A few months ago I used Time Warner / Road Runner as my ISP here in San Diego and one day I typed in a web address that didn’t exist. Normally, the internet and my browser work well together by simply giving me some kind of error page. On that fatal day, instead, my browser redirected me to some crappy hijacked ad-filled interception page.
I did find a way to fix it, and shared that information with you. You were thankful, so I’m happy to share some more info, but this time from Cox.
When we came back from France, we moved to downtown San Diego and of course the first thing I did was get internet. It’s my life-blood. So, we got Cox cable this time because that’s who serves our area.
Today, I ran into the same issue that we saw before. Cox did what’s called a DNS hijack. They say they do this because it’s better for their customers to find what they are looking for (which they really aren’t), but if they were honest and transparent they’d really tell us it’s a way to make a few more bucks. All the “search results” are just sponsored ads from one of the major ad networks. And, as I’m not really opposed to them trying to make extra money, it doesn’t provide value to the end consumer, so it’s pretty slimy. Oh, and it breaks the way the internet was supposed to work.
Now, all that to say, Cox does still give us a DNS setting that we can use to get back to normal. Straight from their support website, here’s how you can “fix” the problem:
How to Turn off Cox’s 404 (DNS) Hijacking
From the Start menu, click Control Panel.
In Category View, click Network and Internet Connections.
Click Network Connections.
From the Network Connections window, right-click Local Area Connection and select Properties.
From the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click Properties.
- From the General tab, click Use the following DNS server addresses.
- Enter the following Preferred and Alternate DNS Server Addresses in order:
- 68.105.28.13
- 68.105.29.13
- Click OK.
Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties window.
All steps complete.
Nate, are those Cox’s alternate DNS servers? Or they they something like OpenDNS?
These are Cox’s alternate DNS servers. Open DNS is completely different.
Thanks! I just wanted to make sure.
I would’ve verified it myself but you didn’t link to Cox’s support website and I’m too lazy to look for it! :)
I’ve been using OpenDNS (208.67.222.222/208.67.220.220) for almost three years without any problems. Great DNS service without the local provider agenda.
Thanks, guys!
I did a video blog on this same subject. If anyone wants to see it. http://scottcate.com/blog/coxredirectinglivesearch/
The new alternate DNS address works perfect. Thank you for this. I discovered today that cox hijacked my DNS and was very upset. Is it possible to provide the source to those alternate addresses?
Hey Jason, sorry for the delayed response… but I’m not sure what you mean by the “source to those alternate addresses”. They are Cox’s alternate addresses.
I do like Chris’s idea of using OpenDNS instead though, because you can set that on your computer and never worry about the ISP you’re on.
You can also set up your wireless router to do the same so you won’t have to configure every PC in the house. Google also has public DNS servers at:
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
Works for me when I was getting the Cox hijacking…
Thank you so much. Cox Cable was being a jerk and wouldn’t help me disable the DNS. I needed this to work remotely. This worked perfectly.
Thanks, Nate! After being forwarded to Cox’s useless suggested links one too many times, I found your page, updated my router’s DNS settings, and am now admiring Chrome’s nice, simple Error 105 message.
My pleasure Ryan. Thanks for commenting.
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.2
worked to rid me of the awful Cox browser hijacking.
I have no idea who you are, but I think I’m in love with you ;)
I just moved to San Diego and could not figure out what the heck the problem was with my laptop all of a sudden. It’s been driving me absolutely batty. Thank you sooooooo much!!
works like a charm, thanks alot
btw, these are not region specific, i was worried because you said you lived in CA, but they work fine here in VA too
Just followed the steps you provided and it worked like a charm. Thanks so much, Nate!
Nate! I cannot thank you enough for this information. I could not locate it at the Cox support site, and I learned the hard way that you don’t call or email Cox about it. They say it is a problem with IE or Firefox. I’m not illiterate. I can read finder.cox.net, even though it has to appear on a braille display.
My pleasure Suzanne. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to comment here. I appreciate it.
Great post. I always wondered why cox did this. Just annoying but I got used to it but today I said to myself why and how to fix. lol