Advice Request Windscribe ControlID - has anyone used it, if so what do you think of it?

[Nightwalker]

We will probably not do that, as we see little point in it considering what I mentioned earlier. The major point of ControlD is that we do all the hard work for you and distill it all to a single toggle switch which enables a far better blocklist than what you will find online, as per feedback from people in this thread. You can always make custom rules to add/remove domains to the "house" blocklists.

The entire system was built for speed, especially on the backend. We use Redis as the sole database, so everything has to be in memory. This also includes the servers themselves which run from a live OS image, with no disk access, something we're trialing here and will be deploying to Windscribe servers shortly.

You may notice your custom rule changes are instantly enforced, and the panel should be lightening quick (assuming you're within 50ms of the closest POP). Adding all these extra blocklists is useless to 99% of people because they don't know the difference between StevenBlack, OISD and countless others, and will inevitably ask questions like "which one is better?". We prefer to avoid this confusion by providing 1 good list to rule them all, and it does do that.

I fully understand and respect the decision not to include customized lists for the service.

Generally these lists contain a lot of redundancy and the use of many of them together can substantially increase the number of false positives and thus inoperative services and broken pages for the user.

ControlD's method of prioritizing a "proprietary" and professionally maintained list is commendable and functional, which will ensure a better user experience for a wider range of people.

If the proprietary list offered left something to be desired then it was more than necessary that the third party list was supported, but this is not the case.

 

[windscribe]

@windscribe do you plan to add backup/secondary resolvers IPs for the legacy DNS, or should we use another resolver as a backup?

Secondary resolvers are a relic of the 90s. You don't need them since ControlD operates an anycast network. There is no single point of failure, if any machine or datacenter fails, requests will get rerouted to the next closest POP. You definitely should not use another DNS resolver as a secondary, as that will have unintended consequences (your custom rules will be randomly not applied).

 

[roger_m]

You can just configure Legacy DNS in the Android TV, or any device for that matter, it all should (and does work as per our tests). Just follow this guide: Nvidia Shield / Android TV Setup Tutorial

Keep in mind, the IP you're using to interact with with control panel must be the same as your Android TV, otherwise it will not work. This is the main limitation of using Legacy DNS over DoH or DOT, other than the encryption.

I've done both steps now, but it's still is not working. Streaming services that I have redirected, still see my real location, despite logging into my control panel on the same device.

 

[Stopspying]

@windscribe Thanks for your useful engagement in this thread, it is appreciated a lot.

 

[windscribe]

I've done both steps now, but it's still is not working. Streaming services that I have redirected, still see my real location, despite logging into my control panel on the same device.

Do you see the queries this device generates in the query log? ControlD Operation Test

 

[roger_m]

Do you see the queries this device generates in the query log? ControlD Operation Test

I enabled logging, and opened a streaming app. Nothing was logged.

 

[Kongo]

It would be great to see the current status of ControlD on the dashboard just like with NextDNS, so that the user knows that the configuration is working on the current device. Is something like that already planned? @windscribe

 

[eonline]

These DNS do not block the advertising of YouTube, a point against.

 

[Nightwalker]

These DNS do not block the advertising of YouTube, a point against.

You are right, but this isnt a flaw of DNS blockers per se, but Google's intentional move to serve ads via first party content to avoid general ad blocking.

 

[Bill W]

I am giving it a go at the moment. I can't get embedded videos to resolve at the below site:

news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

www.news.com.au

NextDNS has the same problem.

 

[Stopspying]

These DNS do not block the advertising of YouTube, a point against.

Off Topic - Using AdGuard DoH and their DNS servers I don't get YouTube adverts.

 

[windscribe]

Off Topic - Using AdGuard DoH and their DNS servers I don't get YouTube adverts.

You're probably running Adguard software on the device itself. Blocking Youtube ads through DNS is not possible without heavy collateral damage, where some content will not load since ads and content are delivered from the same hostnames.

I enabled logging, and opened a streaming app. Nothing was logged.

That suggests your device is not using the ControlD resolver. How did you configure it exactly?

 

[Stopspying]

You're probably running Adguard software on the device itself. Blocking Youtube ads through DNS is not possible without heavy collateral damage, where some content will not load since ads and content are delivered from the same hostnames.


That suggests your device is not using the ControlD resolver. How did you configure it exactly?

Yes, you're correct, I didn't make it clear that I have Adguard software installed.

 

[windscribe]

Yes, you're correct, I didn't make it clear that I have Adguard software installed.

We don't recommend using 2 similar services at the same time, as unexpected behavior will occur.

 

[windscribe]

The new enhanced malware filter that looks at IPs that get resolved, instead of just "bad domains", along with a bunch of new features is deployed. Give it a shot.

Beta Updates - May 2021

It has been almost 2 weeks since the Open Beta started, and we've made a lot of progress fixing bugs and adding new functionality that was requested. Here are some new things that were added to ControlD. New Server Locations New points of presence were added in Dubai and Tokyo.

blog.controld.com

 

[blackice]

The new enhanced malware filter that looks at IPs that get resolved, instead of just "bad domains", along with a bunch of new features is deployed. Give it a shot.

Beta Updates - May 2021

It has been almost 2 weeks since the Open Beta started, and we've made a lot of progress fixing bugs and adding new functionality that was requested. Here are some new things that were added to ControlD. New Server Locations New points of presence were added in Dubai and Tokyo.

blog.controld.com

Is the malicious IP blocking being implemented in the free malware blocking dns?

 

[roger_m]

That suggests your device is not using the ControlD resolver. How did you configure it exactly?

I followed the steps you linked to for manually configuring DNS in Android. Then I logged into ControlD on my device.

 

[omidomi]

Sounds good, Windscribe Really do the best ,also The new Windows version is really nice

 

[windscribe]

Is the malicious IP blocking being implemented in the free malware blocking dns?

Yeah, it is.

 

[jetman]

I took a gamble on Windscribe VPN back in the early days and got a 'lifetime' licence (which I hope they are going to honour!) I do think its a good VPN and it has got much better over time- for instance it now unblocks BBC iPlayer etc, appears to strip advertisements from some TV streaming sites and can even bypass some paywalls. Very impressive.

Control ID sounds interesting. However, I don't really understand what it does exactly- Windscribe should perhaps consider make this clearer on their website for dummies like myself. On the face of it, I'm not sure I would get any extra benefit from using it. But I'll give it a try once I understand what it does exactly.