A big part of what slows down and hinders your web browsing experience are ads and trackers. So there are many reasons to use a browser that automatically blocks ads or to install a browser extension that does the same job.
Web pages tend to look a lot cleaner when the ads are removed, making it easier to read without those annoying pop-ups.
Pages also load much faster, and as an added bonus on mobile devices, your data plan can go further because ads don’t download.
On the other hand, advertising exists to support all the free content that everyone expects to find on their favorite websites – including this one – and blocking it robs creators of that content of the revenue that allows them to. produce it in the first place.
Some ad blockers, such as AdBlock and AdBlock Plus, allow non-intrusive ads by default, which provides a kind of balance that can make blocking the rest more comfortable for you.
Others block everything, including trackers that monitor your behavior on the site and follow you when you visit other sites.
And now we are going to tell you what are the best options for ad blockers or ad blockers.
You might also want to know which are the best VPNs this year.
Ghost
Ghostery has been around for years and is one of our favorite privacy plugins. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, and Internet Explorer, as well as Android and iOS (and the Cliqz browser, which is owned by Ghostery’s parent company).
It’s also free and blocks all kinds of ads and trackers. It works with a model that takes the data trackers collect about you, anonymizes it, and sells it to third parties.
You can choose not to do this when you run the extension for the first time so that none of your data is shared.
The icon is at the top right of your browser, like all extensions, and you can click on it to see the main interface, which is one of the best.
It offers buttons to suspend blocking and also to trust the current site so that ads and trackers are not blocked on it in the future.
AdBlock
Easily confused with AdBlock Plus, AdBlock is from a different developer and is not strictly free. When you install the extension in Firefox, Chrome or Safari, a message appears asking for donations, with a minimum of 5 $.
You don’t have to pay for it as you can just close the tab, but it’s a good idea to support the developers if you like AdBlock as it’s one of the best ad blockers too.
Block all ads on the web, even on Facebook, YouTube, and other social sites. There is even an option to suppress warning messages that appear on some sites that use an ad blocker.
You can create an exceptions list so that you can continue to use otherwise unusable sites with everything blocked, such as some online banks.
And for you to take charge of your favorite YouTube channels, there is a whitelist specially to add them.
You can also allow what AdBlock calls acceptable ads, similar to “non-intrusive” ads in AdBlock Plus.
AdBlock works better in Firefox than in Chrome.
Firefox Focus
You can install any of the many ad blocking extensions on the desktop version of Firefox (which also has its own built-in blocker), but Mozilla has created a dedicated mobile browser for Android and iOS called Focus.
This one focuses on privacy, which means that by default it works like the incognito mode of other browsers.
But unlike many of those “incognito” modes that aren’t really private, Focus doesn’t record your history, nor biscuits, nor does it allow sites to track you.
Also, in case you were wondering, block ads. This makes the content easier to read on a smaller screen and saves on your data plan because the ads are not downloaded.
It’s a scaled-down experience with no tabs or other unnecessary elements, so it should appeal to those who like to keep it simple.
When the sites do not load correctly because cookies and other trackers are blocked, it is possible to authorize them and to connect or use the site.
The browser allows you to selectively block different items, such as social trackers, analytics, and other content.
Opera
Opera is a web browser with a built-in ad blocker, so you don’t need to install any extensions – it works.
Ad blocking also blocks many biscuits tracking, which means your privacy is protected as well.
Although Opera is not the most well-known browser, it has acquired a lot of features over the past year including a very useful built-in VPN service and is – in our opinion – as good as Chrome and Firefox in terms of performance. .
It’s also available on Android, so you can install the Opera Mini browser, which also automatically blocks ads.
AdBlock Plus
AdBlock Plus is one of the most well-known and perhaps the most controversial ad blockers. It is easy to install in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, and it is free for the user.
It allows to show what it calls “non-intrusive advertising”, this is where the controversy lies. AdBlock Plus shares the revenue with the companies that serve the ads. So you could say that their business model is not that far removed from the websites they want to block ads from.
However, it blocks annoying ads that cover the content you are trying to view as well as pop-ups and pop-under.
It’s also easy to turn blocking on and off for the site you are browsing. This is very useful when content is kept until the ad blocker is turned off or you just want to take over your favorite sites. And in the options there is a whitelist where you can manage the sites that you have unblocked.
From time to time AdBlock Plus does not block certain advertisements that we would consider intrusive, but this happens very rarely, at least on all of the sites that we use on a regular basis.
AdBlock is also available for smartphones. It’s called AdBlock Browser and can be downloaded for Android and iOS.
It has many of the same features as the desktop extension, including blocking site tracking, malicious advertising, and allowing the same non-intrusive ads.
Interestingly, the developer released another extension that you might like: Trusted News alerts you to potential fake news while browsing the web.
Ultimate AdBlocker
AdBlocker Ultimate, an open source, nonprofit project, does not take money from sites to whitelist “acceptable” ads.
Instead, block ads, turn off tracking, and block domains known to spread. malware. However, it also allows you to re-enable ads for sites you like and trust, and want to support.
The extension is available in Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, and Yandex. Its interface is very similar to other ad blockers, showing the number of ads blocked on the page you are viewing and a link that lets you turn off the block for the domain you are on.
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