Advice Request What Browser Extensions are you using in 2020?

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blackice

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Can't you use your favorite DNS service which block ads? Works systemwide
You can go that route. However since I have the VPN for traveling already I figure I might as well use it. I don’t do anything sensitive on the VPN anyway, so I trust them enough to log onto MT and chat with you guys and gals.
 

CyberTech

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i love how you guys keep talking about Adblocker, VPN, HTTPs, etc (off-topic) in the thread thats how MT works
sigXPJt.jpg
 

blackice

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i love how you guys keep talking about Adblocker, VPN, HTTPs, etc (off-topic) in the thread thats how MT works
sigXPJt.jpg
The vpn was tangentially related as it was an alternative to an ad blocking extension that was being used. Https was also about the https everywhere extension. It wanders off topic, but is based in discussion of extensions. To get back on topic after using AdGuard on 3 different browsers I’m feeling the itch to return to uBlock Origin, not sure why. Maybe just familiarity.
 

CyberTech

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The vpn was tangentially related as it was an alternative to an ad blocking extension that was being used. Https was also about the https everywhere extension. It wanders off topic, but is based in discussion of extensions. To get back on topic after using AdGuard on 3 different browsers I’m feeling the itch to return to uBlock Origin, not sure why. Maybe just familiarity.

yea I know but thats Q&A lol i like how when make a new thread then the members started talking like that..
 
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cliffspab

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DNS (encrypted or not) has no relation to bypassing geo-restricted content. Media services use your IP address to determine which regional catalogue to serve you.

But what about Smart DNS services that use DNS to bypass geo-restricted content?

I use two such services that don't slow my connection down at all and let me access and stream a variety of UK and US-only content.
 

Arequire

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But what about Smart DNS services that use DNS to bypass geo-restricted content?

I use two such services that don't slow my connection down at all and let me access and stream a variety of UK and US-only content.
Don't know much about them, but as far as I can tell they're basically just a split routing proxy. Any requests that aren't a media service resolve to your proper IP, while any that are media services resolve to the Smart DNS provider's server. Your browser believes the provider's server is the media service and the media service believes the server is you. Then your videos stream through said server.

It's initiated through changing your DNS though, so you're right, DNS can have a relation.
 

cliffspab

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That's
Don't know much about them, but as far as I can tell they're basically just a split routing proxy. Any requests that aren't a media service resolve to your proper IP, while any that are media services resolve to the Smart DNS provider's server. Your browser believes the provider's server is the media service and the media service believes the server is you. Then your videos stream through said server.

It's initiated through changing your DNS though, so you're right, DNS can have a relation.
That's interesting. I never knew how it worked.

So you're saying they work like a VPN but only for some traffic?
 

Arequire

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That's

That's interesting. I never knew how it worked.

So you're saying they work like a VPN but only for some traffic?
Better I let one of the Smart DNS providers explain it. They do so better than I could:
Every device that accesses the Internet does so with an Internet (IP) address. An IP address is like a phone number for computers, so they know how to connect to each other. Websites or servers that you connect to over the Internet are able to determine the country you are visiting from based on your IP address.

In order to make the server you're connecting to think you're visiting from another country, the server needs to see your IP address as an IP address from that country. Usually this is achieved by creating a VPN or tunnel to a server in another country, and sending all your Internet traffic via that server. This works well, but its hard to setup and all your Internet traffic goes via this tunnel which can dramatically reduce your connection speed.

... We don't use complex VPNs or tunnels. We use a technology called DNS to re-route only connections of interest to overseas servers. If you think of IP addresses as phone numbers, then think of DNS as the phone book. It is used to look up a name and find it's IP address.

... Most DNS look ups you make we simply forward on to another DNS server. However, for DNS requests to certain servers (such as www.netflix.com), we return the IP address of our US server. This means any device you use to access services like Netflix or Hulu are actually connecting to our US-based server instead of the real Netflix or Hulu servers.

When your connection arrives at our US server, we simply forward the connection to it's original intended destination. The only difference is that the destination server sees your request coming from our US server's IP address, instead of your IP address, so it thinks your based in the US!
 
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