Japanatron Logo

The Roku media player has Google's free public DNS (8.8.8.8) hard-coded into it.  This is great for DNS redundancy, but totally sucks if you use an unblock service to watch Netflix abroad (see this: How to Watch Netflix in Japan).  From time to time my Roku would insist on using Google's DNS, so Netflix would no longer work properly.  Boooo!  There are 2 comparable ways to fix this:

Add a Null Route to Your Router
Most basic home routers allow you to add custom routes.  Add a route to 8.8.8.8 that goes to the loopback address (127.0.0.1).  Called a "null route," all traffic going to Google's DNS will simply be dropped.  Problem solved.

Add a Rule to Your Firewall
If you have something more feature-rich than a basic home router, you can add a rule to your firewall that blocks access to 8.8.8.8.  Be sure to include UDP as that's what DNS uses.  The advantage of the rule approach is customizability.  You can still allow other PCs on your network access to Google's DNS if desired.

Related Articles

My 30-Day Trial of Google Apps...

Although I adore running my own mail server, I was curious about Google Apps for Work, specifically Gmail for Work.  Could it block spam as effectively as my ow...

Why Linux is Cool

Linux proudly sits in a very special place in the heart of the IT world. Watching Linux pros clack away at the command line inspires a sense of awe and ador...

FreeNAS - Bi-Directional Rsync...

Go to /root on 1st server. ssh root@server1 cd /root FreeNAS OS drive is mounted read-only, so mount it RW. mount -o rw / Generate an RSA key & leave the ...

Joomla - How to Modify RSSocia...

RSSocial is an awesome free Joomla extension I use to display social media icons on my site.  Since it uses the Fontello Zocial font kit, I figured out how to m...