slow dns lookup

[Tyler Smith <tyler.smith@mail.mcgill.ca>]

Hi,

I've got a minor problem with name resolution (I think). When browsing
the net or downloading email I occassionally (a few times an hour) get
hung-up - the particular webserver or email server cannot be found.
Invariably this can be remedied by immediately reloading the webpage or
hitting "Get Mail" in Thunderbird again. This happens on Etch and WinXP
on the same machine, so I'm guessing the problem is not at my end.

I was wondering if nscd would help? It sounds like the sort of thing it
does, but the description suggests not to use it unless I'm using LDAP
or NIS or NIS+. I don't know what the ISP is using at their end.

Suggestions?

Tyler