But what I really need is an application that will let me specify who, out of know trackers that I want to block. I there a program like that for opensuse that works really good and is easy for a novice to use?
I donât know of an app thatâs specifically written for managing the hosts file since the file format is really simple - itâs just:
1.2.3.4 hostname hostname1 hostname2 hostname3
Where â1.2.3.4â is the IP address for the hostnames. For blocking hosts, you just set it to 127.0.0.1.
It is an âalways onâ operation, though - you either use the hosts file or you donât; you canât say âsometimes I want these to resolve, and sometimes I want them to not resolveâ. To do that, you probably want to look at using a proxy server instead - something like Privoxy can be good to use. I run an open firmware on my router, and use an ad-blocking addon for it that applies a similar concept (it returns ânot foundâ for blocked DNS entries).
Other approaches would be to use tools like AdBlock Pro (a browser extension) or other similar extensions in the browser. I typically deploy multiple solutions, so I donât see a lot of ads or unwanted content - and none of them require running scripts on my systems.
Thatâs a good idea, mis-spell and re-spell. I wonder why my internet is so much faster by blocking all of those DNSâes? Chrome wonât update now. But I think I can try to locate the DNS that is getting blocked so that I can let Chrome update.
I havenât applied the big super list to my opensuse host file, only the windows 10 hard drive has Instagram blocked. I canât even use firefox, only edge, since something like 1,000,000 DNSes are blocked.
I was hoping to find a Yast app that would help me research the DNSes a little, and help me get some peer feedback about how these websites are acting maliciously, and then using a GUI empower me to find new great websites with a white list feature.
I am just learning about all this, so I totally understand why it would be a mistake to just install that script, when I could rather, enjoy the learning process, and examine the blacklist (itâs 750,000) entries long and examine the whitelist myself. I might try to make my own app!
I tried to install Umatrix but I canât do anything in Chrome right now because Iâm not signed in and Chrome keeps notifying me that Chrome is out of date. I am steering away from google at the moment so I might just strop using Chrome all together for a while on Opensuse. I will try Chromium. I have a Pixel book, that I love, itâs like a chrome-book on sterroids that I can try Umatrix on later.
But this method (using an entry in /etc/hosts to provide a false IP address for certain host/domain names) to block all users of the system to use that host depends on dumb users.
It is only the name resolution that fails, not the connection. Users will still be able to connect using the correct IP address
@earthnicsi Hi, why no just run a Pihole or Adguard instance on your network. I use Pihole here on a RPi3, if need to add a block, just run pihole -b <some.example.com>.
Thanks for all the great suggestions! I installed the codecs for Chromium, but still wonât play youtube videos. I must have 8.8.8.8 blocked, but somehow chrome gets around it.
Why are my browsers so much faster when I 0.0.0.0 the the blacklist in my hosts file?
@earthnicsi That all depends on what DNS servers your connecting to as provided by your router⌠Order of the /etc/nsswitch.conf hosts: line entry. The actual route to where ever your connecting.
Because youâre limiting outbound connection attempts by preventing address lookups from succeeding.
Blocking 8.8.8.8 wonât prevent Youtube from working - something else is going on there. Youâll probably want to start a separate topic on that issue - thatâs very likely not a DNS/name resolution issue.