One thing I had during the FreeNAS build was some time to read and research the FreeNAS forums and other tech related sites. I had built a pfSense firewall after getting frustrated with the lame consumer level products and struggling to make them do what I wanted. pfSense was simple and a straight forward firewall.

During the process I started testing an application for pfSense called pfBlockerNG which is designed to filter all kinds of ads, attacks and all around crap coming from both inside and out side of your network. It works really well.

I also found Pi-Hole. Killer name!

I’ll do a write up on both but I’m using them in combination and it amazing to see what these applications catch. If you think your network is secure your wrong. The other benefit is how each of them deal with ads and pop up iFrame type windows. Even my cell phone is faster!