PC Ad-block

In my mobile ad-block article, I did a quick recap of the history of advertising. I tried my best to, despite my bias, cover both sides of the situation. Ultimately, I delved into all the different ways you can block ads on Android and iOS devices.

It’s time to do the same on desktop computers.

The main difference between smartphones and desktops is that most desktop applications, at least on Windows, don’t actually serve ads. This of course isn’t necessarily the case if you use Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, but that’s because they’re designed with touchscreen input in mind.

AdGuard

If you like to get your hands dirty with configurations and DNS setup and all that, feel free to skip this section. But for the average lay person or technophobe to enjoy the benefits of ad-block, AdGuard offers a quick and easy solution to block ads on all your devices (yes, including YouTube ads. DNS-level ad-block is the “set it and forget it” option. For only $18/year you get rid of ads on up to 20 of your devices using this link or my promo code CARLSINCLAIR_DNS_40.

If you want more control over what ads get blocked, you can use the AdGuard app. Unlike DNS-level solutions, the app is more flexible. Say you landed on a website that forces you to disable ad-block. It’s a lot easier to turn off the AdGuard app temporarily than to undo your entire DNS setup. If you use this link or my promo code CARLSINCLAIR_30, you get the full premium version of the AdGuard app on 3 of your devices for $30/year, or 9 devices for $66/year.

For those in the market for a [VPN solution](), AdGuard has you covered there as well. For $57/year you get to protect your internet traffic on up to 10 devices. That’s ad-block, privacy, and security all in one package, for the whole family. Use this link or my promo code CARLSINCLAIR_VPN_80 to lock in this price for 2 years.

Browser-level Ad-block

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Unless you’re one of those weirdos who plays Candy Crush on their computer, the only thing that most people really need is an ad-block solution for the browser. Because it’s unlikely you’ll see ads elsewhere. Luckily, there’s no shortage of ad-blocking browser extensions. Whether you use Safari, Firefox or a Chromium-based browser, you’ve got the two open-source options: uBlock Origin and AdGuard.

Chromium-based browsers can install extensions from the Chrome webstore. That’s Chrome itself, Opera, Vivaldi, or even the new Microsoft Edge. The experience is pretty seamless. Just install the extension and you’re good to go. No configuration needed. An added bonus is that both AdGuard and uBO also protect your privacy by blocking trackers. Both of them allow you to pause ad-blocking as needed. They also remember your configuration for different websites so you won’t have to keep turning it off on sites that force you to, or that you want to support.

DNS-level Ad-block

What if you’re seeing ads in other apps as well? Or you simply want to minimize the RAM usage of your web browser (which is heavily affected by extensions)? In that case, we have to go deeper.

DNS filtering is an increasingly popular way of ad-blocking. Any connection you make over the internet first has to go through a DNS in order to figure out where it needs to go. So if you choose an ad-blocking DNS, any requests made to advertising domains are killed before they ever get there.

You have several choices for ad-blocking DNS providers to choose from. Many of them are even paid, like NextDNS. Here I’m going with AdGuard’s DNS as I’ve never seen any reason to distrust them. They are extremely transparent and all of their free apps are open-source.

Windows Ad-block

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1. Press Windows + R and type ncpa.cpl then hit Enter.

2. Right click the adapter you’re using to access the internet (be it Ethernet or Wi-Fi), and hit Properties.
3. From the list, choose Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and hit Properties again.
4. The second half of this window is probably set to “Obtain DNS server address automatically”. Change it to “Use the following DNS server addresses”.
5. Enter 94.140.14.14 as your Preferred DNS server and 94.140.15.15 as your Alternate DNS server, which is used as a fallback in case your preferred one is offline.

6. Repeat the same for IPv6, using 2a10:50c0::ad1:ff and 2a10:50c0::ad2:ff.
   
7. Hit Ok, then Close, and you’re all set!

DoH

If you are also concerned about privacy and encrypting your DNS queries, you need to take additional steps in Windows settings to enable DoH.

1. Under WiFi settings, click on Properties next to the name of your WiFi network and click Edit next to DNS assignment.

2. From there, fill in the following values for IPv4:

And IPv6:

3. Now that you’re done making changes, pull up the start menu and type cmd.
4. In the command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns and hit enter to apply the changes.

MacOS Ad-block

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11.6+

1. Download the AdGuard DoH profile from PaulMillr’s open-source repository.
2. Open the Settings app.
3. Select Profiles.
4. Choose the downloaded AdGuard DNS profile and click Install.
   

11.5-

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select Network under System Preferences.
3. Click “Advanced” on the first connection.
4. Select the DNS tab.
5. Enter 94.140.14.14 and 94.140.15.15 as IPv4 DNS servers.
6. Enter 2a10:50c0::ad1:ff and 2a10:50c0::ad2:ff as IPv6 DNS servers.

The Cons of DNS Ad-block

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The only real downside for DNS-level ad-block is the lack of flexibility. You can’t, for example, turn it off for certain websites, modify the rules, or set a whitelist. I mean you can turn it off, but that requires undoing everything we just walked you through. That’s where AdGuard really shines. It allows custom on-the-fly configuration of your DNS filters at any time in their slick interface without having to mess around with OS settings.

Speaking of Cloudflare, they provide a wonderful little test page to verify your DNS privacy is configured correctly. Note that the first test can only be passed using their own DNS: 1.1.1.1.

YouTube Ad-block

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In case you’re still seeing YouTube ads, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered there too. An absolute genius has created a browser extension that mutes YouTube ads and speeds them up by 16x so you don’t even notice the ads playing. The best part is that your favorite creators still get paid from that ad view, unlike other methods of ad-blocking. So you don’t even have to feel guilty about this one.

Keep in mind that ad-blocking is never foolproof. It’s an on-going cat-and-mouse game. Whatever ad-block solution you decide to go with, you might have false positives or false negatives. Ad-blockers can also sometimes mess with the functionality of certain websites.

YouTube is notorious for staying ahead of ad-block solutions. Understandably, since that’s Google’s entire business model. Keeping your ad-block solution and filters up to date can help, but a dedicated solution for YouTube is more effective. I’ve compiled dedicated lists for privacy-friendly YouTube Alternatives and privacy-friendly YouTube Music Alternatives.