This page is used by the eBlocker Doctor feature and not meant to be read completely. The Doctor will link to the individual passages in this document to help you further with the diagnosis.
Auto Trust App with www domains (Info) #
You have the Auto Trust App enabled. This is good as it helps eBlocker’s compatibility with certain native apps. By automatically adding domains as “trusted” these domains will not be considered trackers and the (HTTPS) communication will not be analyzed by eBlocker anymore.
Please note that your individual list of automatically added domains contains domains starting with www. As a result, if you are browsing to these domains the eBlocker Icon will not be displayed as a “side effect”. Fortunately you will be still protected from trackers and adds installed on this domain. So the eBlocker will work as expected even if the eBlocker Icon is not displayed.
There is no action from you required. This is just an Info to inform you about the “side effect”.
System update too old (Warning) #
The last eBlocker update is older than two days ago. It’s recommend to update eBlocker every day to get full protection as the blocking lists are updated on a daily basis. Please go to Settings>License & Updates and hit the tab “Update”. By using the “Check Now” button in the “Manual Update” section of the page, you can update your eBlocker manually.
To enable daily automatic updates use the switch in the section “Automatic Updates” and set the desired update time. You might need a license key to enable automatic updates which will be granted for a small donation to cover costs.
Consent & Cookie-Banner blocker enabled (Info) #
The Consent & Cookie-Banner Blocker is activated in your eBlocker. This is good for blocking annoying consent banners. But it can also yield to some websites to malfunction. If you are experiencing websites not to work properly, please Pause eBlocker (in the Dashboard or via the Controlbar) first to check if eBlocker is the cause. If the website works fine then, you can try to disable the Consent & Cookie blocker by going to Settings>Blocker>Pattern Tracker Blocker. Here you can disable the “Cookie & Consent-Blocker” list with a switch.
The Doctor recommends novice users not to enable the Consent & Cookie-Banner Blocker.
Please report websites that are not working with the Cookie & Consent blocker in the eBlocker forum, so we can investigate the issue and improve.
Consent & Cookie blocker not enabled (Info) #
As an experienced user, you might want to enable the Consent & Cookie-Banner Blocker to block annoying consent banners at the danger of overblocking. Please go to Settings>Blocker>Pattern Tracker Blocker to enable the blocker.
DNS servers with non-good rating (Warning) #
The eBlocker constantly monitors the performance of the configured DNS servers as a good performance is crucial for a fluent internet experience. It has detected that one or more of your DNS servers have a non-good rating. Please go to DNS Firewall>DNS Server custom list and replace the ones with a non-good rating by better ones. See Where can I find more public DNS server on the Internet? for recommended servers.
Problematic router (Warning) #
Some routers are not compatible with eBlocker’s automatic network mode. See Issues with the Fritzbox 7490 / 7360 / 3490 / 3272 for more information. Use eBlocker Individual Network Setting instead of the automatic network mode to fix the problem.
Children without restriction (Anomaly) #
The Doctor has detected that some of your children have no restrictions at all. If this is a configuration mistake, use the Parental Controls to add restrictions.
Automatic network mode activated (Info) #
The Doctor has detected that your eBlocker is using the default automatic network mode. While this mode usually works quite well, it sometimes leads to interrupted network connections. In rare cases, the automatic network mode will even not work at all. Users with some network knowledge should thus switch to eBlocker Individual Network Setting.
Automatic updates are disabled (Info) #
eBlocker can update itself on a daily basis. To enable automatic updates, use the switch in the section “Automatic Updates” and set the desired update time. You might need a license key to enable automatic updates which will be granted for a small donation to cover costs.
No donor license (Info) #
You are using the eBlocker Open Source license, which grants you access to all eBlocker features without any restriction. However, automatic daily updates are not included in this license.
Even our non-profit project is run by volunteers, we do need to cover costs for licensing advanced blockers, maintaining the software infrastructure and the servers.
To receive automatic daily updates, the Doctor (and the eBlocker team) kindly asks you to make a small donation to cover the costs. As a gratitude for your donation you will get a license key for automatic daily updates.
System updates never ran (Warning) #
The Doctor noticed that the system updates of your eBlocker never ran. Please go to Settings>License & Updates and hit the tab “Update”. By using the “Check Now” button in the “Manual Update” section of the page, you can update your eBlocker manually. If this fails, it probably means that your eBlocker is not connected to the internet. In that case, don’t hesitate to contact the eBlocker Community Forum to get help.
Please note, that eBlocker can also update itself daily. To enable automatic updates use the switch in the section “Automatic Updates” and set the desired update time. You might need a license key to enable automatic updates which will be granted for a small donation to cover costs.
Auto Trust App not enabled (Info) #
You have switched on the HTTPS support to get full anti-tracking protection based on pattern filters. Unfortunately, this might lead to problems with some applications. While you can manually enable Trusted Apps to work around this problem, there is also a new feature called Auto Trust App that will analyse the problems you experience and automatically whitelist the corresponding domains. The Doctor recommends to enable the Auto Trust App.
HTTPS support not enabled (Info) #
The Doctor recommends experienced users to enable The eBlocker HTTPS feature as it gives better tracking protection than domain blocking.
Standard pattern filter not enabled (Warning) #
You seem to have manually disabled one of the standard pattern filters within eBlocker. This is usually not a good choice as it lowers eBlockers protection mechanism significantly. Please go to Settings>Blocker>Pattern Blocker and make sure you have enabled the corresponding pattern filter.
DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Blocker is enabled (Info) #
You have manually enabled the DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Blocker. Please note that this blocker is quite strong and tends to overblock, i.e. sometimes blocks requests that are necessary for a website to function properly. Please read DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Blocker to decide whether you want to continue using it or not.
The Doctor recommends novice users not to enable the DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Blocker.
DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar filter is not enabled (Info) #
As an expert user, you might want to enable the DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Blocker for strong tracking protection at the danger of overblocking.
eBlocker automatically enabled for new devices (Info) #
You have configured the eBlocker to automatically enable new devices. This is not recommended as it might lead to problems if you add a new device to your network and the device is not compatible with the eBlocker.
Automatically enabling new devices can be useful if you are using the Parental Controls. If you want to make sure content filters are applied to a new device, say a tablet that another child connects to you network. Then this new device is automatically protected as well.
In an „adults only network“ enabling each device „one by one“ is rather recommend – especially during initial eBlocker setup.
Please go to Settings>Devices>Device Discovery in case you want to disable “Automatic enabling of new devices”.
eBlocker cannot resolve DNS names (Severe warning) #
eBlocker can not resolve DNS names / domain names are not translated to IP addresses. Internet communication to domains will fail. This is a hint for a severe configuration error and will most likely prevent the eBlocker from working properly. Please check the DNS Firewall settings, the Network settings, and contact the eBlocker Community Forum for further help.
In case this error occurs at initial setup you might be using an older eBlockerOS image <3.0.3 which have a known bug.
The bug in eBlockerOS <3.0.3 can be circumvented by disabling the DNS Firewall temporarily. After update to >=3.0.3 the DNS Firewall can be put into production again.
At present day (Feb 5th 2024) eBlockerOS 3.0.3 has been released as an Image for Raspberry Pi. Images for Banana Pi m2+/WhiteCube reinstallation, PC Boot and Virtual Machines as well as a general update for eBlockerOS users will be released very soon. Please stay tuned (by subscribing to our Mastodon Channel or our Newsletter at the bottom of the page)👍
eBlocker cannot reach the internet via ICMP/ping (Severe warning) #
eBlocker can not reach the Internet. This is a severe configuration error and will most likely prevent the eBlocker from working properly. Make sure eBlocker is plugged into a LAN port that has no restrictions / no child protection enabled. For the initial setup eBlocker expects a DHCP server in the network to get an IP address. Please also check eBlocker’s Network settings, and contact the eBlocker Community Forum for further help.
IPv6 internet access detected (Info/Warning) #
Info: Your internet access works via IPv6.
In case you are using eBlockerOS 3 or higher this is just fine and you can ignore the information. Please make sure IPv6 is enabled under Settings> Network> IPv6 tab (which is the default setting). Otherwise eBlockerOS can not protect IPv6 networks.
Warning: In you are still using eBlockerOS 2.x please disable IPv6 in LAN/WLAN as this version is not capable of protecting IPv6. Alternatively we recommend to update to eBlockerOS 3 for full protection.
Devices without automatic Tracker and Ad Blocker mode (Warning) #
The Doctor found one or more devices that are not using the automatic mode for Tracker and Ad Blocker. This might lead to strange problems with these devices. Please go to Settings>Devices, locate the device reported by the Doctor, select it, go to the Blocker tab, and turn on “Automatic”. See Devices for more information.
Devices with Malware Blocker disabled (Warning) #
The Doctor found one or more devices that are not using the Malware Blocker. This leaves these devices unprotected from Malware actually known to the eBlocker. Please go to Settings>Devices, locate the device reported by the Doctor, select it, go to the Blocker tab, and turn on “Standard” in the Malware Blocker section. See Devices for more information.
Devices without automatic ControlBar configuration (Info) #
The Doctor found one or more devices that are not using the automatic ControlBar configuration. This is not a severe problem, but if you made this change accidentally, go to Settings>Devices, locate the device reported by the Doctor, select it, go to the ControlBar tab, and activate the automatic configuration.
DNS via Tor enabled (Info) #
eBlocker is currently configured to resolve domain names via the Tor network. This setting will result in a slight initial delay for each new domain you are accessing. In the worst case this delay can add up, some domains may not resolve at all and it might yield to frustration.
If you accidentially enabled this feature you can disable it again via Settings > DNS Firewall by choosing a different option but Tor network. The Tor DNS feature is mainly meant for privacy and IT professionals. It should rather not be enabled by regular users (unless you know what you are doing).
DNS via Tor Can Yield to Errors (Info) #
eBlocker is currently configured to resolve domain names via the Tor network (see above). Due to the nature of Tor some DNS servers might not accept requests via the Tor network. This can result in sporadic errors and the impression the Internet is not working properly.
If you accidentially enabled this feature you can disable it again via Settings > DNS Firewall by choosing a different option but Tor network. The Tor DNS feature is mainly meant for privacy and IT professionals. It should rather not be enabled by regular users (unless you know what you are doing).
Administrator Password Not Set (Warning) #
There is no password set to protect the eBlocker settings. It‘s highly recommended to set a password for the system administration: Settings > System > Admin Password.
The eBlocker.org Domain is Configured as a Trusted Website (Warning) #
The function test on the eBlocker Dashboard works by connecting to various sub-domains of eBlocker.org. If this domain is configured as a trusted website in eBlocker’s HTTPS settings, the function test will not show the correct results.
The eBlocker.org Domain is Blocked for Devices (Warning) #
For some devices the eBlocker.org domain is blocked. The function test on the eBlocker Dashboard will therefore show incorrect results for these devices.
Instructions to add further doctor help texts (for the team only)
NOT FOR END USERS!
These brief instructions are meant for the eBlocker supporter team to help adding more text for this doctor page:
To add a new help text, just add a H2 headline with WordPress. In the block section (right sidebar while editing the headline) scroll to the bottom. Open the field “Extended” (German “Erweitert”) and enter the HTML anchor that is displayed as language ID in the doctors message link (For example “COOKIE_CONSENT_FILTER_ENABLED_OVERBLOCKING”). The ID is used as anchor target. Please check above examples.
Please also add the error level behind the title (Error, Warning, Info, etc), so readers instantly see the severeness.