AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[thelonelycoder]

Yep Zizz Iz Zee Euro-peeun Vay. (And likely rest of the world ) LONG LIVE THE STANDARD SYSTEM!!!

Maybe check TZ and set accordingly? What's one MORE check

To further continue mocking the Germans (a national Swiss German pastime):
Zis isht hart koded in ze kode. Ai mast buit ean Hünerleiterabschtiegsmöglickeit for zis to gou down. From ze ' to ze ,. All Hanswurscht anywaiz.

 

[cybrnook]

Stimmt, Alles Klar!

LANG LEBE AB und TLC

 

[listerine]

I began thinking of blocking ads via the router and I was led to this rabbit hole of Asuswrt-Merlin and AB-Solution. Seems like a great way to block ads across all devices!

I am not too familiar with this type of stuff, so forgive me if these questions are a little basic.

--Currently I block ads using MVPS hosts file on my computer. Looking at the AB-solution's website, if I pick option "shooter40sw" that means it uses the MVPS hosts file + 8 other hosts file and merges them, correct? Does blocking in this manner have any impact on latency or performance at all on the router?

--I skimmed through a previous thread that mentioned that Youtube ads don't get blocked with this system. I don't recall seeing a youtube ad in awhile in my computer with just a modified hosts file. Why would this be any different?

--Is there any difference between blocking ads this way vs. using pi-hole?

Thanks!

 

[stambeccuccio]

I'm here. Happy Birthday ...and Thank You.

 

[Makaveli]

Just updated with the CU option thank you sir!

 

[majnu]

Happy Birthday. Enjoy your Birthday cake.

 

[Diamond67]

In fact i would say that using any of the block lists larger than shooter40sw means you will run into unexpected blocks while browsing after a short period of use....its important to understand how to whitelist effectively or you are going to have a frustrating time....

I am using 'shooter40sw' blocking file.

Yesterday (with the previous version of AB-Solution) I opened the Youtube app of my Sony television. Actually, I have used the Youtube app of my TV only a few times so far. But anyway. At first I noticed some browser errors from my TV and couldn't open the app successfully or play youtube videos. I fixed the situation by following the log file and adding those blocked addresses to AB-Solution 3 whitelist:

14: googleads.g.doubleclick.net
15: s.youtube.com
16: www.googleadservices.com
17: pubads.g.doubleclick.net
18: pagead2.googlesyndication.com
19: securepubads.g.doubleclick.net

After that everything seemed to work okay.
edit: After using Youtube app a bit longer gotta add a few more lines to whitelist.txt (= lines 18 and 19, see above)

So, if you have problems with certain websites (or apps with certain devices of yours), you should check the blocked sites and maybe add some of them to whitelist.txt

 

[thelonelycoder]

I began thinking of blocking ads via the router and I was led to this rabbit hole of Asuswrt-Merlin and AB-Solution. Seems like a great way to block ads across all devices!

I am not too familiar with this type of stuff, so forgive me if these questions are a little basic.

--Currently I block ads using MVPS hosts file on my computer. Looking at the AB-solution's website, if I pick option "shooter40sw" that means it uses the MVPS hosts file + 8 other hosts file and merges them, correct? Does blocking in this manner have any impact on latency or performance at all on the router?

--I skimmed through a previous thread that mentioned that Youtube ads don't get blocked with this system. I don't recall seeing a youtube ad in awhile in my computer with just a modified hosts file. Why would this be any different?

--Is there any difference between blocking ads this way vs. using pi-hole?

Thanks!

It plainly says this about the blocking file on the website:

The hosts files are auto-downloaded weekly,
stripped to the bare minimum, duplicates removed, sorted and combined in one file.

YouTube ads are a hit and miss, it may work for some, others are not so lucky. It also depends greatly on you physical location at the time. I get far less where I live then if I were in the US.

The differences between Pi-Hole and AB are in the user interface, and whether you need to add another device to block ads or not to your LAN.

As the developer of AB, I would say mine is better. But then, I may have personal preferences...

 

[thelonelycoder]

@listerine Latency depends on how large of a blocking file type you select, how busy your router is with other stuff, whether pixelserv-tls is installed an already has the certificate saved for the domain if it is https.
Generally we are talking about miliseconds longer. A small drawback compared to the less time spent downloading all the ads surplus without ad-blocking. In fact I would argue browsing is faster with adblocking on.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I am using 'shooter40sw' blocking file.

Yesterday (with the previous version of AB-Solution) I opened the Youtube app of my Sony television. Actually, I have used the Youtube app of my TV only a few times so far. But anyway. At first I noticed some browser errors from my TV and couldn't open the app successfully or play youtube videos. I fixed the situation by following the log file and adding those blocked addresses to AB-Solution 3 whitelist:

14: googleads.g.doubleclick.net
15: s.youtube.com
16: www.googleadservices.com
17: pubads.g.doubleclick.net
18: pagead2.googlesyndication.com
19: securepubads.g.doubleclick.net

After that everything seemed to work okay.
edit: After using Youtube app a bit longer gotta add a few more lines to whitelist.txt (= lines 18 and 19, see above)

So, if you have problems with certain websites (or apps with certain devices of yours), you should check the blocked sites and maybe add some of them to whitelist.txt

AB3.6.5 now only whitelists the exact domain name entered into the whitelist.
Previous versions removed these as wildcards.

 

[steelskinz]

Great news ! Thanks ! updated with cu yesterday night.

How wildcard works in blacklist ? It seems i need site.com and www.site.com or the whole domain won't be blocked.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Great news ! Thanks ! updated with cu yesterday night.

How wildcard works in blacklist ? It seems i need site.com and www.site.com or the whole domain won't be blocked.

The blacklist as well as the blocking file always blocked as is. No wildcard there.

 

[shooter40sw]

Hi! Happy B-Day, great update, had the issue of the exact name block, changing the sig now, testing the adsbegone list one of the lists added was really slow I think it did not update completely, thanks for the great work! By the way your new website is superb

 

[Nrg91]

First, thanks to the software

One thing

I successfully installed Ab Solution on my RT Ac87u,as blocking files I chose "AdsBeGone"

By shielded with Putty, it is fully functional, except that it does not block any advertising in any site I visited

What am I doing wrong??

Thank's

 

[tomsk]

First, thanks to the software

One thing

I successfully installed Ab Solution on my RT Ac87u,as blocking files I chose "AdsBeGone"

By shielded with Putty, it is fully functional, except that it does not block any advertising in any site I visited

What am I doing wrong??

Thank's

Go to the submenu [sm] and run the router check [rc] ... that may give you some clue...

 

[Nrg91]

Go to the submenu [sm] and run the router check [rc] ... that may give you some clue...

checking internet access with Level 3 DNS
(209.244.0.3)
Level 3 responded, Internet access OK

checking Administration/Operation Mode:
Router is in Wireless Router mode

checking /jffs, Administration/System/
Persistent JFFS2 partition:
- Enable JFFS custom scripts and configs:
Custom scripts are enabled
- Format JFFS partition at next boot:
No /jffs/ formatting is scheduled
- read/write capability to /jffs:
Device /jffs/scripts test passed

checking AiProtection/Network Protection:
Network Protection is enabled
(this has no impact on AB-Solution functionality)

checking AiProtection/Parental Controls:
Parental Controls is disabled
(even when enabled, this has no impact on
AB-Solution functionality)

checking AiProtection/DNS Filtering:
DNS-based Filtering is disabled

checking LAN/DHCP Server,
Enable the DHCP Server:
DHCP Server enabled

checking LAN/DHCP Server,
DNS Server 1 and DNS Server 2:
Both LAN-DNS Server fields are empty

checking LAN/DHCP Server,
Forward local domain queries to upstream DNS:
Forward to upstream DNS disabled

checking AiCloud/Settings,
AiCloud Web access port:
(only relevant when pixelserv-tls is installed)
AiCloud not in use or port not set to 443

checking USB Application/Download Master,
(only relevant when Entware and
pixelserv-tls is installed)
Download Master is not installed

checking read/write capability to
/tmp/mnt/USB:
Device /tmp/mnt/USB test passed

checking for other scripts,
they may add additional log file entries:
no redirects found

All check are green

 

[tomsk]

Are you using openVPN?...... your DNS queries may be being sent to the VPN DNS resolver.....

 

[Nrg91]

Are you using openVPN?...... your DNS queries may be being sent to the VPN DNS resolver.....

No, I'm not using OpenVPN, no VPN

I don't know if you can influence, but the network has a double nat

 

[tomsk]

No, I'm not using OpenVPN, no VPN

I don't know if you can influence, but the network has a double nat

Im double NATed too but its working of for me..... try following the log file for a while see if it shows any blocking going on.... did you enable pixelserv too?

 

[Nrg91]

No i haven't enabled pixelserv

If active Ublock origin, blocks all advertising, just the disabled reappears advertising

I just can't figure out what's wrong