Do you prefer AdBlock or Adblock Plus?

I've been using Adblock Plus since the original Adblock died in the Firefox 1.x era and see no reason to switch, but I'm wondering what others think.

 

Just use a PC hosts edit file that will do a far better jobs in the background then anyone of these programs could ever do.

 

How would you edit the hosts file to prevent ads and pop ups?

 

Blocking Unwanted Connections with a Hosts File

 

I like Adblock Plus better. It was the original open source project, and this: http://readwrite.com/2014/08/01/adblock-plus-switch-adblock

 

I use Adguard Adblocker addon now.

 

Any of you guy watch the animi on KissAnime - Watch anime online in high quality , If i use addblock plus they dont let me see the video`s until i turn if off, but all the unwanted flash adverts slow the main animi video down, so it can be jerky when watching and scrolling and Firefox is bad at scrolling at the best of times.

Do anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks

John.

 

If you're using a chromium based browser, there's µblock. Open, no statistics store being sent, easy to use (type.. one button to disable block for current site, and you can add exceptions in the preferences and so on). Solid.. very well made, structured, efficient. I'm imagining the programmer probably works at a convenience store and starves a bit once in a while.

 

Same here.

With Adguard, only the video is there

 

The video plays for a few seconds then the addblock notification stops the video playing, what settings are you using?

Thanks

John.

 

I would suggest to use "noScript" firefox plugin

 

Sorry that I misled you, I don't use this site, just opened it up, the video played and I assumed that all is OK. Sorry, again.

 

That sites has gone to using 0.0.0.0 something W8 uses the other masses need the 127.0.0.1 version from this site...

Using a Hosts File To Make The Internet Not Suck (as much)

Follow their instructions....also change your hosts file attributes to "Read Only" as well to prevent malware/virus from rewriting your hosts blocks.

 

Chrome users,
https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix

You're welcome. That's the best adblocker you can get.

 

Just torrent animes from nyaa.se.

 

I love my Asus Router, It has a built in torrent downloader just plug in an external hdd and away you go no notebook/pc required.

John.

 

can u teach me how mate? I have an ASUS RT-AC68U FTW router with the latest firmware (not Merlin's though as I found 0 befits from the Merlin Firmware)

 

I had the ASUS RT-AC68U, But i returned it for a cheaper Asus RT-N56U, for less than half the price and it still has the torrent downloader, and it`s wifi is fast enough for me.

If you can get into the routers menu 192.168.1.1 default username admin password admin, then go to the USB tab in the menu and then click on the DOWNLOAD MASTER, then click on Tasks then click Add, then add go to were your torrent file is on you notebook and load it, and away you go, just plug and external hdd or ssd into one of the usb ports on the back of the router.

John.

<iframe width='560' height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Em6Hddyytlw" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Priceless!! Thanks a lot! now I no longer need my laptop on 24/7

 

Also in the USB tab is an option called "Servers Center" this allows you to see and download or stream video anything you have on the hdd/ssd connected to your notebook or whatever , Just click "enable share" and also "share with account" and the external hdd connected to your router will show as a drive in the network drives on your Win8

John.

 

I'm not sure what the difference between them is, but I've been using Adblock Plus for a long time now. It serves me well, no complaints. I used to use custom hosts files probably 10 years ago.

 

I recently switched to Adguard from Adblock Plus as the latter started to get bloated. However, ABP's recent addition of the ability to whitelist specific Youtube channels has me intrigued. Might ask the Adguard folks to look into adding it as a feature.

 

Everyone is making this harder then it really needs to be just edit your PC hosts file and forget about using AdBlock or Adblock Plus. The hosts file will do more then you think and work quietly in the background and you will never notice it working.

 

I never notice Adguard working, and it takes less than 2 minutes to get the plugin in installed and import my own unique website black- and whitelists. After that, I never have to touch it again.

 

I never had to use a plugin the PC hosts file edit was silent and never had to worry about oh is it up to date...and if it needed update I just download the new hosts file and replace my old one and keep right on working.

 

No worries, whatever works for whomever. Adguard is simple and silent and easy to use and free. No fuss no muss.

 

You just contradicted yourself here.

The plugin automatically keeps its lists up to date. There is literally nothing you have to remember. If you want to go through the extra steps of having to remember to download and install a hosts file, that's your prerogative.

 

Just curious, do the popular host files list block ad in foreign lang/sites? say chinese, japanese?

 

What your doing if some hackers breaks the ad-block programing and they insert their program into your plugins you will have no idea that is was broken. Why do you think a software company that gets their program hacked and rewritten by a hacker is going to tell you oh ops now that you updated to our latest version your now under the control of a hacker. I have yet to see a software company when hacked come out and admit it only under duress when someone reports it do they say oh btw we got hacked so our software is no longer safe. Your ad-plus is only good as the people that program it and if their program gets hacked well you just invited a hacker into your system without even knowing it as compared to a PC hosts file that just blocks sites on a list and don't require a 3rd party software to do it. That's the contradiction you don't get why use another software when the PC hosts will do the blocking without needing a 3rd software that the PC can do itself.

 

Well you can take a look and see for yourself....

Using a Hosts File To Make The Internet Not Suck (as much)

 

Also for some that thought I never used adblock software I used them the way past...and still those popups and ads came through. So I was like man this really (&(&(*(& the A(&*(&. So I started looking on the web and by chance found two sites that did this PC hosts blocking but one has since gone the way of Win8 0.0.0.0 hosts but the other site still uses 127.0.0.1 that my Win7 pc uses. And after trying it out I was like my internet browsing was like Night and Day. No more fighting all those pops and ads trying to close or kill them was way to much work and made internet usage just a chore to do. And now I can enjoy the internet along with doing this same setup on family computers they were like it's faster and I don't get all these ads or pops never knowing that I did this very simple hidden edit and they are surprised those ads and pops never came back. That was the test that the PC hosts edit worked they never knew I did this but had more enjoyable internet.

 

Odd thought I get a response to my PC hosts posting....but maybe now I might???

 

Chrome users,

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm

Much better than ABP. It has host files built in.

 

Again more work for something so simple as a PC hosts file...you don't even have to go to a Apps store to get it....it's clean of any other influences other then trying to make the internet more enjoyable not trying to make you use chrome. With the PC hosts edit you can use any browser it picks no favorites it blocks ad site and popup. Why others are making it harder then it really is ...is beyond me...

 

Uh, well for a lot of reasons. Like much more finely grained control over what you block.

Using a hosts file is awfully inconvenient. Updating it is a pain. Any incompatability will be system wide, instead of on a single page. You can't disable it for a page, which makes debugging even harder - you have to remove it, flush the cache, and then try again. Ugh.

It's managed, and specific to ads. A hostfile is just a network map, it makes no effort to be 'feature' complete as an adblocker because it isn't designed ot be one. Therefor all performance constraints are on the DNS resolver, which probably isn't expecting to have a huge lookup (linear O(n) lookup, unless the table is kept in memory as a hash map, which I don't believe it is - someone correct m eif I'm wrong). An extension can map things, keep a cache, etc.

To put it in simple terms, if I have 100 hosts in my hostfile, every lookup has the potential to search through 100 hosts.

When using an adblocker, these lookups are likely hashed, or common lookups are kept in some sort of cache. Best case lookups for 100 hosts would be *one* lookup (100x faster), worst case would be 100 lookups (unlikely given the data set).

It can manage more domains at a time, it updates itself too.

idk I could probably list even more reasons. I can't imagine going back to a hosts file they were awful to deal with. Host files just arne't designed for adblocking, they're designed for the opposite, and on a tiny tiny scale.

 

Again the uneducated mind again...you never loooked at the site did you...

Again more closed minded comments again...

That's a LOL....again you should read the site and what it gives as advice...

And your adblocker doesn't have that as well....also host file does it way faster then using 3rd party software to do something Windows can do itself already in the hosts file.

Adblocker would be more a drain on system resource as it is needs to run to just work hosts file is part of the O/S running system.

Really someone hasn't taken time to look at the site...

Actually if you could you would but sounds the opposite...

 

I'm literally a software developer. If we're talking about 'uneducated minds' I'm going to have to say to look in the mirror, since, you know, I literally have an education in a field directly related to this. As for talk about security, guess what, it's what I specialize in!

So, you brought up security, and it's my favorite, so I'll start talking about it

Unlike your blocker, which works on a purely DNS level (and therefor is USELESS against a dedicated attacker who can simply link directly to the IP, requiring no host lookup - oh, and this is already the norm for attacks...), the adblocker I posted works using Content Security Policy (CSP) headers.

What is CSP? It's a way for browsers to enforce, you guessed it, a policy about which content can load on a page. It's literally a security feature, unlike the hosts file, which is meant for use on internal networks for mapping local systems (ironically to link systems together, the opposite of what we want here).


As for performance:


Host files are typically small (or their ACTUAL usage would have them be), as the goal is to link one device to others, and in a signl enetwork it's unlikely you'll have that many unmanaged systems.

That's why I think it's likely to be read in a linear fashion.

Easy data structures lesson:

If you have a tiny list, an O(n) lookup will be faster than a hashtable. A tiny list, like, say a list of computers you'd want to map... oh boy, that' swhat the hosts file does! So if it's using a hash map, someone messed up, because that's *slow* for small lists.

So for a big list we do *not* want what a hosts file does.

We want something tailored to larger lists, which uBlock is.



OK, so usability:

Hosts file update mechanism:

set up soem annoying task through task scheduler, maybe. Run some cod ethat probably pulls in a file over HTTP (oh, hey, another security tidbit) that you trust to run as root. Nice.

Otherwise, manually download the file.

uBlock update mechanism:

None. It handles it entirely on its own, you do nothing.


Oh darn a website's broken:

Host file:

Temporarily remove hosts file, making it useless for all tabs. Clear cache. Try website. Continue to diagnose or giv eup on using that site.

uBlock:

Disable uBlock. HMMMMMMM.


Please, continue to tell me how your solution is so much better whe nthe reality is it's a hack that uses a fetaure designed to do *the exact opposite of what we want* to get hamfisted results.


But wait! I'm procrastinating, so just becuase I've realized you've been condescendingly posting this *whole topic* I'm goign to go further.

"I never read the site"

I saw the site. Nothing on there seemed relevant to what I've been saying. Feel free to point out something I've missed on there.

ok a couple more posts jus ttelling me to read the site. Good good, no real points so far.

AH!

"Adblockers take up system memory and resources"

Very true!

Kind of like your DNS resolver does... where exactly do you think this host file lives? What do you think looks at it? A program. That takes resources. That file is mapped in memory.

Memory is cheap. CPU cycles less so. See my information on algorithmic efficiency, something far more important.

Oh, another non-argument post telling me to look at the site. Link me directly to this infromation I've missed.


And perfect, a post telling me to explain how you're wrong even more. Well, here you go!

And if you don't believe me, I bet I can find even more reasons. I haven't even bothered to check if your hosts file is served over HTTP lol but my bet is it is. So let's stop touting host files for security, shall we?

Fun stuff, keep it up. I hate to be a * abuot this, I'd really rather just put the information out there so people make an educated choice, but hey, you were a * first

 

I stopped using hosts files because I read that it causes a drain on the system if the hosts file is larger than 500kb is that true? they suggest you to disable DNS Cache but I don't know what negative effects that would do to me

 

I can't speak to the '500kb' statement, as that seems a somewhat arbitrary number. Perhaps the DNS cache is only 500kb in size, and after that it begins swapping out content.

Caches in this case are going to be based on accesses. So maybe if you've accessed a website, it sits in the cache, on the assumption that you will soon access it again. Or if you access a website a lot, it may sit in the cache. This way when you do a lookup, you can search a small space for a likely result, and get a speedup, as opposed to having to do the very latency heavy DNS lookup via some resolver.

Disabling it means you always do the lookup the slow way.

Happy to answer any and all questions.

 

That's what I thought, hence:

a) I don't want to disable DNS Cache
b) I don't want to use a hosts file

Now I used ABP but cannot try uBlocker even though it was also recommended on Wilders Security forums since it is only for Google Chrome and I don't like that browser. I use Firefox......

So I guess my only other options is to use Adguard, what do you think of it ?

 

I don't know much about adguard, but I do know that uBlock is coming to Firefox. Someone is working on a port, and it's already very promising. It uses CSP just like the Chrome version.

 

Odd so where did you read it? A link would validate or invalidate those hosts questions as well? I use hosts file and never had problem with it so far. If that was true I would've hear it by now from many more people. I never had to disable DNS cache....I just did the edit from the site here for the DNS just to be on the safe side...

Blocking Unwanted Connections with a Hosts File

Also from another site reads about the DNS as welll

Important! If you are using Network Discovery then the DNS Client service is required and should not be set to either Manual or Disabled.

Workaround for using the MVPS HOSTS file and leaving the DNS Client service enabled (set to: Automatic)

If you find after a period of time that your browser seems sluggish with the DNS Client service enabled you can manually flush the DNS cache
Close all browser windows ... open a "Command Prompt" from the Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
Win8 users - Charms Bar > Search > (type) command prompt > Select: Command Promt (left pane) Ok the UAC prompt
(type) ipconfig /flushdns (press Enter) Then close the Command Prompt ...

A better Win8/7/Vista/XP workaround would be to add two Registry entries to control the amount of time the DNS cache is saved. (KB318803)

Flush the existing DNS cache (see above)
Start > Run (type) regedit
Win8 users - from the Charms Bar, select: Search (type) run and select Run (left pane) and (type) "regedit" (no quotes)
Navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters
Click Edit > New > DWORD Value (type) MaxCacheTtl
Click Edit > New > DWORD Value (type) MaxNegativeCacheTtl
Next right-click on the MaxCacheTtl entry (right pane) and select: Modify and change the value to 1
The MaxNegativeCacheTtl entry should already have a value of 0 (leave it that way - see screenshot)
Close Regedit and reboot ...
As usual you should always backup your Registry before editing ... see Regedit Help under "Exporting Registry files"

 

You have that entire post dedicated to troubleshooting and somehow believe that a host file is the simpler approach.

 

again simple minded again....looks like it's someone that no matter what you show them they are concrete set already. Anything you tell them if it isn't adblock then it nothing. It's obvious you never read my other posts here about experience with adblock and how it never really blocks ads or pops or the site the sends the pops and ads to begin with. Block those sites that does that and your browser worries only about getting to the sites your trying to get to. I used it for few year and still adblock never really stopped the ads/popups that drove me off the wall and looking for a way to stop this and found those two sites of which one I use the hosts file and the other I use the DNS edit and that stopped adware sites that would send ads/popups.

 

Something about glass houses and stones comes to mind here.

 

just a quick search I did on Google bro:

From NBR: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-does-mvps-hosts-file-slow-down-browsing.html

some websites very slow to load with this HOSTS file • mozillaZine Forums

apache 2.2 - Can a long /etc/hosts file slow DNS lookup? - Server Fault

Does Hosts file slow down ? - Security | DSLReports Forums

Is there significant value in using a MVPS Hosts file?

Does having a big HOSTs file slow down you computer and internet connection? | Spacebattles Forums

But this post seems interesting:

Yet........another interesting comment from ( http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r8781192-Does-Hosts-file-slow-down- ) :

 

I'll take a small slowdown which probably has to occur even if it is indexed. Sure beats the hell out of all those lookups half way around the world.

Did the registry modification that was recommended so that DNS can remain enabled.

Also the last count check was 22,310 sites, 535Kb file size. Also using 0.0.0.0 IP

Damn those obtrusive poorly written ads that would crash the browser like crazy - be gone!

 

in your experience of having had used a hosts file, did you ever get a random explorer.exe random crash? upon checking the event log, you would see in invalid request to 0.0.0.0?

 

I only started using the host file since this thread :thumbsup:

I'm not that big of a wonderer, but my better half does and she would get bombarded even with the security settings and popup up blockers on high. Crashed every time something was clicked and even when not. Couldn't scroll either and when it could was erratic and jumpy. All good now.

I also don't know why I never searched out ad blockers either.

So to answer your question, my system is still set using the general 127.0.0.1 and DNS registry settings. I did all the changes to hers this afternoon and it seems to be working very, very well. I will have to look into the 0.0.0.0 putting an error in event viewer for a crash. Crashes still happen on one particular site but I think it is just bad programming code stuff there.

 

@ Ferris23 yes it possible those slowdowns will occur but then again if one properly does the correction with fast internet and fast computer most of those bumps in the road aren't going to stop your everyday internet and broswing. What I am advocating is that there is another way to improve upon preventing those ads/popups from showing up in the first place when you first click on the web. Whether or not anyone uses what I purpose is up to the endusers themselves to decide. But I myself would rather have to deal with just one program stopping those pesky ads/popups in one place rather then using a 3rd party to do it. But then again this is aka 'IMO" and experience.