Ad-blocking for MIUI and other Android Devices

Many of MIUI users have been suffering from issues of "Ads" shown practically everywhere across the phone. Well not only MIUI, but many other phones from other manufacturer too share similar kind off problem. Sometimes such issues also arise due to various apps we install that show plenty of ads. 

These continuous flow of ads not only ruins the end user experience but also ruins the battery life. So regardless of whether your phone has 4000Mah battery or 5000Mah, It doesn’t seem to last the way it should. Now amongst several solutions available out there many of the solutions require rooting of phone which is not a easy task for an average end user. In this post I will share a method which does not require end user to root the device. 

To begin with we need to install an app named "Blockada" (https://blokada.org/). Please make sure you install the app from this website and not from the Google playstore. The version on Google Playstore only allows changing of DNS as ads play important role in Google's Business model. Once downloaded, install the apk onto your phone and launch the app. 

As soon as the app launches you will be greeted with several options like "Ad Blocking", "DNS" and "Blockada Plus". You will also see an icon at bottom which will launch settings for the app. Now lets begin with setting up the ad blocking: 

Step 1. Open 1st option of ad blocking:

Step 2. Open Host List and select the host configuration as shown in the below screenshot.

I have come up with this selection basis of my surfing habits and apps that I have present on my phone that have ads in them. You can choose to ad or remove these host basis of your requirement.

Step 3. Open Adblocking Settings and enable  "[BETA] Advanced adblocking rules"

Step 4. Go to VPN options in the system found in network settings. Make the VPN "always-on". This will help in preventing auto disconnections.

Step 5. Disable "Private DNS" from network settings as well. Incase on some versions of MIUI this setting may not be directly accessible. In that case you can install "Hidden Settings for MIUI" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ceyhan.sets&hl=en) and access this setting as shown in the screenshot below.

Please note that this is very important. The adblocking may or may not function properly if it is left enabled. You can further ignore this app from battery optimization to make sure that it does not get killed automatically. 

Eco-friendly note taking for old school

While digital note taking is gradually catching up with next gen, earlier generation still prefers the pen and paper approach. Note taking many a times in our day to day routine, is very ad-hoc and unstructured. This leads to notes getting scattered across various books or pages which have high chances of getting misplaced. Plus gradual accumulation of lot and lot of old books. With many individuals doing note taking in similar manner we end up cutting more and more trees and damaging the nature with every passing moment.

So what can we do in order to make our note taking eco-friendly as well as not requiring extreme changes in our note taking habits? In this article I talk about my eco-friendly note taking habits. For this we use following things:

• Spiral Book (I prefer Navneet HQ | EZEE Disc Book (https://www.amazon.in/Navneet-HQ-Pages-Black-Color/dp/B082NGMGJY/ref=sr_1_9?crid=2TZ5WTBK9MBRW&keywords=hq%2Bnotebooks&qid=1579625203&sprefix=hq%2B%2Caps%2C299&sr=8-9&th=1) as it allows me to rearrange the pages which adds convenience to note taking. 
  
• Pilot Frixion C1 Roller Ball Pen erasable pen (https://www.amazon.in/Pilot-Frixion-Roller-Ball-Pen/dp/B00WGNPH52/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Pilot+Frixion+C1+Roller+Ball+Pen&qid=1579631017&sr=8-1)
  
  (For people using fountain pen erasable inks are available in the market)
• Faber-Castell Eraser (Blue and White) (We are more concerned about the blue part here which is an ink eraser) (https://www.amazon.in/Faber-Castell-Blue-White-Eraser/dp/B07G6GZ35D/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Faber-Castell+Eraser&qid=1579631557&sr=8-3)
  
  

• Page scanning apps (I prefer using adobe scan or office lens) (Apps are available iOS as well)
• Adobe scan (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.scan.android)
• Microsoft Office Lens (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officelens)

With all this in place how do we go about note taking? Here is what I usually do:

• I take notes as per my requirement (daily/weekly)
• Scan to PDF using the app suggested above and share it if notes are to be shared
• Then on every weekend erase the book using eraser.

This way I'm able to reuse a single book for several months there by reducing stack of notebook which would pile up otherwise. Plus scanning the articles helps me maintain the notes for long term basis without worry about loss and wear and tear of pages.

If more and more people follow similar approach or something on these lines we can certainly reduce the amount of trees that need to be cut there by protecting nature.