Since the beginning of quarantine, I have been looking into ‘weekend projects’ to fight boredom. So, one thing that annoys me is ads. I hate watching a series on a streaming site such as All4 and must wait exactly 5 mins for the ads to end, I understand that 5 minutes is not a lifetime, but it makes me impatient.
So, I have found a nice little solution for less than £25 which works on any device. However, £25 may sound like a lot but consider that some streaming websites offer ad-removal through a one-time fee or a subscription e.g., YouTube Premium. I like to do things differently so here is one of my projects.
The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer that only costs £5. Now for that price, you won’t be able to get something that can necessarily replace your existing laptop or computer (unless you’re willing to spend more on a better Pi) but it does function similarly to a server. To complete the setup, I needed a micro-USB power supply, micro-SD card, micro-USB to ethernet dongle and finally an ethernet cable. It is also possible to use the Pi via a monitor, but I had to use a command line to set it all up.
A Raspberry Pi works by changing your DNS server to your very own custom one. Whenever you launch an app or browse the web you send data to an ad server and it will respond with data back, if you use Pi-Hole, it will block those requests by telling your device that the ad data has nowhere to go, essentially, not being able to give you an ad. No more annoying mobile ads when you are just trying to play candy crush. It also can prevent tracking; your ISP will not be able to see what you have searched for or what activity is going on between your devices.
It was quite a hassle to get through since it was quite challenging to set up a computer using CLI with no experience in using Linux or any other command-based OS (even though I just copied commands over from a website to the Pi). After the installation process finished, I managed to remote into my Pi using a web browser (admin panel) for configuration.
Out of the box, the Pi blocks a significant portion of content that identifies as an ad. However, it is entirely custom in what you want it used for. It is also able to block certain websites or IP addresses if you are willing to set it up that way. You would either manually change the DNS server settings in your device or change it in your router.
It is a very cool project and I am happy I did it, it was a lot of fun.