Pi-hole

Pi-hole is an essential part of my home network, running as an app on my TrueNAS server.

It acts as a DNS sinkhole that protects my devices from unwanted content without any client-side software. I use it strictly for ad-blocking and security; for local routing, I rely on Nginx Proxy Manager to handle my subdomains.

I use it all the time—or rather, it’s always working in the background to keep my browsing experience clean and slightly more private. It’s one of those tools you forget is there until you’re on a network without it and suddenly see ads everywhere.