The original post: /r/pihole by /u/SheikAhmed00101 on 2024-09-27 18:22:13.

When I first discovered Pi-hole, I was thrilled and quickly ordered two Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) units to set up as primary and secondary DNS servers. I enthusiastically explored various blacklists, adding hundreds of regex patterns to block ads effectively.

However, after a few months, I noticed that some legitimate sites and services were not functioning as expected. In response, I began whitelisting several trusted services from Microsoft, Apple, and others. Despite my efforts, the issues persisted as these companies continually updated their services, leading me to whitelist even more.

To simplify the situation, I opted for “green” blocklists, reducing my list from approximately 4 million entries to under a million. This seemed to improve functionality and life without Ads.

Until a few months ago which I encountered problem with my Samsung TV rebooting once a day. After some research, I discovered that this issue had plagued Samsung TVs for many years.

My first step was to disable the Smart TV blocklist, but that didn’t resolve the issue. I then rebuilt both Raspberry Pis from scratch, yet the reboots continued. Frustrated, I wondered if their most recent firmware update was the culprit, but I found no way to roll back. I explored various suggestions online, even some dubious ones from forums, but nothing worked. Started shopping around for a new TV …

For many years, I faced other challenges too. The iCloud app on my Windows 11 machine was unable to sync, and I discovered many users had experienced similar issues for years. I tried numerous solutions, including disabling Pi-hole, but nothing changed. Additionally, I struggled with Microsoft BitLocker, needing to disable Pi-hole momentarily to send keys to my Microsoft account.

Eventually, the situation took a turn for the better. I resolved the reboot issue with my Samsung TV.

My BitLocker problem and iCloud syncing issues were also fixed.

All of this was achieved by removing all blocklists and retaining only the original one recommended by the Pi-hole developers.

My guess is Samsung developers thought if their TVs couldn’t call home, it would fix the issue by restarting customers’ TVs - I have no other explanation for my situation!

Many blocklists often include entries from other lists, which can lead to redundancy. For instance, when you remove a blocklist specifically for Smart TVs, other blocklists still contain the same entries.

I just wanted to share my experience as a reminder of the importance of balance when using ad-blocking solutions.