How to block advertisements on any device system-wide
Introduction
Advertisements often annoy users, especially when they are intrusive. Although it might seem impossible to block given that many OSes are quite like a walled-garden, it’s actually still possible to block advertisements with a neat little trick via some DNS magic.
Steps
You need to have a modern device and an up-to-date OS to follow the steps below.
- Navigate to AdGuard’s Public DNS page.
- Scroll down to “Method 2: Configure AdGuard DNS manually”.
- Choose the device you have, then follow the instructions to configure your device to use AdGuard’s DNS servers.
- Enjoy an ad-free experience!
How does it work?
Every website usually has a domain name (e.g. google.com) that points to an IP address (e.g. 8.8.8.8), corresponding to the server that runs the website.
Knowing the IP address of a site is like knowing the home address of a person. If you know the home address of a person, you can go to the person’s home and talk to the person. Similarly, if you know the IP address of a website, your computer can then find the server that runs the website and download its contents.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is a system that translates domain names to IP addresses. There are servers out there that provide you with a list of domain names and their corresponding IP addresses, which we call DNS servers. When you type a domain name into your browser, your computer will ask a DNS server for the IP address of the domain name (a.k.a. resolving the IP address of a domain), and then your computer will use the IP address to find the server that runs the website.
Now, AdGuard’s DNS servers are configured to block advertisements. When you configure your device to use AdGuard’s DNS servers, your device will use AdGuard’s DNS servers to resolve domain names. AdGuard simply doesn’t tell your computer what the real IP address the advertisements originates, and your device will not be able to find the server that serves the ads. Thus, ads won’t be displayed!