SOLVED Trying to understand DNS

[jrj350]

I am trying to get a grip on DNS, but am totally confused.
I took the following steps today:
First I typed in command prompt the following: ipconfig/flushdns
Then I typed in: ipconfig.display dns
The printout indicated there was nothing to display.

I open the Firefox browser to the home page which is,"Startpage".
That's all.
I close the browser.
I now call up the command prompt and type; "ipconfig/displaydns
I see 97 different connections or sites or whatever they are.
Some of them I recognize, like Google, which had 15 different entries under one heading, 6 under a different heading, and so on.
Would some kind soul tell me, in simple terms for a simple mind, what are all those sites?
I would appreciate it.
Thanks for reading -

 

[jrj350]

Just to add a bit more. I know that the DNS cache stores the addresses of sites that I have visited. What I don't understand is if I do not visit any sites, why is there so much data available? I flush the DNS, open a browser to its home page and end up with nearly 100 addresses. I don't understand this.

 

[Grizzly]

Visiting one site is only what you see. In the background however, other sites are loaded as well usually through ad-servers. You would be surprised how connected a single website actually is, giving the meaning WEB a whole new understanding.

 

[jrj350]

Okay, I didn't realize how many. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Grizzly]

Years ago I had an addon for my Firefox that was able to show how websites are connected with each other. I thought I bookmarked it but I cannot find it anymore. Just visiting one of my favorite sites exploited dozens of other websites that were connected with it as well, it was shocking to say the least and I am sure it has not lessend at all...