I Block Ads

Growing up during the TV boom of the 1980s and 90s, I loved Advertisements.¹ That was actually how one learned about new things. Advertisements (ads) are intended to let people know what they didn’t know and to reiterate if they might forget.

Unfortunately, the digital world has skewed intentions to such a degree that ads are now targeted, trained, and tailored to the point that if you divert your attention a few fractions elsewhere, they will recalculate, recalibrate, and retarget to get back to you to think and believe in what they intend you to.

I block Ads.

I block ads in the browser (client) and at the DNS level. The combination of these two is effective enough for now.

Of course, I don’t hate ads. It is a legitimate business model. I just don’t like the over-done ads that is everywhere, and in everything. For reference, Google, in 2022, generated over $224 billion from ads.

The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. — Jeff Hammerbacher

These days, it is impossible to read/view the actual content of most websites—they are filled with the landmines of ads. There is no way to have a normal decent web experience without an AdBlocker or a few of them. Someone rightly said, “Content” is an advertising term for whatever fills the space between all the ads.

Even the USA’s agency, FBI suggest using Adblockers. The reasoning, in this case, is to avoid falling prey to cyber criminals impersonating brands using search engine advertisement services to defraud users. (archive)

Here are a few tools to get you started;

DNS Resolvers with AdBlockers

These tools help you resolve your internet queries by routing them through their servers worldwide. One of the features included in these services is blocking ads at the DNS level. You can use this and other client-side AdBlockers for a more effective Ad blocking setup.

• NextDNS protects you from all kinds of security threats, blocks ads and trackers on websites and in apps and provides a safe and supervised Internet for kids — on all devices and on all networks.
• Control D is a modern and customizable DNS service that blocks threats, unwanted content and ads - on all devices.
• AdGuard DNS / AdGuard Home controls all web traffic on your devices, block ads, trackers, and malicious domains.
• Pi-Hole network-wide ad blocking via your own Linux hardware. I started with this.

Ad-Blockers

• uBlock Origin - Free, open-source ad content blocker.
• AdGuard - Surf the Web ad-free and safely.

Others

• AdBlock Tester tests your Browser’s AdBlocking effectiveness.