Pi Hole is a keeper

I've mentioned my testing of Pi Hole on my local network. Generally, people use Pi Hole to block ads on their network. That's not really what I'm after. There are URL lists that are designed to block other things. Some block NSFW content. Some block malicious Websites. Some block tracking services. And of course, some block ad services.

When I set up my Pi Hole, I started using the standard ad blocking, just to test it out. It worked well. Be aware that it won't block all ads. For example, if you're watching YouTube, and the ads are served from YouTube, then you'll still see the ads. If they are from a different service, then yeah, it will block them.

That's because of how Pi Hole works. It blocks content from certain servers. If the server is not an ad server, you'll get the content you expect. Of course, if the ad is from the main server as well, Pi Hole can't tell the difference. So no, it won't block everything. It can't.

After that initial testing, I added other lists, particularly blocking tracking services and malicious Websites. I turned off the standard ad blocker, since I'm okay with ads. But if the ad also tracks you, it will get blocked.

So, I get some ads, and some ads get blocked. The ads that are blocked are tracking ads, and that's what I want blocked. Other tracking activity is blocked as well.

After a month of testing and trying different things, I've decided that I'm keeping Pi Hole. It does what I want it to do.

There have been no issues with it interfering with my Streaming Life, so it will stay on the network, and keep doing its job.