I just want a simple filtering system within my VPN tunnels and have that filtering use native Windows DNS services. It doesn't appear to be possible.
Windows "hosts" file is a mess. If DNS Cache service is enabled, then Windows (any version) can't handle large block lists without slowing down significantly. DNS Cache is required for VPN's, like the official WireGuard for Windows. There are also Windows and Microsoft-related domains hard-coded into DNS library files and hosts file cannot filter them at all, but that is not an issue.
There is DNSCrypt-Proxy, but it handles only encrypted connectons and only allows you to forward specific domains to cleartext DNS (such as VPN DNS) of you choosing. You can't force it to forward all domains to whichever cleartext DNS addresses. There is YogaDNS. Its closed-source and driver-based. There is also NextDNS, but it requires an account.
Is there perhaps a tweak to improve Windows hosts file caching speed when DNS Cache service is enabled?
Windows "hosts" file is a mess. If DNS Cache service is enabled, then Windows (any version) can't handle large block lists without slowing down significantly. DNS Cache is required for VPN's, like the official WireGuard for Windows. There are also Windows and Microsoft-related domains hard-coded into DNS library files and hosts file cannot filter them at all, but that is not an issue.
There is DNSCrypt-Proxy, but it handles only encrypted connectons and only allows you to forward specific domains to cleartext DNS (such as VPN DNS) of you choosing. You can't force it to forward all domains to whichever cleartext DNS addresses. There is YogaDNS. Its closed-source and driver-based. There is also NextDNS, but it requires an account.
Is there perhaps a tweak to improve Windows hosts file caching speed when DNS Cache service is enabled?
