Diversion Diversion - the Router Ad-Blocker

[dave14305]

I have few browsers installed, Chrome, Edge and Firefox and they all behave in the same way. Only Windows HOST file works in blocking the ads.

Is Diversion enabled? Can you post a screenshot of the Diversion main screen?

 

[Sunny Boy]

To narrow it down to whether it's a browser or router problem, try looking up a domain which should be blocked.

Windows Key + R, cmd, nslookup ads.cc
Should give something like:

C:\Users\Whoever>nslookup ads.cc
Server:  router.asus.com
Address:  192.168.1.1

Name:    ads.cc
Addresses:  ::
          0.0.0.0

If it does, your browser is most likely interfering

This is the result testing ads from this website https://ads-blocker.com/testing/:

C:\Users\Monday>nslookup ads.cc
Server: router.asus.com
Address: 192.168.1.1
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: ads.cc
Address: 35.190.66.27

 

[Sunny Boy]

Is Diversion enabled? Can you post a screenshot of the Diversion main screen?

Here it is:

 

[Sunny Boy]

I think I might have narrowed down the cause of this issue

I fired up my son's laptop and ads blocking is working on his computer. I ran the earlier nslookup and I got a different result. The address resolved to the pixelserv address

C:\Users\Tuesday>nslookup ads.cc
Server: router.asus.com
Address: 192.168.1.1

Name: ads.cc
Address: 192.168.1.2

The only difference between my son's laptop and mine is I have Avast Internet Security installed and he doesn't. It seems Avast might somehow be redirecting my internet traffic. Is this possible?

I will uninstall the software and test again on my computer too.

Many thanks to all the guys here who have contributed in one way or the other to assist me with this issue, really appreciate your effort.

Cheers

 

[Twiglets]

To narrow it down to whether it's a browser or router problem, try looking up a domain which should be blocked.

Windows Key + R, cmd, nslookup ads.cc
Should give something like:

C:\Users\Whoever>nslookup ads.cc
Server:  router.asus.com
Address:  192.168.1.1

Name:    ads.cc
Addresses:  ::
          0.0.0.0

If it does, your browser is most likely interfering

I would also suggest flushing the local DNS cache :

I think I might have narrowed down the cause of this issue

I fired up my son's laptop and ads blocking is working on his computer. I ran the earlier nslookup and I got a different result. The address resolved to the pixelserv address

C:\Users\Tuesday>nslookup ads.cc
Server: router.asus.com
Address: 192.168.1.1

Name: ads.cc
Address: 192.168.1.2

The only difference between my son's laptop and mine is I have Avast Internet Security installed and he doesn't. It seems Avast might somehow be redirecting my internet traffic. Is this possible?

I will uninstall the software and test again on my computer too.

Many thanks to all the guys here who have contributed in one way or the other to assist me with this issue, really appreciate your effort.

Cheers

Avast does not usually change anything ???!!!
(Unless you are using VPN or similar)

Run the following to see the config of your network adapter(s):

ipconfig /allcompartments /all

 

[Xentrk]

I disabled it but it didn't help, ads still showing.

By chance are you connected to the internet using an OpenVPN client with Policy Rules enabled and Accept DNS Configuration set to Exclusive? With these settings, dnsmasq is bypassed and Diversion will not work.

 

[Sunny Boy]

By chance are you connected to the internet using an OpenVPN client with Policy Rules enabled and Accept DNS Configuration set to Exclusive? With these settings, dnsmasq is bypassed and Diversion will not work.

I uninstalled Avast and ads blocking is working fine now, I still need to investigate why Avast is interfering with my network configurations since I'm not using its VPN feature. I have also tested with two other computers without Avast and Diversion works great.

On a separate note sinceyou mentioned OpenVPN, what OpenVPN settings do I need to configure on the router to make it work with Diversion?

Cheers

 

[martinr]

I uninstalled Avast and ads blocking is working fine now, I still need to investigate why Avast is interfering with my network configurations since I'm not using its VPN feature. I have also tested with two other computers without Avast and Diversion works great.

On a separate note sinceyou mentioned OpenVPN, what OpenVPN settings do I need to configure on the router to make it work with Diversion?

Cheers

Have you tried turning on DNSFilter on the LAN page and set Global Filer Mode to Router?

 

[Sunny Boy]

I haven't configure the OpenVPN yet, just want to know if there are settings that can cause Diversion not to work with OpenVPN. I will configure it tonight and see if it breaks Diversion.

 

[Xentrk]

I uninstalled Avast and ads blocking is working fine now, I still need to investigate why Avast is interfering with my network configurations since I'm not using its VPN feature. I have also tested with two other computers without Avast and Diversion works great.

On a separate note sinceyou mentioned OpenVPN, what OpenVPN settings do I need to configure on the router to make it work with Diversion?

Cheers

Every other combination other than the one above should work fine with Diversion. It's just the combination of Policy Rules and Accept DNS Configuration = Exclusive that prevents dnsmasq and Diversion from working. My recommendation is to use DoT DNS which encrypts DNS queries. On the OpenVPN Client page, set Accept DNS Configuration to "Disabled". The clients connected thru the VPN tunnel will now use DNS specified on the WAN page. The DNS queries are encrypted. The issues with Diversion doesn't occur when you route "All Traffic" thru the VPN and have Accept DNS set to Exclusive.

 

[Xentrk]

I uninstalled Avast and ads blocking is working fine now, I still need to investigate why Avast is interfering with my network configurations since I'm not using its VPN feature.

Is the Avast Secure DNS feature enabled?

 

[Sunny Boy]

Is the Avast Secure DNS feature enabled?

You nailed it my friend.

I reinstalled Avast and turned off "Real Site" (See attached) which protects against DNS hijacking. And voila, Diversion now works with Avast.

Now I need to configure my OpenVPN to work with Diversion.

Many thanks....

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Ok So I have just setup fast switch and configured alternative blocking for certain devices via the dns filter option, my concern is this is mac address binding as far as the DNS filter is concerned, when I am away from home and I want to connect with this same device, but via VPN server, will it still use the alternative blocking file when i connect through the vpn with that same device that I would normally use at home on the alternative blocking filter?

 

[Xentrk]

You nailed it my friend.

I reinstalled Avast and turned off "Real Site" (See attached) which protects against DNS hijacking. And voila, Diversion now works with Avast.

Now I need to configure my OpenVPN to work with Diversion.

Many thanks....

Your'e welcome. Happy to help.

I cancelled my third party anti-virus subscription last year and now rely on the built in Windows Defender program.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

You nailed it my friend.

I reinstalled Avast and turned off "Real Site" (See attached) which protects against DNS hijacking. And voila, Diversion now works with Avast.

Now I need to configure my OpenVPN to work with Diversion.

Many thanks....

diversion is alive!

 

[L&LD]

Your'e welcome. Happy to help.

I cancelled my third party anti-virus subscription last year and now rely on the built in Windows Defender program.

I've been using the built-in Windows AV since Windows Vista. When I stopped using commercial AV's, I stopped getting viruses.

Always have been a safe 'surfer', don't plug in clients I don't trust explicitly on my network and don't plug in USB drives (or CD's back then) that might be questionable.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

I've been using the built-in Windows AV since Windows Vista. When I stopped using commercial AV's, I stopped getting viruses.

Always have been a safe 'surfer', don't plug in clients I don't trust explicitly on my network and don't plug in USB drives (or CD's back then) that might be questionable.

Live life one flash at a time.

 

[Xentrk]

I've been using the built-in Windows AV since Windows Vista. When I stopped using commercial AV's, I stopped getting viruses.

Always have been a safe 'surfer', don't plug in clients I don't trust explicitly on my network and don't plug in USB drives (or CD's back then) that might be questionable.

A friend of mine once said..

Sharing a USB thumb drive is like sharing a dirty needle.

I saw it happen recently with a high school student. Her laptop got infected with a virus after she plugged in a USB drive her friend let her borrow.

Another quote:

It's time to start thinking of smartphones and USB Flash drives like toothbrushes or razors -- for personal use only

 

[L&LD]

A friend of mine once said..

I saw it happen recently with a high school student. Her laptop got infected with a virus after she plugged in a USB drive her friend let her borrow.

Another quote:

When I'm asked to use some else's phone or to let someone borrow my phone (not in an emergency situation, of course), I say 'let me help you do that on your phone' or, 'let me dial the number and relay a message for you on my phone'.

In either case, I don't use their phone and they don't touch mine.

Same as my motorcycle (a long, long time ago).

 

[Elmer]

I was reviewing the past few pages, and while it has nothing to do with the "dirty needles" usb thumbdrive analogy someone made (ugh), I wanted to mention an oddity that cropped up with Diversity when using v384.12 alpha (now on stable). I had Amtm set to reboot twice a week in the wee hours, and when I checked on things the next morning, Diversity would be down, although Skynet (and others) would be running (happened repeatedly). I saw some people talking about how bad some USB drives performed and that they had switched over to an SSD, so I did the same and it seems to have solved the problem. There is no doubt the SSD (has swap installed also) is much more responsive than the USB thumbdrive, so maybe it can handle the haphazard OS startup procedure better (guessing). So, based on my limited experience, I would definitely recommend an SSD. I saw some discussion about the best enclosures, with Ugreen being mentioned positively; I'm using a Sabrent USB 3.0 enclosure, and it seems to be working fine also.