Hi, I was wondering, is it useful to use multiple adblockers in a row?
I don’t mean 4 or five 5 browser extensions more like a chain of adblockers, one on every passing network point.
Adblock DNS -> Pi-Hole -> Linux System with hBlock -> Browser with uBlock Origin
I have only a 10 Mbit Internet connection, so I fear that this would slowdown pageloads to much. On the other hand there are filterlists that uBlock can use where as Pi-Hole can’t.
So what combination does make sense (is efficient in every aspect) and what do you use?
I personally only run pihole and ublock origin. Pihole takes care of the most stuff, ublock picks up the leftovers where domain blocking is not good enough. I’d like to believe this saves some juice on battery powered devices, but I’ve never actually measured it nor noticed it.
I do the same. It’s a fantastic, heavily customizable combo that hasn’t failed me once
Same config although I also use nextdns on my phone as I don’t want an outside connection to pihole.
If you have a way to run wireguard - it’s a lifesaver. My LAN is wherever I am :)
Your solution isn’t going to hurt anything. It might be overkill, but it will definitely work.
Ultimately, I think you only really need 2 of the solutions you mentioned.
- A network wide DNS blocker, such as Pi-hole, to catch the majority of ads.
- A browser ad blocker, such as uBlock Origin, for the rest.
the rule of thumb here is that you should really just use one browser ad blocker. having multiple will conflict especially regarding anti-adblocker prevention (as uBO will try to hide itself and redirect to a “defused” version of an ad script and whatever other ad blocker you have will think that’s an ad and block it)
not entirely sure how well DNS ad blockers fit into this. there is a chance they could make your ad blocking detectable by blocking a request uBO intentionally lets through (possibly in a modified state), but as far as i’m aware there haven’t been too many issues stemming from combining DNS blockers with uBO and the likes.
Multiple browser adblockers will also make your browser fingerprint more unique, which is undesirable for privacy reasons.
One problem is… when you want to allow a blocked domain. It can be time consuming and confusing trying to track down which one of those things is actually stopping you.
How to Geek basically wants to whitelist the internet in order to get to their bloody site. Which is a shame as I like their content.
True. I recommend a DNS based adblocker like Pi-hole and an extra adblocker like uBO in your browser. If you can’t access a website you’ll immediately know who is the culprit blocking the site you’re trying to access.
I’d do DNS filter + uBlock
uBlock Origin explicitly advises against this. If it’s the only content blocker it doesn’t currently have issues with YouTube, if you have multiple you’ll probably hit the “disable your adblocker” warning.
The first three are using identical techniques so combining them is of very limited benefit. They’re mostly there to cover software that doesn’t have an ad blocker.
I’d stick with just ublock origin.
I’m using pi-hole + uBlock origin.
Adblock DNS, Pi-Hole, hBlock - these three do essentially same thing but at different layers - blocking DNS requests based on blacklists. I’m not familiar with hBlock, but I assume blacklists on each of these 3 are very similar. Using all three doesn’t slow down your internet connection much, unless your pihole server is underpowered. You can drop pi-hole from the mix if you are not using it’s other features (statistics, local DNS, etc). hBlock looks nice, and should add zero latency, but works only for local machine. So you still need network-wide blocker. Make sure you set your DNS on router, so all devices would get protection.
uBlock Origin is smarter than simple DNS blocking, but protects only your browser sessions.
PiHole blocks DNS resolutions, the crap sites won’t even open in the browser, etc. AdNauseam and uBlock Origin use the same engine and lists, so they overlap.
An adblock dns, something like nextdns, or others won’t do anything to harm you Internet speed. They are just resolving a dns query, and saying nothing or no to a blocked query.
It can catch what cannot be blocked by an adblockers on the device, because outside of the website or something.
I don’t know about pihole tho.
DNS blocking doesn’t affect speed, but anything that blocks elements inside a page or a script running in the background does. But it shouldn’t really be noticeable from the internet perspective.
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Couldn’t you just use unlock origin? If it doesn’t work for you out of the box you can add blocklists
It don’t make sense, most adblocker use the same sources, if not enough, most of them perm`ts to ad own filters, even from other adblockers. Aditional extensions can be other privacy tols, like script nlocker or fingerprint spoofer, like Privacy Badger, Canvas Blocker, JShelter, etc., and others like Link Unshortener, URL Cleaner, things like this, complementary to the adblocker. Use several adblocker only slow down browsing or even can breaksome pages.
Just fyi: recently EFF is creating Privacy Badger browser add-on and GNU also has LibreJS. They’re technically not ad-blockers, though; apparently a tracker-blocker and a non-free-script-blocker, respectively.
Different tools for different things…
Unlock etc are browser plugins and only block ads in browsers.
pi-hole blocks DNS requests to advertising domains. It blocks ads, tracking data, etc. not only on my browser-based systems, but on other connected devices like smart TVs, media players, etc.
If anything it will make things load faster as you’re blocking a massive steaming pile of ads, trackers, etc
