flushing dns cache

You, or someone using your computer, may have modified the system file /etc/hosts.

Back up all data. This is a simple procedure, but if you don't follow the instructions exactly, you could be left with an unbootable system. In that case, you'll have to restore from a backup or reinstall OS X.

If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:

open -e /etc/hosts

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). A TextEdit window should open. At the top of the window, you should see this:

##

# Host Database

#

# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface

# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.

##

127.0.0.1 localhost

255.255.255.255 broadcasthost

::1 localhost

fe80::1%lo0 localhost

Below that, you'll see some other lines. There should be nothing above the first line "##". If you have any doubt about that, STOP and ask for guidance. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom of the document. Scroll bars are hidden by default until you actually start scrolling, so you may not realize that you’re not seeing the whole document.

If the contents of the TextEdit window are as described, close it, then enter the following command in the Terminal window in the same way as before (by copy and paste):

sudo sed -i~ '11,$d' /etc/hosts

This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Confirm. Quit Terminal.

If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Log in as one and start over.

That will fix the hosts file. There is now a copy of the old hosts file with the name "hosts~" in the same folder as "hosts". You can delete the copy if you wish. Don't delete the file named "hosts".

Actually it is letting you enter your password. When authenticating in Terminal, OS X does show as you type so you do not see any indication of the characters you are actually typing. After entering the dns flush cache command, type your password and hit enter. If successful, you will not get an error and will see a new prompt line.

The new prompt line means the command took successfully.

How do you know "the rest of the world can access it fine"?

How long has your website been live on the web?