Good reasons to always use ad-blockers

[DAMIEN1307]

The article was interesting as regards good reasons to always use ad-blockers...DAMIEN

https://opensource.com/article/20/4/ad-blockers

[dm999]

Interesting read that, thanks.

Using uBlock Origin here btw

[RollyShed]

Our Men's Shed's website had in the Computer section how to add/install ublock origin and I've now added your link to the article - thank you DAMIEN1307.

[cliffcoggin]

I block ads simply because they irritate me. Energy saving has never been a consideration, but I realise now it's a useful bonus.

[ZakGordon]

A number of years back (4 or 5?) i was using a forum that had a spate of malware laden ads attack various forum members. Not the fault of the website owner at all as they had no control over what ads were being served.

I used an ad-blocker (as i do in general by default) and No-Scripts (i was mostly using Firefox then) so did not suffer the attack, and it was a nasty one with a couple of the longtime sites users needing to reinstall their systems from scratch, all from an ad served with malicious code embedded in it!!

So it's a huge problem IF you run a website that relies on ads to bring revenue in, as most people will want to protect their PC's first and foremost (and imho, quite rightly). Until a more vetted ad system can be put in place i will stick to blocking as default, and then only unblocking in certain situations where i know it will be fine.

[cliffcoggin]

It's a shame one cannot get an adblocker for television as I hate the damn things. I get round the problem by recording on video any programme broadcast by commercial channels. When I watch it later I can fast forward the advertisements. Thankfully the BBC is free of ads.

[ugly]

It's a shame one cannot get an adblocker for television as I hate the damn things. I get round the problem by recording on video any programme broadcast by commercial channels. When I watch it later I can fast forward the advertisements. Thankfully the BBC is free of ads.

I've had good luck with comskip (https://github.com/erikkaashoek/Comskip)

[majpooper]

I set up a Pi-hole server on an old Lenovo T400 but you can set on up for ~$100US on a rasberry pi

Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole, intended for use on a private network. It is designed for use on embedded devices with network capability, such as the Raspberry Pi, but it can be used on other machines running Linux and cloud implementations.

It's a shame one cannot get an adblocker for television as I hate the damn things. I get round the problem by recording on video any programme broadcast by commercial channels. When I watch it later I can fast forward the advertisements. Thankfully the BBC is free of ads.

I can't watch TV with commercials. We are "cord cutters" and stream (Netflix, HBO, Acorn) everything we watch Damien and I are both big Acorn fans (British, Australia and NZ TV). I have tried to get BBC news on my Roku but it just defaults to something called Bel.TV - it lets me watch German TV (in English) which we enjoy but for some reason clicking on BBC won't load . . . . ? ? ? ? ?

[Nick-N]

I use brave-browser which has a built-in add-blocker

[151tom]

.

[Drugwash]

Reason why I still use an "old-style" browser is the old trusty add-ons I know and are already configured. Most important are ad-blockers, of course.
Of them all, YARIP is a very interesting one because it not only allows permanently removing individual elements from a web page but can also modify its aspect by replacing CSS styles with user-defined ones. For example, this board is now pink-and-blue to me instead of the original green.
RequestPolicy and NoScript are the main line of defense, together with Redirect Cleaner, Quick Java, a couple of overlay removers and a HTML5 switcher whose names I forgot.
Some may say it's overkill but after initial settings for every frequently visited site there's little to no need for further tinkering. One can focus solely on the useful content and the risk of infection from malware vectors is diminished considerably.

As for TV.... I gave it up years ago, mostly because of the advertising, and then because of the "news". Good riddance!

[cliffcoggin]

Commercials is just part of OTA TV and...

I've never paid for TV service and never will pay for TV service.

There is another way. In Britain the BBC, a public service, is funded by licence hence it needs no advertisements. I would gladly pay twice the licence fee to get rid of ads from the commercial stations as well. Advertisements here typically comprise 23-25% of broadcast time of the few commercial channels that I watch, which means I could gain at least an hour per day if they were eliminated.

I don't understand refusing to pay for television service. As a non-essential luxury TV should have a high price.

[Portreve]

There is another way. In Britain the BBC, a public service, is funded by licence hence it needs no advertisements. I would gladly pay twice the licence fee to get rid of ads from the commercial stations as well. Advertisements here typically comprise 23-25% of broadcast time of the few commercial channels that I watch, which means I could gain at least an hour per day if they were eliminated.

I don't understand refusing to pay for television service. As a non-essential luxury TV should have a high price.

I can only imagine the amount of revenue U.S. TV channels make from advertisements is magnitudes of order greater than what the BBC collects.

[cliffcoggin]

I can only imagine the amount of revenue U.S. TV channels make from advertisements is magnitudes of order greater than what the BBC collects.

Precisely my point. One is intended to provide a service; the other is intended to make profit.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I use brave-browser which has a built-in add-blocker

Same here. I resisted ad blockers for years since it's the ads that pay for websites. I actually However, I finally got fed up with obnoxious, loud, distracting, intrusive, irrelevant ads and ads that carried malware. I actually looked at ads that interested me but I didn't appreciate it when Irrelevant ads were being rammed down my throat (for example, what do I need with "male enhancement" products? I'm a Lesbian, for crying out loud.) I won't even whitelist any sites anymore since, when I've tried it in the past, I always wound up eventually getting obnoxious, loud, distracting, intrusive ads again. I'll go back to allowing ads once advertisers clean up their act.

[Pierre]

once you get used to having an Ad-Blocker in place,
- you really do notice the difference, on any Newly setup Web Browser.

most web sites, these day, do seem to be adhering to the Default Standard, though.
- - across the Top & down the RHS of your viewable screen area.

[151tom]

.

[AZgl1800]

for TV, we subscribe to DISH.
why? because they serve up what we want, and we record it and play it back days or weeks later, and Fast forward kills commericals. DISH fast forwards exactly 30 seconds for each click.

on CBS, they have HoppySkip, click on that, and no commericals period.... only during Prime Time hours though.

for FireFox, I use the following:

[lexon]

I use AD BLOCK PLUS. Many online places hate it. To bad.

L

[kelevra]

My phone is starting to look like what Sorrento from the movie Ready Player One envisioned for the future userspace in the Oasis world.
There are websites that have embedded ads, persistent ads that follow the page as you scroll, roll-up ads along the left edge, and a full-width ad along the bottom edge with the tiniest x on one of the four corners to close it. I find if I close the ads they eventually reemerge with a new advertiser. I have gotten to the point that I just close the page and go somewhere else for the information, if it is important to me.