0

So I finally got a firewall for my Mac. First of all I was shocked to see how many connections are being established during regular internet browsing (especially by Google Chrome). Surfing a typical blog will make my browser connect something like 10-20 different servers. I figure that a large number of those are used for ads and user tracking, while others provide services, such as embedded videos, etc.. I noticed that it is safe to block some servers like goolge-analytics.com and still have access to all services I want to.

Is there a list of servers that are safe to block and will not overly compromise my internet experience?

Improve this question
4
  • There are people who have gathered considerably unwanted contents site listing. AdblockPlus which is an addon for either Chrome or Firefox can automatically block most of those unwanted contents (and ads especially). If you want even further control to block things (which may break your web experience if not fine-tuned properly) you can use NoScript.
    – Darius
    Jan 30, 2014 at 12:00
  • @Darius how will noscript block connections? It will stop webpages from running unwanted scripts but the connection will be established regardless unless the script itself is doing the connecting.
    – terdon
    Jan 30, 2014 at 14:31
  • winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt I'm pretty fond of this list. Its mostly evil crap tho
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Jan 30, 2014 at 16:35
  • @terdon Thanks, looks like I didn't think it through properly. I was thinking to let NoScript (and AdBlock) to load, and stop unwanted stuff, and work your way from there to put the sites into littlesnitch, but if there is an existing list that you can just copy and paste, it would be a lot easier that way.
    – Darius
    Jan 30, 2014 at 22:12

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

It depends on what you mean by "safe". Sites may vary in behavior depending on what 3rd-party elements are blocked, and some sites are getting smarter with the ability to detect blocking. Unfortunately, it's a moving target and it's hit-or-miss on any given site, but currently most sites will function (for the most part) with the popular ad/tracker blockers in place.

Browser add-ons such as AdBlock Plus, Ghostery, Disconnect, Abine DoNotTrackMe, NoScript, etc. will do the job. You can also do blocking at the DNS level or in the computer hosts file. See http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm for an example hosts file with extensive blocking. AdBlock Plus lists are open source, and you can mix and match blocking to your liking.

Blocking at DNS or hosts file level is absolute: no connection is possible to any server / domain blocked. Browser add-on behavior may vary depending on the browser, platform, and add-on. hosts file blocking has the added advantage that it blocks all apps, not just browser. DNS, if set up to do so, has yet another advantage of blocking for every app and every device on your network.

Improve this answer
0

To filter out tracking servers, what you want is either AdBlock Plus + EasyPrivacy filter list, or Ghostery. Both are available for all mainstream browsers. Ghostery has slightly better coverage, but AdBlock Plus is necessary for ad blocking anyway, so I'd install that instead. I wouldn't install both.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .