PiHole

How to reduce AdTracking with Fritz!Box filter lists for mobile devices

Problem: I am using Pi-Hole on my network to block quite a few ADs and trackers. However, the blocking does not work reliably on Android devices on our WiFi (This thread suggests that this also concerns Apple devices – but we don’t have any at home, though).

I noticed this when I was researching some cycling products and my wife suddenly started getting cycling ADs in her Facebook stream on her tablet. We don’t share devices or accounts or anything – but we do share the same network and therefore the IP of our router.

SmartTVs going from bad to worse?

When we bought a new TV a couple of years ago, I was really to use all the Smart features from our SmartTV. But after a while the discomfort has outweighed the features. Recently we had the opportunity to “test” a newer SmartTV in a hotel and I must admit – it hasn’t gotten better! But I was surprised that the rabbit hole was even deeper and darker than I would have expected …

How to fix: Android Connected, No Internet with Pi-Hole

Since quite a while I was running a Pi-Hole DNS server in my network to block ad- & tracking requests for all devices in the network (more info about Pi-hole are on Wikipedia).

All was great until at some time our Android devices suddenly couldn’t connect to the WiFi anymore. They reported “Connected, No Internet“. All other devices, connected via LAN or WiFi were just fine: PCs, FireTV Stick, other PIs – no issues. When I disabled the use of PiHole, they were able to connect again.

How to get simple DNS Protection

Malware sites are the plague of the century! And it’s so easy to fall for them. Phishing, hacked website content, or malware-ads – one click and you are on a website you shouldn’t be.

One way to deal with the issue is to block malicious domains at DNS resolver level. The advantage is that you do not have to do any modification at the devices!