YOU’LL NEED THIS
PI-HOLE
(https://pi-hole.net), which requires Linux or Windows (through Docker or WSL)
EVERY TIME A DEVICE on your network connects to the internet—in particular the web portion of it—there’s a load of junk downloaded alongside the legitimate content you want to access. Pop-up ads, trackers, and unsavory subjects are just part of it—there’s the real danger of stumbling upon malware, too. By now, you’ve probably already made use of an ad blocker to protect your main PC, and your mobile browser may feature some limited ad-blocking tools, too.
But imagine if you could protect your network—including your smart devices—from this unwanted junk, all from one location. The good news is that Pi-hole is designed to do just that. Configure it as your DNS server—the tool used to resolve domain names like tomshardware.com into their underlying IP address (199.232.194.114)—and it’ll act as a filter, screening and blocking known ‘bad’ IP addresses to prevent unwanted material getting on to your network.
Not only does it protect you from potentially malicious behavior; it’ll speed up web browsing and boost privacy, too. Setup may look a little fiddly, but we’ve done all the hard work so you can get your network protected in under an hour.
1 GET READY TO INSTALL
Pi-hole is a Linux-based tool, compatible with the Raspberry Pi (as its name implies), as well as major Linux distros, like Ubuntu 20.04 or later, including variants such as Mint, as well as modern versions of Debian and Fedora. It can be installed natively on these systems, while there’s also a script for Windows systems that installs Pi-hole through the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
