Is there any way to block ads on a Win 11 system that's locked down by work?

[JuicyMullet]

Just the question above. Hope this is the right sub to post this in.

I listen to brown/green noise to relax on YouTube while I work, and sometimes the occasional tech video as I'm waiting for tickets to come in or vendors to respond.

 

Our company has locked out extensions for all browsers, so I was wondering if I could edit the blocklist file that MS Edge creates when you turn on adblocking within the browser. It looks like it only blocks explicit sites, but I was wondering if I couldn't get any/all addresses from the "Advertising Lists" section of Firebog.net.

The path is C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Ad Blocking\blocklist
 

It looks like it's a bunch of addresses to block there, although they aren't listed in any form or order, just a continuous page of blocks.

Anyone know if it's possible to edit the blocklist.txt file in any way so I can block ads manually?

[Blasty Blosty]

Sorry I'm not sure how to fix the issue, but just wondering could you contact the IT department to install an ad-blocker? They shouldn't really have a reason not to.

[Eigenvektor]

If it's for work, I would talk to company IT. It's likely in their best interest to block that as well (e.g. for security reasons)

[Needfuldoer]

We can't help you bypass restrictions on your work computer, but maybe we can find a different solution to your problem.

 

Can you find a long MP3 of noise to play instead of leaving YouTube rolling?

[JuicyMullet]

1 minute ago, Needfuldoer said:

We can't help you bypass restrictions on your work computer, but maybe we can find a different solution to your problem.

 

Can you find a long MP3 of noise to play instead of leaving YouTube rolling?

Oh I'm in IT. Not looking to do anything against our company policy, just wanted to see if it was possible to add a blocklist to that .txt file and manually block ads coming in. 

We don't trust extensions due to data sharing/gathering. I was more or less hoping to create my own blocklist locally. 

I'm wondering if setting up a PiHole at my house would work for blocking ads on the work PC when I work from home (which is most of the time), but I'm not sure it would have any effect because we tunnel into work with a VPN.

[Needfuldoer]

11 minutes ago, JuicyMullet said:

I'm wondering if setting up a PiHole at my house would work for blocking ads on the work PC when I work from home (which is most of the time), but I'm not sure it would have any effect because we tunnel into work with a VPN.

It would be a lot easier to use yt-dlp to download the noise video you use and rip the audio out as an MP3. I don't know what your policies are regarding removable storage devices, but you could also play it on your phone or get a cheap MP3 player.

[Dedayog]

45 minutes ago, JuicyMullet said:

Just the question above. Hope this is the right sub to post this in.

I listen to brown/green noise to relax on YouTube while I work, and sometimes the occasional tech video as I'm waiting for tickets to come in or vendors to respond.

 

Our company has locked out extensions for all browsers, so I was wondering if I could edit the blocklist file that MS Edge creates when you turn on adblocking within the browser. It looks like it only blocks explicit sites, but I was wondering if I couldn't get any/all addresses from the "Advertising Lists" section of Firebog.net.

The path is C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Ad Blocking\blocklist
 

It looks like it's a bunch of addresses to block there, although they aren't listed in any form or order, just a continuous page of blocks.

Anyone know if it's possible to edit the blocklist.txt file in any way so I can block ads manually?

Why can't you do all that thru your phone and earbuds?  

 

I doubt your company forbids use of personal devices.

[ImWilly]

1 hour ago, JuicyMullet said:

"Advertising Lists"

I'm not sure if it's a silver bullet, but you could try to install "WinAero Tweaker"

Try 'disable telemetry' (data collection for Windows) and 'Ads and unwanted apps' (and some settings with video reference as below)

 

It is supposed for Windows Store ads, but it might be applicable for the new ads pushed from Windows 11 OS

 

Edited May 9 by ImWilly

[Levent]

37 minutes ago, JuicyMullet said:

I'm wondering if setting up a PiHole at my house would work for blocking ads on the work PC when I work from home (which is most of the time), but I'm not sure it would have any effect because we tunnel into work with a VPN.

Generally speaking this depends on the configuration. If your IT is competent enough to capture all DNS requests then you are out luck. You should talk to them though.

[OddOod]

Have you tried MyNoise? I've been supporting them for nearly a decade 
https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php

 

[OddOod]

As for bypassing work restrictions? Mmmmm, that's *really* close to breaking forum rules, but if you WFH, you should be able to point your router at a pi-hole. If you're at work? You'd either have to VPN or hotspot->VPN which likely wouldn't work well

[manikyath]

dont mess with equipment work gives you. if you want to listen to adblocked youtube, bring a mobile device and earbuds.

[JuicyMullet]

13 minutes ago, manikyath said:

dont mess with equipment work gives you. if you want to listen to adblocked youtube, bring a mobile device and earbuds.

It's not going to break any policy. I was really just hoping to add to the list of the blocklist.txt sites that are found in the Edge folder. It already has plenty of sites that it blocks, but they're mostly adult advertising websites. The list is generated from Edge, not my company. 

I figure if anything I'm actually making my PC MORE secure by blocking those ads if I could add to the list. 

[JuicyMullet]

53 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Have you tried MyNoise? I've been supporting them for nearly a decade 
https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php

 

OK, this is actually a REALLY cool find. 

Thanks.

[JuicyMullet]

1 hour ago, ImWilly said:

I'm not sure if it's a silver bullet, but you could try to install "WinAero Tweaker"

Try 'disable telemetry' (data collection for Windows) and 'Ads and unwanted apps' (and some settings with video reference as below)

 

It is supposed for Windows Store ads, but it might be applicable for the new ads pushed from Windows 11 OS

 

This is blocked, but thanks for the advice anyways! 

To be clear to everyone, I'm not trying to skirt around my company's policies. From what I can tell, the blocklist found at C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Ad Blocking\blocklist looks like it's a list of addresses that Edge is blocking by reading the .txt file. I just wanted to see if anyone knew if it was possible to manually add to that list to block all ad related traffic. 

[OddOod]

25 minutes ago, JuicyMullet said:

I just wanted to see if anyone knew if it was possible to manually add to that list to block all ad related traffic.

If you have write access to that file, you could just edit it. It might update every boot/logon/hour but you can just have a script that checks it every minute and updates it