Ad-blocking Mistake, Blocking an Important Site

NapnDog

n00b
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
60
Okay, I made a slight mistake. I updated my block list and accidentally told my computer to block certain pages on an important site. The site is an art site where I have some art supplies for sale. I'm not pressured for time because I can still use my tablet to do what I need to do, but it's not super convenient since I'm getting old and it's a lot easier to see my laptop screen than my tablet screen.

My blocker is Advert-Blocker, and it uses master lists to block connections in my host file. The problem is, the list merely shows the ip addresses of the advertiser being blocked and not what they are... and there's a lot of them. Does anyone have a thought about how I might identify the address in the list to remove it from my host file so that it is no longer blocked?

Specs: P3 Laptop. Puppy Linux 4x. SeaMonkey 2.2 Bowser. Advert-Blocker.

Note: Even though ad-blockers are a security issue because of advertisers trying to track you and sell your personal information, I primarily use this software for performance related issues since it's an older machine so I'm limiting connections and stopping things like self-launch videos, flash advertisements, animated gifs, etc. Pretty much seeking to control connections that are resouce hungry, and the program is very effective for this. This is the first time I've had an issue.

Thanks
 
Like this


ping.png
 
Okay, pinged the site, got the ip, changed host file and just in case I made sure I set browser permissions for everything ever at the site. The pages in question now partly load. That's better but something still not quite right, however, as far as the blocker is concerned, perhaps this thread is solved. It seems there may be more than one thing going on at a time...?
 
If parts aren't loading then the page could very well be pulling parts, forms, images, etc from another site you have blocked.

You know, instead of blocking everything on the internet you could just not browse those sites.
 
If parts aren't loading then the page could very well be pulling parts, forms, images, etc from another site you have blocked.

You know, instead of blocking everything on the internet you could just not browse those sites.

Yes, I thought about that. Elements on the page could come from a different site. The only reason I go to this particular site is I have some items for sale there, and I've actually never had this blocker give me a problem before. It's been very effective in the past. I'm not sure why this has changed.
 
Depending on how your ad blocker works, when you blocked the site, it could have blocked ALL the elements and IPs on that site. Your unblocking by pinging the IP of the main site would not have unblocked the IPs of the other elements. That's the real evil of the current internet advertising system. The main site often doesn't know where many of the ads or auxiliary elements come from.
 
One thing you could try is to make a backup of the block list, reset it to default, go to the site and do what you originally did that brought on this problem. Then you can see, with a clean slate, what was actually blocked. Just a thought I had this morning while getting ready to go for my grand jury summons.
 
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