It’s annoying to get bombarded with ads when you visit a website. While some do go overboard with banners, side bar ads, pop overs and random ads throughout the page, most legitimate websites only have a small amount. These ads are necessary to help pay for web hosting, site upgrades and of course, the site content you love. You might want to block all the ads for a cleaner and safer viewing experience, but if everyone blocks the ads, the site loses all its revenue.
Luckily, there are solutions to keep you safer without having to resort to full ad blocking solutions such as Adblock. These solutions give you more control over what you do and don’t block so you get a better browsing experience and the site still earns revenue.
My recommendation is if a site is too cluttered with ads or you get a malware/virus warning from your browser or anti-virus software, let the site owner know. If it’s a virus warning, it’s probably best to just leave the site and try again in a few days.
Use Disconnect For Privacy
If privacy and not the ads themselves are the problem, try the Disconnect plugin. It blocks trackers from analytics, advertising, social and content. Not only does this help speed up page loading times, but it still allows all social media buttons and ads to load. They just won’t be able to track your behavior. Site owners might not like being able to gather information about you, but they’ll still earn from their ads. You can whitelist sites or allow specific trackers.
Change Adblock Settings
Adblock is used by millions, but that doesn’t mean those millions of people are blocking every ad on every site. If you change the default settings, you can choose which sites you block ads on and what types of ads you block. Click the Adblock icon in your browser and choose Options.
First, ensure the Allow some non-intrustive advertising box is checked. This automatically allows simple ads. Many ads are still blocked, but the less intrusive ones are allowed.
My approach to ad blocking with this plugin is to whitelist a site when I first visit. If the site’s advertising is reasonable, I leave it on the whitelist. If the ads are everywhere and preventing me from being able to use the site or the ads are affecting the performance of my browser, I remove the site from the whitelist. This way, every site has a chance.
Add or remove a site from the whitelist by clicking the Adblock (ABP) icon and clicking either Enabled on this site or Disabled on this site. If you see enabled, this means ads are blocked. If you see disabled, this means the site is whitelisted and ads are allowed.
Block Javascript
Security issues have been a problem for years with Javascript. Since some ads use Javascript, you can protect yourself from potentially malicious ads by using a script blocking plugin or disabling Javascript within your browser’s settings. NoScript is one the top rated for Firefox. QuickJava is another Firefox solution for blocking scripts and Flash.
For Chrome, go to Settings, Show Advanced Settings, select Content Settings under Privacy and select Do not allow any site to run Javascript under Javascript. If you want more control over Flash, select Let me choose when to run plugin content under Plugins.
Use Ghostery
Ghostery is another plugin that protects your privacy without killing ads. It also works well for blocking scripts, so you don’t have to worry about blocking Javascript manually. It’s designed to block thousands of trackers and you can easily see what’s blocked and even allow certain trackers if you want.
While it might seem easier to just block everything, websites need your support in order to stay online. The only other option is for every website to become a membership only site. If you enjoy a site’s free content, support the site by allowing ads. Remember, you can always block trackers and more obtrusive ads versus blocking everything.
~Crystal
As a retired businessman, I appreciate the necessity of ads. They promote the sites we enjoy. I used to relax and simply overlook them, but no longer. They have become overwhelming, taking forever to load pages and then deluge the users with click-bait. Worse, go to other tabs and the ads continue to load on the earlier tabs with blaring music, annoying pitches. They cleverly place the audible ads down a page or two so you can’t easily find the offender. Ad blockers exist because the ads caused the frustration.
So agree with this comment.
I asked this question before but might have missed your answer. I am not “computer savvy”. I have AdBlock and I feel it is doing whatever it is supposed to do. NOW, I keep getting a pop-up telling me it has been updated, and it gives me the choice to “download” the change. I have resisted downloading the change since I am satisfied with what I have, and also out of fear that the “change” might open my computer to unwsnted ads.
I’m with Bob, it’s not the ads, its the fact they are so overwhelming and you feel you have lost control of your browsing experience. It’s like billboards along the road side. I do read those upon occasion and get benefit once in awhile. But if you littered the roadside with these billboards then they ALL would become worthless to me because of them being shoved into my face. Not to mention, I could not enjoy the scenery mother nature has blessed us with.
Same goes with the ads on a website. A few here and there are very tolerable and could benefit the visitor. Not to kill my web browsing experience.
What got me on my tangent about ads was way back (mid 2000) when Netflix ads would pop up over and over and over and over (did I say over and over enough?) and I kept clicking that X just for it to pop back up! That just made my blood boil. To be honest, not only did that make me hate ads, but I will never use Netflix for that reason. I am now (because of the ads) a lifetime hater of Netflix and there service will never be used by me.
As for the ads on the websites I visit, I would never click that ad to go to the website because it could be redirected to a look alike and be a fraud. Now where are we? Misled again…
So, because I would never click that ad anyways, no sense in me looking at it and cluttering my browsing experience.
They need to figure out a better way to gather revenue than shoving ads for a living.
My 2 cents worth.
I love these tips but my big question is: How and where do I get AdBlock im the first place?