This morning I watched as my daughter struggled through playing a few different apps on one of ou...

[G+_Ben Reese]

This morning I watched as my daughter struggled through playing a few different apps on one of our tablets. The simple little games she was playing were all bombarded with screen-covering ads that my 6 year old didn't know how to get around.

 

At the many recommendations I saw here about Pi-hole, I decided to try it out. Only 5-10 minutes install time, a small change on my router, and suddenly her games were playable!

 

I'm real impressed with the web UI too. Clean, responsive, helpful graphs... It definitely gets my recommendation so far!

[G+_Jason Perry]

I have been looking at that. Never heard any real world stories about it till now. Thanks for posting, what Pi do you have it running on?

[G+_Ben Reese]

This is the original Pi B. Seems to do OK so far. DNS is a real light protocol, so I expect it to perform decently. OpenVPN is also running on the same Pi, so I'll be curious to see how it does when both are in use.

[G+_todd zimmerman]

"Pi-hole"... That's funny!!

[G+_Shooter_FPV (Shooter_FP]

Gives a new meaning to "shut your pie hole..." Actually might have to try it out as well, surprisingly I have a Pi B sitting around...

 

What OS do you have it running under? Just checked their web site... yea, it seems so easy to do, I will definitely try it.

[G+_Ben Reese]

Raspbian Jesse Lite, I believe.

[G+_Andrew Lee]

Oh sweet. I'm definitely going to be trying this.

[G+_Jason Brown]

I really like mine. I wish there was an easy way to change the password and import block lists from the web interface. I don't mind a little cli work, but it'd still be nice.

[G+_Hagos Rush]

Beautiful Ben Reese - It's absolutely amazing when it blocks advertisements even those in iOS apps - I love it

 

How is it working with Open VPN on it as well?

What capacity are you using OpenVPN? VPN to the home or for VPN service?

 

I have been thinking of putting a VPN service either Open VPN or Private Internet Access on there but too concerned about losing my internet speed.

[G+_Ben Reese]

Hagos Rush I use OpenVPN for remote access of my home network. And the Pi is more of a backup in case the VM crashes or something. I don't notice much speed difference once it's connected, but my OpenVPN on Debian connects just a few seconds faster.

[G+_Hagos Rush]

Awesome. I have my security gateway which I use for the VPN and may set this up as a backup as well. And good to know that the performance is not hindered ??