DNS Jumper 2.0 gets better automation options

Several companies and organizations, among them Google or Symantec, started their own public DNS services back in 2009.

While most do still offer these services, new service announcements or updates seem to break the news seldom these days.

The first version of DNS Jumper was released by its author in the same year. Back then, it provided functionality to quickly switch to DNS servers of select providers with the click of the mouse button on Windows.

The author improved the program over the years, for instance by adding a speed test to the application to find the fastest DNS provider, and released version 2.0 of the application a couple of days ago.

DNS Jumper 2.0 ships with a new set of features that existing and new users will certainly find useful. The core interface itself has not changed. The network adapter and DNS server menus are displayed on launch which you can use to make an initial selection.

You may add custom DNS servers, and switch from IPv4 to IPv6 DNS if that is required. There you also find the DNS server speed test to find the fastest server available, and options to flush the DNS cache or apply the currently selected server manually.

The benchmark was improved in several ways in the new release. The first new feature improves the time it takes to run a complete benchmark using all existing servers. You may also notice that some servers return information in version 2.0 of the program which did not in previous versions.

The author added an automatic option to switch to another resolve method when ping does not return values.

The time to complete tests is cut significantly if you enable the Turbo Resolve option. While you can still go through the results manually to pick one of the available servers, you may also make use of a new startup parameter to run the speed test on startup and apply the fastest server automatically.

You may still add, group and remove servers as you see fit. This can be extremely useful if you use the new startup option as it allows you to limit which servers get tested and enabled. If you don't want particular servers to be selected, you may remove them from the list of DNS servers to make sure that this is the case.

The program's group support is another useful option. Groups are lists of DNS servers that you want to separate from others. DNS Jumper 2.0 ships with two additional groups family DNS and secure DNS besides the default group.

Since you can create and manage your own groups, it is theoretically possible to add new ones, for instance country-specific groups to the application.

DNS Jumper 2.0 supports the exporting and importing of DNS lists. You find the option in the program settings.

This can be useful if you use the program on multiple systems and have added custom DNS information or groups to it.

Closing Words

DNS Jumper 2.0 is a portable program for Windows that can be customized easily, for instance to remove servers from the list of default DNS servers or to add custom servers to it.

Improvements made to the DNS benchmark, the new auto-benchmarking and setting option, and import/export functionality make a great program even better.

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