Mostly for adblocking, which has different workings -- and has become a particularly aggravating nuisance -- on mobile. But with malvertising becoming more and more common, the added security comes as a bonus.webfork wrote: ↑Are you trying for security or adblocking or both?
HOSTS file
Re: HOSTS file
Re: HOSTS file
i used to use HostsMan + HostsServer several years ago then went to DNS proxy and filtering programs + Peer Block Portable for IP blocking then finally gave up and went the browser route with uMatrix and uBlock Origin.Midas wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 4:33 amMostly for adblocking, which has different workings -- and has become a particularly aggravating nuisance -- on mobile. But with malvertising becoming more and more common, the added security comes as a bonus.webfork wrote: ↑Are you trying for security or adblocking or both?
Re: HOSTS file
Seems like a bad idea, nowadays more and more "things" use Google Analytics and other trackers/telemetry that aren't just browser/website related, running a computer search for "Analytics" both for files and in your registry and you might find some programs you use and didn't know about collecting stuff. If you use Nvidia drivers for example why don't you have "0.0.0.0 telemetry.nvidia.com" already blocked?
Hell, video games are disgusting with the amount of unnecessary connections they do and surprise surprise it's all tracking, Steam uses Google Analytics and Doubleclick for example and block crash.steampowered.com because it's used to collect your computers info, basically everything installed/hardware/websites history via DNS cache, etc., Blizzard's Battle.net launcher uses Google as well and don't forget to block telemetry-in.battle.net too, all Unity Engine games have about 20+ unnecessary connections with no way to opt out, Unreal Engine games same thing. Best to block this stuff at the system level or deeper, uBlock/uMatrix won't cover shit.
Hell, video games are disgusting with the amount of unnecessary connections they do and surprise surprise it's all tracking, Steam uses Google Analytics and Doubleclick for example and block crash.steampowered.com because it's used to collect your computers info, basically everything installed/hardware/websites history via DNS cache, etc., Blizzard's Battle.net launcher uses Google as well and don't forget to block telemetry-in.battle.net too, all Unity Engine games have about 20+ unnecessary connections with no way to opt out, Unreal Engine games same thing. Best to block this stuff at the system level or deeper, uBlock/uMatrix won't cover shit.
Re: HOSTS file
@Special: good point. Something to keep in mind.
Re: HOSTS file
Relying solely on uBlock/uMatrix also have limitation because of how Firefox loads its add-ons, it won't block connections on first startup because the browser gets to connect before the addons fully load, so if your homepage is DuckDuckGo, you're probably in the tracking clear, but if you use another landing page or a random saved tab loads, some tracking might "get you".
It also won't cover your other add-ons from collecting your data, if you use firefox then you probably use add-ons, I consider many "must haves" but even despite them being open source on git-hub, and highly reviewed, they still do some "collecting", which I'd rather opt-out of but can't because no option to do so, so the only way is to use a hosts.
For example add-on Violentmonkey. "We may use Google Analytics to collect your browser information anonymously to help improve compatibility." Nah, no thanks.
It also won't cover your other add-ons from collecting your data, if you use firefox then you probably use add-ons, I consider many "must haves" but even despite them being open source on git-hub, and highly reviewed, they still do some "collecting", which I'd rather opt-out of but can't because no option to do so, so the only way is to use a hosts.
For example add-on Violentmonkey. "We may use Google Analytics to collect your browser information anonymously to help improve compatibility." Nah, no thanks.
Re: HOSTS file
Quick note for posting a HOSTS related resource with loads of Windows specific info.
- MDGx MaxSpeed HOSTS Files, Guides & Tools
http://www.mdgx.com/hosts.php