ZT-ZA, Yggtorrent, how to bypass DNS blocks?

Originally, the Internet was the same for everyone. It didn't matter where you were, or what device you were logging in with, you had access to the same sites.

Since then, things have changed. Legislation got involved and blocking measures were put in place by some states. This is particularly the case of France, which in 2018 set up a blacklist of sites to be blocked. The announcement was made at the time by the famous Hadopi.

Image by Ruben Rubio from Pixabay

Since then, French access providers are required to block access to all sites on this famous list. A list that is constantly updated without the need to go through a court decision.

If the measure is not surprising, it remains on the other hand not very effective. There are indeed many solutions to circumvent the blockages imposed by our suppliers.

We also talked about it at the beginning of the month in an article devoted to ZT-ZA, the spiritual son of Zone-Téléchargement. Many of you reacted by asking us for more details on the solutions mentioned in our post. This file should answer your questions.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative and is intended primarily for the general public. Certain notions have therefore been deliberately popularized.

DNS blocking, how does it work?

When you connect to a site from home, your request is not directly distributed to the server on which it is hosted.

In fact, it transits through several intermediaries operating a bit like gateways: DNS servers. When you seek to access a site, your request therefore goes through the DNS of your operator, whether it is Orange, SFR, Bouygues or even Free.

Precisely, the sites present on the famous blacklist mentioned a little above are all blocked on these famous DNS servers.

Concretely, therefore, if you seek to go to a site present on this blacklist, the DNS server of your operator will not send you to its server. It will apply a technique called “DNS liars” which simply consists of sending the Internet user an error message informing him that the connection has failed.

A rather questionable practice, since the Internet user, for his part, does not know that the site is blocked. He just thinks he closed. Which is of course false. Hence the term “liar DNS”. A much criticized way of doing things since it knowingly misleads the Internet user, while scuttling the very principle of net neutrality.

Two solutions to bypass DNS blocking

But as announced a little above, this practice is far from being fully effective and it is quite possible to circumvent blocking by lying DNS. In fact, it's even very easy to do and anyone can do it.

The two simplest and most popular solutions therefore consist of either changing your DNS servers or going through a VPN.

Bypass blocking by changing DNS

As we have just explained to you, when you ask your browser to access a page, your request first goes through your operator's DNS in order to be sent to other servers which will take care of it. forward to the server where the page is located.

Blocking by DNS, on the other hand, occurs at the level of your ISP. It is therefore this element of the chain that poses the problem.

Alternative DNS

The good news is that nothing forces you to go through the DNS of your operator and you are thus free to change DNS and go through other servers. All you have to do is enter the IP address of the DNS you want to use in your connection settings. We'll explain how to do this later, depending on your platform.

On the other hand, you will have to choose them well in order to maintain correct performance and to ensure the security of your connection.

The following list is not fully exhaustive, but it does point out the most common, secure and efficient DNS:

Cloudflare: The company has quite a few strings to its bow and it notably offers a DNS which has the merit of being both fast and guaranteed without censorship. The server's IP address is also easier to remember since it is 1.1.1.1.

Google: Google also offers its own DNS, DNS which however does not only have fans. If you go through the firm's servers, then the latter will know everything about the sites you visit and the data collected (anonymously) will therefore be likely to be reused in its advertising program. Google offers two IP addresses, namely 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

DNS.Watch: Less known than the other two, DNS.Watch also has strong arguments to make. The service does not log any data and it delivers a fast and reliable connection. The IP address of its DNS is on the other hand a little complicated to remember, 84.200.69.80. Same thing for the secondary address, 84.200.70.40.

Note: The IPs indicated here are of the IPv4 type. If you are in IPv6, you will therefore have to use them for IPv6. They are indicated on the sites of these suppliers.

How to change the DNS of your computer or smartphone?

Now that the scene is set, the time has come to get down to business and learn how to change the DNS of your computer, smartphone or even touch pad.

Procedures may vary from device to device. We will try to be as precise as possible.

Change DNS on Windows 10:

Since Windows 10 is still one of the most used systems in the world today, it seemed obvious to us to start with it.

If you want to change Windows 10 DNS, just follow these steps:

Right-click on the Windows logo in the taskbar;

Look for the “parameters” option;

Click on the “Network and Internet” menu;

Click on the “Network and Sharing Center” menu;

A window appears;

Click on the “change map settings” option in the left side menu;

Right click on the connection you are using;

Select IPv4 or IPv6 protocol;

Click on the “Properties” button;

A window opens;

If the area dedicated to DNS is grayed out, check the option “Use the following DNS server address”;

Simply enter the IP address of one of the DNS mentioned above;

Validate by clicking on “Ok”;

Validate again by clicking on “Ok”;

From there, you will no longer go through your operator's DNS, but through that of the service you have chosen. The sites that were blocked in the blacklist will therefore become accessible again.

Change DNS on macOS:

Windows is done. Now for macOS. Again, the procedure is not very complicated and it only takes a few steps.

So here is what you need to do to change DNS on macOS:

Open System Preferences;

Click on “Networks”;

Select the connection you are using by clicking on it;

Click on the “advanced” button in the right part of the window;

Click on the “DNS” tab;

In the left column, locate the DNS of your operator;

Write down the IP somewhere;

Select your operator's DNS;

Delete it by clicking on the “-” button below;

Now click on the “+” button to add a DNS;

Enter the IP address of one of the DNS mentioned above;

As you can see, the procedure is not very complicated either.

Here's how to change your DNS in three steps on macOS

Note: If you are used to using several WiFi connections or even to alternate between a WiFi connection and an Ethernet connection, you will have to repeat the procedure on each of them.

Change DNS on Android:

We now come to smartphones and tablets. In both cases, the procedure will be the same.

So just follow these steps on your device:

Go to Android settings;

Tap on “networks and internet”;

Go to “Advanced Preferences”;

Tap on “Private DNS”;

Select the provider hostname;

Then indicate the address of the host according to the chosen service;

Validate;

Be careful though, because here you will not have to enter the IP addresses, but the following host names:

Cloudflare: one.one.one.one or 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com;

Google: dns.google;

DNS.Watch: resolver1.dns.watch;

On Android, there are one or two small subtleties to be aware of

Change DNS on iOS (and iPadOS):

Again, it is also possible to change your DNS on an iPhone or iPad. The procedure is quite simple.

Simply follow the following steps:

Go to the “settings”;

Tap on “WiFi”;

Check that you are connected to the WiFi network whose DNS you want to change;

Tap on the small “i” located to the right of its name;

Scroll down the page;

Tap, at the very bottom, on the “configure DNS” button;

A new page opens;

Switch the DNS to “manual” mode;

Modify the DNS address with the IPs mentioned above;

Validate;

You can also change your DNS on iOS

Unlike Android, iOS will be fully capable of supporting IPs so you won't have to use a hostname.

Bypass blocking through a VPN

If you do not want to touch the DNS of your connection, you have another solution which consists in relying on VPNs.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a virtual private network. If a metaphor had to be used, it could be described as a secure tunnel through which your data will pass. The idea being of course to protect everything that goes out and everything that happens on your computer.

Technically, when you go through a VPN, you don't connect directly to public servers. Your computer, smartphone or tablet begins by establishing a secure connection with your provider. All your requests therefore go through its servers, which also means that you no longer use your operator's DNS.

Going through a VPN therefore makes it possible to circumvent the blocking measures imposed by the latter.

However, this is not the only use of these private networks. I'm not going to go into too much detail so as not to disturb you, but know that a VPN can also be used for a lot of other little things like:

Secure access when connecting from an open WiFi network (and therefore potentially dangerous);

Bypass content restrictions in place in certain markets;

Show off in the evening;

Concretely, with a VPN, you will therefore be able to limit the risk of interception of your data, but also access the US Netflix catalog and impress your brother-in-law during the next family meal.

Choose your VPN

Normally, it's at this point in the article that I'm supposed to get you our affiliate links. However, this will not be the case here, the main objective being to present you with several solutions.

Well, ok, we're also going to highlight one of our partnerships, but that's because it's financially very interesting.

1/ IvacyVPN:

This is the partnership in question. Ivacy VPN has launched an interesting offer for the five-year plan, a plan that will cost you less than €60 with the code Fredzone10 and therefore less than one euro per month. Like the permit, but not completely either.

To learn more about this offer, it is best to consult our previous article, which is waiting for you here.

Note that the solution is quite simple to configure and it is rated 4.8 out of 5 by Trustpilot, with no less than 1,350 reviews.

2/ PureVPN:

We currently have no agreement with Pure VPN at the time of this writing, but this provider is also very popular with Internet users. Easy to set up, it offers all the functions that one is entitled to expect from a service of this type.

Again, the service is well rated on Trustpilot with a rating of 4.7 out of 5 for over 12,000 reviews.

3/ NorthVPN:

Again, as of today, we have no commercial agreement with this service provider, but it was impossible not to mention it.

NordVPN has indeed good press and is very popular with Internet users. On the other hand, it is a little less well rated on Trustpilot with an average of 4.1 out of 5 for less than 6,000 reviews.

This list is of course not exhaustive. There are dozens and dozens of different providers. These three, on the other hand, have been tested by us and they respond to the problems mentioned in this article.