Domain Name Servers

I'm trying out AdGuard's ad-blocking DNS at present. It blocks ads system wide, so no need to use an ad-blocker in the browser. Using a different Domain Name Server to the one provided by the ISP can be read about here.

https://www.howtogeek.com/167533/the-ultimate-guide-to-changing-your-dns-server/

AdGuard's ad-blocking DNS is free. It is about the same as using a browser ad-blocker but just a different approach. Ads never get as far as the browser. It seems to defeat anti-adblocker sites as well.

How to set up AdGuard DNS

A drawback for here is that it is blocking the the emoticons that go into posts. I'll have to experiment with that bit.

Interesting will have a read through that article later.

The problem with emoticons I mentioned isn't anything to do with AdGuard DNS. It is an extension called 'I don't care about cookies' that is causing it. The extension is to stop the cookie message popping up at lots of sites. The one that is most often accepted just to get rid of the message. With the extension disabled, the emoticons start working again.

Thanks for that Mart
I'm very hesitant to make any changes to my system in case I make an error or something goes awry and I can't get back.
It does look good though I must say !

Yes I can understand that. I test these things because if I do anything wrong, I'm fairly OK at digging myself out of the hole I've dug.  Changing DNS is a safe thing to do because it doesn't involve installing anything ..or uninstalling if the change isn't ultimately wanted.

It only involves changing a computer setting to the provided numbers. They are important numbers though and if a mistake is made, there won't be an Internet connection. If that were to happen, it would just be a case of going back to the numbers and checking them, or opting to let the computer find the ISP's DNS automatically and clicking 'OK'. It's good if you have more than one device that can get onto the Internet. Then, if there is any trouble, you can still use the Internet to find answers.

I think the main thing about using a different DNS is trust because all your Internet traffic runs through it. In this case, it has to so that the ads and potential malware can be filtered out before requested web pages are received by your computer. AdGuard is a well-known name in security circles. I used their paid adblocker for a few years but decided to try some time without it this year.

This is when I thought I'd try AdGuard's DNS to see how it works. System wide ad-blocking by their servers for free. It seems OK but I'm not confident enough in it yet to change the DNS in the router so that all connected devices in the house use it.

There are other DNS services such as OpenDNS, Google DNS and many others. Here's a bit more on the subject..

How to Switch to OpenDNS or Google DNS to Speed Up Web Browsing (howtogeek.com)