88 OCTOBER2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE392
W
ehaveamixed relationship
with online advertising. On the
one hand, we accept thatthis
advertisingcan go towards
payingfor websites to stay in
operation, which we’re fine
withinprinciple. On the other hand, how
manyweb experiences areruinedby
intrusive advertising?Pop-up adverts and
auto-playing videos areamassive problem
thatcan make visiting awebsite anightmare.
Then there’sthe case of mobile
advertising, particularly in ‘free’ Android
apps. We’ve seen plenty of free games
ruined by intrusive, andoccasionally
offensive, adverts popping up on the
screen.That’s wherePi-Holecomesin.
This handyapp lets you control and
manage adsonyourentirenetwork,
blockingthem at everylevel.
Thesystem worksbyrunning the
Pi-Hole DNS server softwareonaRaspberry
Pi.You then configureyour network to use
the Pi-Hole as your default DNS server.
With aDNS server,yourcomputer or mobile
phone looksupahuman-readable web
address (www.computershopper.co.uk)and
is passedback the IP address thatyour
device uses. Pi-Hole works by spotting
requests to ad servers and blocking them at
source so thatyour devices never make
contactwith theadserver.
As it doesn’t needtobeinstalled on any
device, Pi-Hole workswith everything,
including computers, mobilephones, games
consoles and even smart TVs, which have
been known to display adverts on thescreen.
Here, we’ll takeyou through everything you
need to get the system up and running.
GET ARASPBERRYPI
ON YOUR NETWORK
First, you need to have aRaspberry Pi on
your home network. Here, we’reusing
Raspbian on it,aswefind it the easiest OS
to use.Any Raspberry Pi model will do.
Thereare full installation instructions on the
Raspberry Pi website (raspberrypi.org), which
you can use to download and install your Pi.
Once done, you need to getyour Pi
connected to your home network.Youcan
do thisusing the built-in Wi-Fi, althoughyou
can also use Ethernet and wireyourPiinto
place.Themostimportant next step is to give
your Pi afixedIPaddress so that it canalways
be found at the same location. If you don’t,
then your router canchange the Pi’s IP
address from time to time,which can stop
your ad blocking from working.
Thebest waytogiveout afixedIP
address is to use the featureinyourrouter,
connectingtoits web-based management
page.Theoption is usuallycalledaddress
reservation,orsomething similar. On our
Orbi system, you have to go to Advanced,
Setup, LAN Setup and click Add under
Address Reservation.
Next, you need to find your Raspberry Pi
in thelistofdevices attached to your
network.Itshould be calledraspberrypi
(that’sthe default, but yours may have a
different name if yourenamed it), but you
can also findyourdevicebyits current IP
Blockinternetads
Intrusiveand sometimes dangerous,webadverts canruinthe experience
of going online,but there’s ahandy fix foryourentirenetwork
ABOVE:Youneed to give your Pi afixedIPaddress
ABOVE:There’saninstallation wizardthathelps you set up your software
PROJECT1
