the people complaining i'm beginning to wonder wether they are using orange DNS servers instead of the router acting as a DNS server


Thanks for all the help so quickly guys, thats why i love this forum

 

[LordSplodge]

If you set the Primary and Secondary DNS entries to your ISPs DNS then you should get an Internet connection.

All you router is doing is DNS Forwarding any lookups that are not on your network to the DNS servers at your ISP.

I have a couple of statics (360 and my computer) but the rest are DHCP assigned, again my router does this, but soon I will have a server that will do DNS and DHCP.

 

[Baz]

Don't worry about it being the same as the router, as said about, the router either can act as a DNS cache, or forwards DNS requests on to it's listed DNS servers.