AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[thelonelycoder]

@Miggy again, exact firmware version. Latest of what?

 

[Butterfly Bones]

hmm, I got ads when using tapatalk at last few days? before I didn't have problems...is tapatalk app something change or is problem with my ab-solution?

Poslano z mojega EVA-L09 z uporabo Tapatalk

Hi, I'm very active in an Android modding forum that does things like root, etc. and one thing is ad blocking using a hosts files aggregation similar to AB-Solutions on the phones.

Tapatalk is one of the problem apps that has begun to serve ads directly from their servers via IP which is impossible to block with a hosts file, unlike DNS served ads via Google, Doubleclick, etc. One solution is to use an older version that you can get from someplace like ApkMirror (same owners as Android Police, so safe).

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi, I'm very active in an Android modding forum that does things like root, etc. and one thing is ad blocking using a hosts files aggregation similar to AB-Solutions on the phones.

Tapatalk is one of the problem apps that has begun to serve ads directly from their servers via IP which is impossible to block with a hosts file, unlike DNS served ads via Google, Doubleclick, etc. One solution is to use an older version that you can get from someplace like ApkMirror (same owners as Android Police, so safe).

These ads must be a regional thing, I just updated all apps on my Android phone and see absolutely no ads.
Tapatalk app version 6.5.6(883)
Phone is rooted, ViperOne 6.0.o.

 

[bayern1975]

These ads must be a regional thing, I just updated all apps on my Android phone and see absolutely no ads.
Tapatalk app version 6.5.6(883)
Phone is rooted, ViperOne 6.0.o.

I just update tapatalk to latest beta 7.0 and ads gone now...I think in my case 6.5.6 version of tapatalk not working good with ab-solution.....

Poslano z mojega EVA-L09 z uporabo Tapatalk

 

[thelonelycoder]

I just update tapatalk to latest beta 7.0 and ads gone now...I think in my case 6.5.6 version of tapatalk not working good with ab-solution.....

Poslano z mojega EVA-L09 z uporabo Tapatalk

Surely this has nothing to do with AB. If AB is installed and works on one device/app but not on another, then it's the devices or apps problem.
Don't spread wrong conclusions.

 

[bayern1975]

didn't say ab-solution not working....I have had problem with ads with 6.5.6 version of tapatalk....with latest beta 7.0 it is all fine for now...

Poslano z mojega EVA-L09 z uporabo Tapatalk

 

[Alfred]

Hi thelonelycoder, would it be an idea to illustrate the install procedure of pixelserv-tls with some screenshots? Before starting, I would appreciate to know what questions and steps to expect.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Hi thelonelycoder, would it be an idea to illustrate the install procedure of pixelserv-tls with some screenshots? Before starting, I would appreciate to know what questions and steps to expect.

Like this?

http://ab-solution.info/install/install.html

 

[Alfred]

Like this?

http://ab-solution.info/install/install.html

Yes something like that, including pixelserv-tls, would be great.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi thelonelycoder, would it be an idea to illustrate the install procedure of pixelserv-tls with some screenshots? Before starting, I would appreciate to know what questions and steps to expect.

- automatic checks on firmware capability, device availability, existing entware install
- select device
- automatic device checks
- auto install of entware
- set IP settings (well explained)
- automatic stuff
- enter IP (as set two steps above)
- automatic checks on IP
- automatic pixelserv install
- automatic pixelserv certificate generation
- automatic checks for pixelserv install
- succcess

There's not much to it from a users perspective as AB does everything it can to make it as simple as possible.
99.9% of the users get through the ps install in a breeze.

But if demand is high, I might spend the time to screenshot the process and do a write-up.

 

[Alfred]

- automatic checks on firmware capability, device availability, existing entware install
- select device
- automatic device checks
- auto install of entware
- set IP settings (well explained)
- automatic stuff
- enter IP (as set two steps above)
- automatic checks on IP
- automatic pixelserv install
- automatic pixelserv certificate generation
- automatic checks for pixelserv install
- succcess

There's not much to it from a users perspective as AB does everything it can to make it as simple as possible.
99.9% of the users get through the ps install in a breeze.

But if demand is high, I might spend the time to screenshot the process and do a write-up.

Thank you for this. Exactly what I needed.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Yes something like that, including pixelserv-tls, would be great.

I just used this link from Merlin GitHub.
https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/How-to-use-Adblock-using-Pixelserv

Then this one:

Use a blocklist: AB-Solution. Note: This Ad-blocker includes the installation of pixelserv-tls

which took me to the AB-Solution page I linked and it auto installed incredibly easily, with clear concise prompts along the way. I never really had to look at the linked AB-Solutions install again after reading it before I started.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

These ads must be a regional thing, I just updated all apps on my Android phone and see absolutely no ads.
Tapatalk app version 6.5.6(883)
Phone is rooted, ViperOne 6.0.o.

I don't think so. This is the AdAway app forum on XDA developers with about 8 million users world wide. I see ad complaints about Tapatalk from users all over the world.

 

[Xentrk]

I do see a few ads on the Huffington Post iPad app. But not the website. I tried using the follow the log file option to determine what site is responsible. But I get too many domain names returned. Luckily, the ads are small and not much of a nuisance. But at the same time, I wanted to give it a boy scout try to see if I could block them. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I do see a few ads on the Huffington Post iPad app. But not the website. I tried using the follow the log file option to determine what site is responsible. But I get too many domain names returned. Luckily, the ads are small and not much of a nuisance. But at the same time, I wanted to give it a boy scout try to see if I could block them. Any suggestions are appreciated.

...try harder...

 

[Miggy]

The standard AB installation went well, I presume.
In sf, select the AB config file and post the content.

START FILE, --- lines are not part of file
-------------------------------------------------
## DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! DANGER ZONE ##
# General settings #
appName="AB-Solution"
installURL="ab-solution.info/releases"
appVersionInstalled="3.8"
devVersionInstalled="1"
abSolutionDevice="/tmp/mnt/ac66u"
adBlockingState="on"
loggingState="on"
symlinkState="on"
shellState="on"
appTheme="standard"

# Blocking file settings #
hostsFileType="Medium"
hostsFileUpdateDay="Monday"
dayOfWeek="Mon"
updateHour="1"
hostsFileLastRun="Jun 17 03:54:55"
previousLastRun=""
hosts_list="http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/zero/hosts
http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serve...&showintro=0&mimetype=plaintext&useip=0.0.0.0
http://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt
http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/hostslist/hosts.txt"

# Custom IP settings #
customIP="off"
customIPv4=""

# Entware and pixelserv settings #
pixelserv="1"
psInstallState="5"
psState="off"
entware="1"
entwareState="on"
prevPsState="off"
psLoggingState=""
psIPv4="192.168.2.2"
entwareDevice="/tmp/mnt/ac66u"
entwarePath="/tmp/mnt/ac66u/entware"
entwareSignature="201706170346"

# ad-blocking stats #
weeklyStats="off"
sendStatsTo=""
topHosts="10"
topClients="10"
filterLocalNames="off"
blockedHosts="69226"
adsBlocked="9799"
adsWeek="9799"
newAds="9305"
previousRun="Jun 17 04:16"
lastRun="Jun 18 00:19"

# Experimental settings #
dnsmasqSetting="off"
cacheSize="1500"
logAsync="5"
domainNeeded="off"
wanDuckSetting="off"

# Router info #
routerName="RT-AC66U_B1"
architecture="armv7l"
ipv6_service="disabled"
routerMode="1"

# Messaging #
newMessage="0"
message=""
devMode="0"
jobMessage=""
fwNotification="off"

 

[Xentrk]

...try harder...

Blocking cdn.content.prod.cms.msn.com appears to have done the trick for all but one advertisement about the Power of Sleep. I will monitor over the weekend and also test it out on pfBlockerNG package on pfSense appliance to see if I get the same result.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Asus rt-ac66u_B1
I have the latest firmware version.

The syslog only shows the one I posted earlier.

What firmware version is installed? I need to know the full name of the downloaded version, like so: RT-AC68U_380.66_2

This is the third and last time I ask for it.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I don't think so. This is the AdAway app forum on XDA developers with about 8 million users world wide. I see ad complaints about Tapatalk from users all over the world.

If they hard code the IP then this is outside of AB's capability. Use one of the ipset blockers to block by IP. AB cannot do that.

 

[Miggy]

What firmware version is installed? I need to know the full name of the downloaded version, like so: RT-AC68U_380.66_2

This is the third and last time I ask for it.

RT-AC68U_380.66_4