OP, I read your post word by word, very carefully, I'm dull too.

I did, but I'm still confused. It sounds like it's an ad-blocker from before the stream gets to your computer. But I'd probably screw things up with the IP-pointing (?) and don't really understand what benefit there is beyond a conventional ad-blocker. Is it perhaps that sites can't detect that you're using an ad-blocker which they force you to turn off? I feel like I've walked into the wrong classroom!

Pihole is an ad blocking DNS server for your local network. All connected devices use DNS to translate a domain name, like www.flyertalk.com, to an IP address, like 104.27.174.149. Computers actually connect to IP addresses, not domain names. DNS is like the phone book for the internet.

Usually whatever network you connect to supplies a DNS server for you to use. You internet provider will have several, for example. Instead of using the default DNS, you configure your router to hand out your Pihole as the DNS server for devices that connect to your router. The Pihole has lists of known ad domains and when it receives a request to resolve one (i.e., convert into an IP address) it returns a "not found" for that domain. For other domains, it just resolves them normally. Thus, ads are blocked across your entire network. I have been running it on mine for a year or so and it does its thing well but I've also found that many websites break when you block their ads. For example, clicking on a button might not do anything. Also, I've noticed the CBS streaming app on AppleTV will just hang when you try to play a video about half the time...the other half it will play your video without commercials, which is nice. So, I wind up disabling Pihole for a few minutes when I run into that.

Thank you for that explanation. I will do further research!

Sounds somewhat like using the "hosts" list, but on steroids.

Hosts is a Windows hack and artifact from much simpler times, but yes, the function of the hosts file is DNS resolution - albeit just for very limited cases. I believe it came about when networking was new and you needed a way to detail all the hosts on your local network (and they could all fit in a file, and didn't change much).

edit: Wikipedia points out I'm correct. yay! Hosts started in the early 80s and was supplanted by DNS, which automated the functionality and expanded it. It's amazing that the hosts functionality remains after all these years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)

To clarify, hosts is not limited to Windows. Ad block apps for Android still operate on this basis. At least, the good ones that require root.

Hosts is also integral still on MacOS and on Linux. It works with DNS - DNS doesn't really replace it. At this point, it's almost like an override file. It's an earlier stop for domain name resolution.

Yes, it's part of most operating systems but dates from the days before DNS existed, when the host file would contain domain names and addresses for *all* the computers connected to the internet. The host file provides static DNS resolution without a DNS server.

The Android mention is a good point. I use Android, and I've found that Adblockers don't tend to work on Chrome without some sort of rooting. So, Pi-Hole removed the ads "at source".

I have been using Pi-hole for a couple years and it's great. Anyone who has used the internet at my house has asked me to set one up for them too. So far I have only had to whitelist Aeroplan, Constant Contact and some Amazon things.

We're also running it at work, although not on Raspberry Pi since it's more effective at squashing malvertizing than our firewall is.

Can you still HOSTS on windows ?
if so is there a list that is upgraded monthly or so ?

I remember using that years ago and loved the blank spaces that were ads before !

That just seems like extra effort when you can install Raspberry Pi in Docker and let it update itself.

Finally learning to clean my laptop on my own instead of asking someone else to do it. I've always been scared to do some irreversible damage to it so I never got to do it until now. Does research count? I've been looking into satphones through this resource for future camping, nature trails, etc, but looking also if it's more trouble than it's worth. Saw html a few replies up, and boy, it's been a while since I studied that!

Do you care to share how to clean your laptop. During the last 3 months, I watched my "once very fast" desktop getting sloooooower and slower! I tried a few obvious things such as disable certain "startup" apps and "services". So far to no avail. Sometimes it ran so slowly that I could not even do work on Excel or Word, not to mention Adobe Photoshop! All my HDD and SS disk do not need defrag.
Any help will be appreciated! TIA.