Is Pi-Hole Any Good Anymore?

[ChrisLoudon]

Hi guys, pretty much says everything in the title.

 

A couple of years ago I had Pi-Hole running perfectly on a small home server and was pretty happy with the results.

 

Recently though, I decided to get it up and running on my Unraid server and its appears to be useless.

 

From what I can tell from the Pi-Hole dashboard, the correct clients are connected and the dash is reporting various blocks happening but I'm not seeing any tangible results on the client side.

 

Any ideas?

[Eigenvektor]

I would look at it as just another layer of defense. At worst, it's simply a caching DNS server, so it will speed up DNS lookups. At best it will block some bad stuff. For optimal results combine it with the usual browser plugins.

 

If it shows stuff being blocked, then it is clearly doing something. You not seeing anything on the client side is kind of the point

[ChrisLoudon]

10 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I would look at it as just another layer of defense. At worst, it's simply a caching DNS server, so it will speed up DNS lookups. At best it will block some bad stuff. For optimal results combine it with the usual browser plugins.

 

If it shows stuff being blocked, then it is clearly doing something. You not seeing anything on the client side is kind of the point

Thanks for the info.

 

Yeh, the dash is reporting activity and blocks but when I go to a site that was built to test whether Pi-Hole is working or not, it doesn't seem to work.

 

What's your recommendation for a good Chrome Browser plugin? I can't stand ads so would be prepared to pay a fee if its not a free service.

 

 

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Chrome Browser plugin?

My recommendation would be to ditch Chrome and use Firefox with uBlock Origin

[ToboRobot]

Yeah, PiHole works great, I have it running on my network after being disappointed in the Unifi tools.  You do need to find some good adlists thought.

[ChrisLoudon]

6 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

You do need to find some good adlists thought.

Any help / pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

What adlists do you use?

 

Cheers

[jaslion]

10 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

What's your recommendation for a good Chrome Browser plugin? I can't stand ads so would be prepared to pay a fee if its not a free service.

Chrome is VERY anti adblocker. Making moves to band them outright or break them a couple times a year for the last 5+ years.

 

If you want true adfree use firefox + ublock origin. The difference between ublock on chrome vs firefox is astounding.

 

 

[ToboRobot]

4 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Any help / pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

What adlists do you use?

 

Cheers

https://avoidthehack.com/best-pihole-blocklists

 

 

[ChrisLoudon]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Chrome is VERY anti adblocker. Making moves to band them outright or break them a couple times a year for the last 5+ years.

 

If you want true adfree use firefox + ublock origin. The difference between ublock on chrome vs firefox is astounding.

Yeh, I kinda thought this might be the case.

 

The problem is, my business Epos system's back office interface isn't Firefox friendly so I'm stuck with Chrome and I hate Edge.

 

Pi-Hole used to work great so maybe I just need a good ad-list.

[ChrisLoudon]

2 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

https://avoidthehack.com/best-pihole-blocklists

Thanks mate,

 

I'll give that a try over the weekend.

[Needfuldoer]

Try flushing the DNS resolver cache on your PC. If it already has ad server IPs and names cached, it may not look them up on a server.

 

Personally, I run Privacy Badger in Chrome on my PCs.

[jaslion]

Just now, ChrisLoudon said:

Yeh, I kinda thought this might be the case.

 

The problem is, my business Epos system's back office interface isn't Firefox friendly so I'm stuck with Chrome and I hate Edge.

 

Pi-Hole used to work great so maybe I just need a good ad-list.

Can't you use 2 browsers?

 

Its what I do at work all the time since I work with ancient software often.

[ChrisLoudon]

29 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Can't you use 2 browsers?

I hate doing that. I know I shouldn't but.....

 

30 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Personally, I run Privacy Badger in Chrome on my PCs.

Will give that a bash