You’ve got 40 tabs open. You’re reading a Reddit comment section about the latest
trend on Instagram. A jingle plays from the depths of your browser.
Suddenly:
“WITH OVER 5000 DESTINATIONS TO CHOOSE FROM,
TRAVELWIRE IS YOUR ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR HOLIDAY PLANNING…”
But you don’t have any holiday saved up, you’re broke, and you don’t enjoy going outside anymore.
You’re distracted and annoyed. You scan the corner of the tabs for the little speaker icon,
but you can’t find the source of the assault You minimize the window.
There it is.
An auto-playing pop-under. One of the most invasive and obnoxious
weapons in the war on attention. You angrily crush the bug with
your cursor and try to get back to what you were just watching.
Sound familiar?
Many companies still use this dated advertising tactic, as well as the equally-disgusting
jumping window or the hijacking of your browser’s back button. At best,
they’re annoying. At worst, they can install all kinds of gross malware and other suspicious files.
Intrusive advertising is the junk mail of the internet, and it’s important to know how to
defend yourself. And what a coincidence! That’s what this video is all about.
We’re going to look at three of the most effective ad-blockers for Chrome,
but it’s worth mentioning that all of these extensions are also available for Firefox.
But before we get started, here's a message from our sponsor...
J -K, J-K. The first blocker on our list is AdBlock.
AdBlock has been around so long that websites started developing
AdBlock-blockers, to which developers had to respond with an AdBlocker-blocker blocker…
Of course, this nuclear arms race is set to continue, but
I do hope the naming scheme becomes more efficient.
Here’s why AdBlock is still around:
AdBlock stops ads before they even download. Some blockers just remove them from the page
after the fact, but this means they’re still taking up data and bandwidth,
even if you can’t see them. AdBlock skips that step, saving you your important data.
Adblock shows you how many ads have been blocked,
which allows you to quantify your victory. It runs on all tabs
and uses very little power but can still slow down browsing if too many tabs are open at once.
It also blocks most -but not all - YouTube ads.
Next up is uBlock Origin. This unassuming little shield button sits in your browser
and gives you a numeric value on the ads it’s blocked. It uses less memory than AdBlock
and has stricter default settings, so it’ll catch more ads without having to adjust the parameters.
Its developers describe it as more than just an Ad-blocker:
This is a wide-spectrum content blocker. And its ability to identify and block elements
with a couple of clicks really does back this up.
Like AdBlock, uBlock Origin blocks all pop-ups and most YouTube ads. With a click of a button,
you can set uBlock to disable JavaScript for the current site,
block large video elements, or even remote fonts.
This content blocker is automatically set up to block ads but can be used in
a much more customized manner by people with particular pop-up blocking needs.
Now before we go on, how about giving this video a cheeky like? Subscribe to our channel too while
you’re at it, and tell us about how much you hate ads in the comments.
Moving on! And finally, we are going to take a look at Ghostery.
Ghostery made its claim to fame for focusing not only on
apps but on tracking cookies. ‘Me take Cookie 3:24’ No - not those cookies. You know, website
cookies - those things websites ask you to opt-out of with a lengthy process.
You spend 5 minutes ticking boxes that most people skip because it’s annoying, right?
If you want to take content blocking to the next level,
Ghostery is a good way to go. This ad-blocker has detailed logs of everything it’s blocking
and does a good job of shielding you from attempted tracking of various websites.
Ad-blocking is on by default, and tracker-blocking is set to optimize page performance but can be
increased or decreased in sensitivity depending on what you’re looking for.
Overall, Ghostery is more of an all-rounder and may not be as powerful for ads as the other two,
but it can also be used with other extensions to maximize your coverage.
So, to recap – there are some brilliant extensions for blocking ads, and all of them will remove
the most obnoxious website intrusions. Some dig a little deeper with better filters for Youtube ads,
like uBlock; some are better at catching trackers like Ghostery. Some,
like AdBlock, have been around from the start and are tried and tested.
Have a go at all three if you like – they’re all free as chrome extensions –
and work in combination with one another.
And remember, this isn’t an exhaustive list – there are countless other reliable
blockers available with their own pros and cons.
Now if you’re already looking for a VPN for more privacy online, it’s worth
mentioning that some VPN providers also include ad-blocking functionality with their packages.
VPNs will of course come with the additional benefits like unblocking geo-restrictions,
streaming international Netflix, etc.
In that field, SurfShark’s “Cleanweb” feature strives to remove the fuss from browsing. It
offers a blocking service for browsers and apps that, like AdBlock, halts the
downloading of ads from the start, saving your data and speeding up your browsing experience.
Surfshark’s databases are continually updated to block new ad attacks and filter out the
vast majority of junk from your browsing experience. The only trash they want you to
see is the stuff you actively search for. And that’s between you and your browser history.
Hit the link in the description box below if you’re interested in checking out Surfshark.
So hopefully, now you’ve got a better idea of what to tell your extended family
when they can’t stop their computer from making the crazy frog noise.