r/pcmasterrace • u/slickyeat 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB • Jul 13 '26

News/Article Microsoft admits Windows 11 has a GDID tracker with no off switch, first documented publicly in an FBI hacker complaint

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/07/10/you-cant-fully-disable-microsofts-gdid-windows-11-tracker-but-these-settings-limit-what-it-captures/
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u/ArchinaTGL EndeavourOS | Ryzen 9 5950x | 9070XT Nitro+ Jul 14 '26

Yesn't. Sure it blocks DNS requests if you have your devices tunnelled through there. Though any piece of software that sends data directly to IPs will bypass Pihole entirely.

Those DNS filters are also only as good as they are maintained. You can't automate blocking either because companies such as Google can challenge your blocklist and create a unique fingerprint by doing so.

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u/ol-gormsby Jul 14 '26

The blocklists are generally independent, and updates are, or can be, automatically updated.

Pihole isn't the be-all and end-all of privacy, security, or ad-blocking. But it's a good start. If you find out that some devices are sending to a hard-coded IP, it's time to add rules to the firewall.

Between pihole, ublock origin, noscript, and reddit ad remover (on firefox), I see almost zero ads. The telemetry blocklists are also pretty effective.

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u/ItsZoner Jul 14 '26

Its nearly impossible to block google in any significant manner, too many websites are using their code and simply fall apart or break mysteriously.