Fixing Vista’s Slow Domain Name Resolution Problem

Some of us reluctantly use Windows Vista Business on laptops. Recently, when I returned to the world of 100 Mbps fiber at home from a world where T-1 at the office is just beginning to be a pride-and-joy, I discovered that my Thinkpad takes a heck of a lot of time to resolve hosts. Fearing that someone has tinkered with my wireless N router connected to a 100 mbps-at-home fiber, I started checking everything except for the not-so-true-IBM-anymore Mr. Lenovo. I quickly realized that all other laptops are working just fine, except for the one that was with me on a 32-hour long-haul journey from one end of the Earth to another. I wondered if my Thinkpad is having a jet lag or not.

Finally, all roads built by Google pointed to Microsoft Vista. It appears that there is a Base Filtering service that is supposed to be very helpful with security. Of course, immediately I realized that Microsoft and security in the same sentence is an oxymoron. I quickly turned off the Base Filtering service, despite everyone saying it will put my Thinkpad in great danger. I had my sanity back after I saw that DNS client in Windows is now resolving as fast it could before.

I turned off the Base Filtering Service to get Vista to resolve host names as usual.

Be warned that the Vista experts advice against turning off the Base Filtering service until this issue is resolved by Microsoft. Basically, you need to suffer sluggish DNS resolving problem until Microsoft is kind enough to make another update to fix this and possibly break something else. If you are suffering from this, choose your pill wisely. I went with the blue pill — blissful ignorance.

Cheers.