Best Pihole Block Lists & How to Update Pi-Hole?

Best Pihole Block Lists

Did you know that it is now possible to block ads in non-browser locations?

Browser-supported ad blockers like AdBlock, Adblock, and CyberGhost do a great job of getting rid of the unwanted and annoying ads on the web pages you visit. However, most people are not aware of the fact that they can block ads on apps and other user-interfaces too. This is what Pi-hole is all about. 

It is a free DNS-level ad blocker for all your devices. Be it a smartphone, tablet, PC, or Mac; there is a Pi-hole version for everything you need. In this post, I have shared the best Pi-hole blocklists for you to choose from. You will also learn how to update Pi-hole.

First, let’s get to know a bit about the creators of this formidable free adblocker.

About the Creator of Pi-Hole

Pi-hole is an advanced adblocker popularly known as “a black hole for advertisements.” This program was originally created to run on computers enabled with Raspberry Pi– a motherboard popular among gamers and DIY enthusiasts. It was founded by a Minnesota-based computer geek named Jacob Salmela.

Here Are the Best Pi-Hole Block Lists

As I already stated, Pi-hole is a DNS-level adblocker. Meaning, it will block all ads coming from a particular source. For instance, if you wish to block all ads generated by a popular ad-network like MediaNet or GoogleAdsense, you will have to add their respective URLs to the blacklist. 

Likewise, to allow ads from a particular domain, you can add it’s URL to the whitelist, so Pi-hole does not block it by default. This is how blocking and unblocking ads on Pi-hole work. In this section, I have shared a list of the best Pi-hole Blocklists shared by Pi-hole users online.

Pi-Hole Block List by doctorwho69 (General)

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts https://mirror1.malwaredomains.com/files/justdomains
http://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts
https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/blocklist.php?download=domainblocklist
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_tracking.txt
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_ad.txt
https://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt
https://gitlab.com/quidsup/notrack-blocklists/raw/master/notrack-blocklist.txt
https://gitlab.com/quidsup/notrack-blocklists/raw/master/notrack-malware.txt
https://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list.txt
https://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list_browser.txt
https://zerodot1.gitlab.io/CoinBlockerLists/list_optional.txt
https://ransomwaretracker.abuse.ch/downloads/RW_DOMBL.txt
https://ransomwaretracker.abuse.ch/downloads/CW_C2_DOMBL.txt
https://ransomwaretracker.abuse.ch/downloads/LY_C2_DOMBL.txt
https://ransomwaretracker.abuse.ch/downloads/TC_C2_DOMBL.txt
https://ransomwaretracker.abuse.ch/downloads/TL_C2_DOMBL.txt
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crazy-max/WindowsSpyBlocker/master/data/hosts/spy.txt
https://smokingwheels.github.io/Pi-hole/allhosts
https://tspprs.com/dl/spotify
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/BBcan177/4a8bf37c131be4803cb2/raw/343ff780e15205b4dd0de37c86af34cfb26b2fbe/MS-2
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/BBcan177/b6df

Pi-Hole Block List by Firebog (Advertisements Only)

https://adaway.org/hosts.txthttps://v.firebog.net/hosts/AdguardDNS.txthttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/anudeepND/blacklist/master/adservers.txthttps://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_ad.txthttps://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txthttps://v.firebog.net/hosts/Easylist.txthttps://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=hosts&showintro=0&mimetype=plaintexthttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/FadeMind/hosts.extras/master/UncheckyAds/hostshttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/bigdargon/hostsVN/master/hostshttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdlingyu/ad-wars/master/hosts

How to Update Pi-Hole?

The Pi-hole beta version 5.0 is here, and you might want to update your previous version (presumably version 4) to check out the new features. I wish to inform you again that version 5.0 is still in the beta testing phase, and it might not run as satisfactorily as you estimate. Nevertheless, in this section, I will share how to update Pi-hole.

Before moving ahead with the upgrade, it is crucial to take an image of your current Pi-hole version in an SD card. If things don’t go as they should, you can always roll-back to the previous state. However, without an image, there is no way to roll-back. You will lose all your lists and other settings that you saved over the years. Even Pi-hole development team recommends playing it safe.

So, let’s get to the update part. Open the console window in your PC and copy and paste the following three commands one by one. Kindly press enters after each command. Let the system process it first and then paste the subsequent command. Here are the three commands to update Pi-hole from 4.x version to 5.0 beta version:

echo “release/v5.0” | sudo tee /etc/pihole/ftlbranch

pihole checkout core release/v5.0

pihole checkout web release/v5.0

What’s New in the Pi-Hole 5.0 Beta Version?

Pi-hole will no longer be using third-party open-source storage spaces like gravityDB. It has now migrated all it’s data to a database. This has given them space to come up with more creative features. 

Users will now have more options with black and white lists. They can also comment on each list. The team at Pi-hole also acknowledges that GravityDB was slowing down its application, and this change was inevitable.

Furthermore, Pi-hole 5.0 beta version also comes with a dashboard interface. The team is working on getting the Command-line interface ready. As of now, users are advised to communicate with the database to make changes in the groups directly.

Summary

Pi-hole is becoming more popular these days. Almost all applications –unless they specify so– come with ads and other promotional content. Except on YouTube, Hulu, and Facebook, Pi-hole blocks all ads at a DNS-level. The software does not come with a blocklist. Copy the lists shared in this post to keep malware away from your devices.

Also Read- PeerBlock Download for Windows [Complete Version]

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