Ad Blockers

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Post Reply
User avatar
Topic Author
CountryBoy
Posts: 1777
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:21 am
Location: NY

Ad Blockers

Post by CountryBoy »

I currently use AdblockerPlus.

Do some use Adblock Edge?

Do people have a preference?

See
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c84a647e-d3af ... z3VtZ1pjyJ
Rl2
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:01 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Rl2 »

I used ublock, which is supposed to have a lower memory footprint
User avatar
Topic Author
CountryBoy
Posts: 1777
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:21 am
Location: NY

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by CountryBoy »

Never heard of it but it looks very good.......

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... iagm?hl=en
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14467
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Toons »

AdBlock Plus is all I use for as long as it has been available :happy
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
User avatar
greg24
Posts: 4511
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:34 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by greg24 »

In Chrome, I use AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and FlashBlock.
mac808
Posts: 522
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:45 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by mac808 »

Adblock Plus used to be good but they have sold out recently, allowing ad networks to pay them to be ''whitelisted'' and get ads through. (They claim they do this very rarely but in reality hundreds of networks and sites are whitelisted, and even if they scaled it back, why use an adblocker that doesn't block ads when there are free and better alternatives available?).

I switched over to uBlock and it's excellent.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... phjbkeiagm
User avatar
Topic Author
CountryBoy
Posts: 1777
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:21 am
Location: NY

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by CountryBoy »

OK, so I added uBlock to my Chrome, but am I correct in assuming that it is not available for Firefox?
mac808
Posts: 522
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:45 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by mac808 »

User avatar
Topic Author
CountryBoy
Posts: 1777
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:21 am
Location: NY

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by CountryBoy »

For which many thanks; I installed it.

egads...you guys are fast! and helpful!
User avatar
Steelersfan
Posts: 4129
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Steelersfan »

I've used Adblock Plus for several years, like it a lot and intend to stick with it.

Reading other message boards, Ublock's primary advantage is when it's used on memory constrained PC's (less than 2 MB of memory).

I've got lots more than that so will stay with what works for me.
User avatar
Bustoff
Posts: 2033
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:45 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Bustoff »

Ad Blocker Plus and Disconnect.
mac808
Posts: 522
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:45 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by mac808 »

Steelersfan wrote:I've used Adblock Plus for several years, like it a lot and intend to stick with it.

Reading other message boards, Ublock's primary advantage is when it's used on memory constrained PC's (less than 2 MB of memory).

I've got lots more than that so will stay with what works for me.
Hey steelersfan just curious, have you noticed more and more ads getting through adblock plus? I caught those tricky news story looking ads getting through (apparently because they pay them off) and that's what finally got me to switch away.

If you prefer the Adblock Plus architecture you can switch to Adblock Edge, which uses the same code but doesn't let any ads through.

Disconnect is also great, it blocks a lot of data collection sites but might disable normal site functionality once or twice in a blue moon.
Sachay
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:40 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Sachay »

I also use Ghostery to avoid having that one thing I looked at on Amazon follow me around forever. Similar to Disconnect.
User avatar
serbeer
Posts: 1304
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:09 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by serbeer »

mac808 wrote:Adblock Plus used to be good but they have sold out recently, allowing ad networks to pay them to be ''whitelisted'' and get ads through. (They claim they do this very rarely but in reality hundreds of networks and sites are whitelisted, and even if they scaled it back, why use an adblocker that doesn't block ads when there are free and better alternatives available?).

I switched over to uBlock and it's excellent.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... phjbkeiagm
Yes, but exposure to whitelisted advertisement is optional, though enable by default. You can turn it off in settings.
User avatar
batpot
Posts: 1284
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:48 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by batpot »

I use No Script for Firefox, and use that as my primary browser. It allows you to allow certain domains, either permanently or temporarily, but many, many shopping websites have so much crap running behind the scenes that the sites become crippled.

Therefore, I also use Chrome, but only for short periods of time, and only in incognito mode, when I want to buy something online from a site that doesn't work w/ No Script.
User avatar
Steelersfan
Posts: 4129
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Steelersfan »

mac808 wrote:
Steelersfan wrote:I've used Adblock Plus for several years, like it a lot and intend to stick with it.

Reading other message boards, Ublock's primary advantage is when it's used on memory constrained PC's (less than 2 MB of memory).

I've got lots more than that so will stay with what works for me.
Hey steelersfan just curious, have you noticed more and more ads getting through adblock plus? I caught those tricky news story looking ads getting through (apparently because they pay them off) and that's what finally got me to switch away.
I haven't noticed, but ads are white noise to me so they just don't register.

I just followed serbeer's advice just above this post and blocked their white lists. I bet that will turn off a bunch of ads I don't even notice. It was really easy. I just clicked on the ABP red hexagon in the browser top line and made one more click.
User avatar
Clearly_Irrational
Posts: 3087
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:43 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Clearly_Irrational »

I use Ad Block Plus and Element Hiding Helper. The first catches nearly everything, the second lets me manually block anything that got missed and is annoying enough to bother with.
User avatar
runner9
Posts: 2260
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by runner9 »

I use AdBlock and Ghostery, no issues with ads, something things don't load right unless I turn off part or all of Ghostery, such as Home Depot product info.
desiderium
Posts: 1264
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 10:08 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by desiderium »

Beware. I accidentally installed AdBlock Pro. It contained extension malware, causing tabs with all kinds of ads to open on your browser. Took me awhile to figure it out because it looks like AdBlock/Adblock Plus.
User avatar
bobcat2
Posts: 6076
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:27 pm
Location: just barely Outside the Beltway

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by bobcat2 »

For both Firefox and Chrome there is uBlock. But for Chrome alone there is µMatrix. 8-)

µMatrix is like NoScript, but without the headaches. Just be careful when using uBlock and µMatrix together in Chrome you don't repeat the blocking lists. I use the blocking lists in µMatrix and turn any off in uBlock that are repeaters.

µMatrix for Chrome - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... jdcf?hl=en

Wilders thread discussing µMatrix.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ ... or.369601/

BobK
Last edited by bobcat2 on Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
In finance risk is defined as uncertainty that is consequential (nontrivial). | The two main methods of dealing with financial risk are the matching of assets to goals & diversifying.
AviN
Posts: 479
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:14 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by AviN »

mac808 wrote:Adblock Plus used to be good but they have sold out recently, allowing ad networks to pay them to be ''whitelisted'' and get ads through. (They claim they do this very rarely but in reality hundreds of networks and sites are whitelisted, and even if they scaled it back, why use an adblocker that doesn't block ads when there are free and better alternatives available?).
Can you please substantiate this claim? I don't see anything there that indicates they accept payment in exchange for being whitelisted:

https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

Avi
Last edited by AviN on Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
bobcat2
Posts: 6076
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:27 pm
Location: just barely Outside the Beltway

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by bobcat2 »

AviN wrote:
mac808 wrote:Adblock Plus used to be good but they have sold out recently, allowing ad networks to pay them to be ''whitelisted'' and get ads through. (They claim they do this very rarely but in reality hundreds of networks and sites are whitelisted, and even if they scaled it back, why use an adblocker that doesn't block ads when there are free and better alternatives available?).

Can you please substantiate this claim? I don't see anything there that indicates they accept payment in exchange for being whitelisted:

https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

Avi

Ten percent of those whitelisted pay to play. See this.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02 ... y-to-play/

I'm shocked, shocked, that at the Adblockplus website they fail to emphasize that large whitelisted companies pay-to-play. :D

BobK
In finance risk is defined as uncertainty that is consequential (nontrivial). | The two main methods of dealing with financial risk are the matching of assets to goals & diversifying.
mac808
Posts: 522
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:45 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by mac808 »

AviN wrote:
mac808 wrote:Adblock Plus used to be good but they have sold out recently, allowing ad networks to pay them to be ''whitelisted'' and get ads through. (They claim they do this very rarely but in reality hundreds of networks and sites are whitelisted, and even if they scaled it back, why use an adblocker that doesn't block ads when there are free and better alternatives available?).

Can you please substantiate this claim? I don't see anything there that indicates they accept payment in exchange for being whitelisted:

https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

Avi
Thanks to Bob for beating me to the punch and posting a link. There was a mini firestorm in the tech press about a month ago, the company behind ABP is being publicly sued in Germany by publishers who equate their pay to play whitelist scheme to extortion. It seems pretty certain the publishers will lose but nonetheless makes for good reading if you're interested in the market and have some time to kill. I'm a security researcher and we love adblock because a huge amount of adware is now spread through ad networks. Unfortunately, Adblock Plus tends to whitelist the worst offending networks, lulling users into a false sense of security (e.g. ''oh this can't be an ad, I have adblock on!''). As another poster mentioned there are also a few imposters like Adblock Pro, who confuse users into downloading them and then show them even more ads. It's a jungle out there.
AviN
Posts: 479
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:14 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by AviN »

bobcat2 wrote:
Ten percent of those whitelisted pay to play. See this.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02 ... y-to-play/

I'm shocked, shocked, that at the Adblockplus website they fail to emphasize that large whitelisted companies pay-to-play. :D

BobK
Thanks for that information. That's a little disappointing

Avi
User avatar
duffman12
Posts: 70
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:03 pm
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by duffman12 »

AdBlock on chrome :mrgreen:
"Greed may not be good, but it’s not so bad, either. People think greed is just for money and power. But everyone wants something they don’t have." | ChasingGains.org
navyasw02
Posts: 245
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:38 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by navyasw02 »

Anybody have issues with Adblock? Maybe within the last 2-3 months I've had numerous sites fail to load due to adblock on Chrome. Not sure if it's just me, but the problem just started recently.
User avatar
runner9
Posts: 2260
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by runner9 »

I have not had that problem. Can you give an example we can try to load?
epitomist
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2014 2:00 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by epitomist »

I switched from Adblock Plus to Adblock to ublock.

I have 16 GB of RAM in my system but the lower memory footprint of ublock works wonders when having many tabs open.

Ublock has a great UI allowing you to flag additional things to block as well as allowing you (I.e. Not them) to white list a site.

There isn't a single reason to stay with the older Adblock technologies that I can think of. Ublock appears superior to me in every way.
brianH
Posts: 666
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:21 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by brianH »

Another vote for uBlock on Chrome here.

I moved away from ABP after the "whitelist" nonsense. I, as a software dev, don't have an issue with people making money off software, but writing software that removes the potential revenue stream from a website and then allowing certain ads based on the diversion of that payment to you is hypocritical and scummy. uBlock also seems faster and uses less resources than ABP did.

I do use ABP on Firefox for Android on my tablet, because it is the only real option for blocking ads on mobile devices without rooting.
Magruder
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:30 am
Location: White Mtns of NH

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Magruder »

Adblock, as opposed to Adblock Plus, on Chrome. No issues! Sweet! :happy
patrick
Posts: 2594
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:39 am
Location: Mega-City One

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by patrick »

I've been using AdBlock (just plain AdBlock, nothing else in the name) on PC for Chrome. The running total it keeps is quite interesting: 655,488 ads blocked so far. I never knew I was getting that many!

On my smartphone I use Adblock Edge (based on Adblock Plus but no whitelist) for FIrefox.
User avatar
White Coat Investor
Posts: 17409
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Greatest Snow On Earth

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by White Coat Investor »

I run lots of ads on my site and find it interesting to see which ones get blocked by adblocker and which don't. I had an advertiser change their ad and then complain that they couldn't see it (due to their adblocker software.)
1) Invest you must 2) Time is your friend 3) Impulse is your enemy | 4) Basic arithmetic works 5) Stick to simplicity 6) Stay the course
User avatar
abuss368
Posts: 27850
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:33 pm
Location: Where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players!
Contact:

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by abuss368 »

I do not use any blockers and since I switched to Apple and Safari for our browser it is no where near as bad as windows and Internet Explorer. In fact, I am not sure one could use a blocker with Apple even if they wanted. Their current operating system is Yosemite.
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
User avatar
Clearly_Irrational
Posts: 3087
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:43 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by Clearly_Irrational »

abuss368 wrote:I do not use any blockers and since I switched to Apple and Safari for our browser it is no where near as bad as windows and Internet Explorer. In fact, I am not sure one could use a blocker with Apple even if they wanted. Their current operating system is Yosemite.
I use Ad Block Plus with Firefox on Mac when I'm at work. I have no idea if there is one for Safari though.
User avatar
abuss368
Posts: 27850
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:33 pm
Location: Where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players!
Contact:

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by abuss368 »

Clearly_Irrational wrote:
abuss368 wrote:I do not use any blockers and since I switched to Apple and Safari for our browser it is no where near as bad as windows and Internet Explorer. In fact, I am not sure one could use a blocker with Apple even if they wanted. Their current operating system is Yosemite.
I use Ad Block Plus with Firefox on Mac when I'm at work. I have no idea if there is one for Safari though.
Interesting. Thank you for sharing.
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
bhsince87
Posts: 2914
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:08 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by bhsince87 »

I switched to ublock after reading this thread, and I've been happy with it. However, it appears as if they have just changed some settings that now allow it to alter privacy settings. So google has flagged it.

However, reading the developers explanation, it sounds like these features have been there all along.

Have any other users here figured out what the deal is? I've had it disabled all day, but am considering allowing it to run again.
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn
User avatar
telemark
Posts: 3389
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:35 am

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by telemark »

bhsince87 wrote:I switched to ublock after reading this thread, and I've been happy with it. However, it appears as if they have just changed some settings that now allow it to alter privacy settings. So google has flagged it.

However, reading the developers explanation, it sounds like these features have been there all along.

Have any other users here figured out what the deal is? I've had it disabled all day, but am considering allowing it to run again.
If the developers are to be believed, all they're doing is turning off prefetching. I don't have a problem with that: prefetching strikes me as a dubious feature anyway, and I don't know why Google stuck it under privacy settings.

For what it's worth, I'm using ublock but with Firefox where I haven't seen any problems. I've mostly given up on Chrome, the "aw snap" thing stops being funny after you see it too many times.
bhsince87
Posts: 2914
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:08 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by bhsince87 »

Thanks, telemark.

After going a day without it, I can at least vouch that it really works!

I just turned it back on.
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn
G-Force
Posts: 349
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 3:03 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by G-Force »

Clearly_Irrational wrote:
abuss368 wrote:I do not use any blockers and since I switched to Apple and Safari for our browser it is no where near as bad as windows and Internet Explorer. In fact, I am not sure one could use a blocker with Apple even if they wanted. Their current operating system is Yosemite.
I use Ad Block Plus with Firefox on Mac when I'm at work. I have no idea if there is one for Safari though.
Adblock is available for safari. You can find it on the safari extensions page.
User avatar
abuss368
Posts: 27850
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:33 pm
Location: Where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players!
Contact:

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by abuss368 »

G-Force wrote:
Clearly_Irrational wrote:
abuss368 wrote:I do not use any blockers and since I switched to Apple and Safari for our browser it is no where near as bad as windows and Internet Explorer. In fact, I am not sure one could use a blocker with Apple even if they wanted. Their current operating system is Yosemite.
I use Ad Block Plus with Firefox on Mac when I'm at work. I have no idea if there is one for Safari though.
Adblock is available for safari. You can find it on the safari extensions page.
I was not aware of that.

Thank you!
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
cdevers
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 9:07 pm

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by cdevers »

Kind of an old-school approach, but I just patch my hosts file so that DNS lookups for ad servers fail, and the ads don’t load. No running software to enter into the equation, and it works for all browsers equally.

Main catch is that the list needs to be updated periodically, but that’ll be the case regardless, so that’s fine for me.
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95686
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Ad Blockers

Post by LadyGeek »

Ad Block kept crashing in Chrome. Problem solved, I just switched to uBlock.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
Post Reply