Advice Request What extensions would you recommend?

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

Enzo

New Member
Thread author
Aug 24, 2015
2
Hi everyone,

First of all excuse me if the subject has already been discussed before.

My question is intended to know what extensions you would recommend, differentiating by categories (security, privacy, utilities, etc.)

In this regard, I have seen in the forum topics intended to discuss recommended extensions to block advertising, or as much respect security, but I think it would be good to create a thread with the extensions to consider according to their function.

All this derives because in Chrome and Firefox I have multiple extensions that are sure to be unnecessary, repetitive or worse than other options.

I thank you in advance for any suggestions you make and I reiterate that an "official" thread on recommended extensions would be fine.

Thanks again.
 

Mountainking

Level 3
Verified
Well-known
Jan 10, 2018
116
Why use an extension that hasn't been updated for 2 years while there's a better option like uBlock Origin?

Can ublock do this?

1578988076890.png


A second example. Without me blocking custom annoyances (videos etc), user tracking and ad serving websites, ad gaurd blocked over 40 ads. Now its down to 2 but I got to remove those annoying videos and more.
1578988579237.png
 
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SeriousHoax

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Mar 16, 2019
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Lenny_Fox

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Oct 1, 2019
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Adguard versus uBlock extension: what is the best free adblocker (so excluding the Adguard Desktop extension).

Both uBlock and Adguard have advanced blocking capabilities which go far beyond the AdblockPlus rule symantics (e.g. scriplet injection and Javascript and CSS rules). So that is comparing lead with old iron as we say in Dutch (meaning their capabilities are more or less equal). They both have additional means to add static rules with a point and click mechanism to zap advertisements sneeking throuh the rules.

Advantage of uBlock over Adguard: uBlock has an advanced mode called the dynamic engine, which gives NoScript like control over the browser. So for the people with an anal desire to control their browser uBlock is the best option (sorry this is how Jung classified people with a blue preference profile).

Advantage of Adguard over uBlock: Adgauard maintains its own filters. This implies that the more advanced adblock options are part of their filters. These advanced filters are much more powerful than regular (easylist) ABP rules and reduce the number of rules needed. Don't believe me? Just try this to check for yourself.

Challenge: do the head to head field test yourself!

Install Adguard EXTENSION and enable just their Advertisement English filter and their Privacy filter. DISABLE allow "Advertisements on own websites"in the general options and ENABLE "Use optimized filter". Now the rules count will show you just have less than 40.000 rules. Surf to a website with advanced advertisement tactics, like PORNHUB.COM. click around and make sure you click at least once on the right pane video (on the right near the mean video stream). You will see it just opens.

De-install Adguard and install uBlockOrigin. Disable all filters except Easylist Filter and Easylist privacy. Visit PORNHUB.COM again and click on a video and after that one a video in the right video pane (images shown on the right near the main video). What happens? Exactly a sneaky pop-under opens another website. How is that ppossible? Look at the number of rules: the rules in Easylist are twice as high as Adguards own filters.

So what do you do: yes, enable the block popups option in uBlock Origin and revisit the website (delete all History) and re-open that porn website again. What happens, again another website opened? Okay let's use heavy artillery and switch to medium mode by ENABLING I am advanced user. Now revisit pornhub.com (after clearing history) and you will see when you block third-part scripts and (i)frames that you will have to allow phncdn.com (pornhub's content delevery website which contans all the video's). So this should block escaping to third party websites? Let's learn this website a lesson and click with full confidence on a video and next on a image of the right pane: :unsure:

Result of field test (with easylists filters plus medium mode against Adguard filters only in very easy mode)

What happened, while blocking third-party scripts and frames this website (pornhub) opened another website bypassing both advanced medium level third-party blocking and deny block pup-ups option of uBlockOrigin. o_Oo_Oo_O Result: Adguard in very easy mode with half the number of rules is more effective than uBlock in medium mode with twice as much Easylist filter rules!



Knowing this will cause a lot of uBlock fan-boy reactions and responses, I hope this post helps to increase the insight of REAL WORLD adblocker capabilities and benefits.

P.S. only when you enable uBlock's own internal rules uBlock is able to block these pesky pop-unders. This proofs that those advanced evasions can not be blocked by the advanced dynamic engine. Gorhill originally did not intend to become a block list maintainer (Raymond is a one man band, providing its developer service for free). But now he is forced to write advanced static rules and maintain uBlock internal lists. to keep up with Adguard. Adguard can fall back on the income of the paid desktop application and has a team working to write rules for these advanced adblock rules: go figure which extension serves you better in the long run when you don't write your own (CSS or Javascript) STATIC filter rules
 
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Lenny_Fox

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Oct 1, 2019
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@Lenny_Linux Great detailed analysis with examples for self testing. But the easiest solution would be to enable Adguard Base and Adguard Tracking Protection list in uBlock Origin which many users like me already did.
Does not always work, Adguard has more advanced blocking mechanisms than uBlock0rigin. See examples below in the differences in rules which prevent pornhub from evading third-party blocking

uBlock advanced STATIC blocking rules included in Gorhil's own Ublock Filter related to pornhub.com
(because the third-party escape can't be blocked with uBlock's advanced dymanic rules):

pornhub.com##+js(set-constant, atob, trueFunc)
pornhub.com##+js(abort-on-property-read, smpop)
pornhub.com##+js(abort-current-inline-script, Math, createShadowRoot)
pornhub.com##+js(abort-on-property-write, isAdblockOn)
pornhub.com##+js(abort-on-property-write, UAParser)
pornhub.com##+js(addEventListener-defuser, DOMContentLoaded, [native code])
pornhub.com##+js(abort-on-property-write, rAb)
pornhub.com##+js(abort-on-property-write, AdDelivery)

Adguard advanced blocking rules included in Adguard English filter related to pornhub.com (only a subset):
pornhub.com##iframe[width=\"300\"][height=\"250\"]
pornhub.com##.pub_300x250
pornhub.com##.ad-link
pornhub.com##.removeAdsStyle
pornhub.com#?#body > .wrapper + div[class][-ext-has='> .removeAdLink']
pornhub.com#$#.video-wrapper > div#player~div[class$=\" hd clear\"] { position: absolute!important; left: -3000px!important; }
pornhub.com#%#Object.defineProperty(window,'tj_ads',{get:function(){return[]}});
pornhub.com#%#Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, 'loadPopUnder', { get: function(){ return function() {}; }, set: function(){ return function() {}; }});
pornhub.com#%#Object.defineProperty(window, 'UAParser', { get: function() { return function() { }; } });


I extracted those rules via a filter and removed other websites (youporn etc) which use the same escaping mechanisms
---------------------------------
P.S. This is a follow up of less is more Discuss - Best of Adblocking extensions where Adguard was not included in the (scientific) research on effectiveness of adblockers

Best of heuristics based adblockers
1. Updated Privacy badger (from EFF absolutely trustworthy)
2. Ghostery (do you dare to keep your enemy close)

Best of blocklist based adblockers
1. Adguard (commercial company)
2. uBlockOrigin (from open source trusted developer)

Best people wanting to see what is happening under the hood)
1. uMatrix (I am using uMatrix running with
W3Tech top 200 blocklist)
2. Development tool of your browser (provides more detail, but has clunky user interface and does not remember)
 
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Lenny_Fox

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Oct 1, 2019
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I'm subscribed to this list (Adguard Base) in uBlock Origin and it's working fine there.
Yes, invalid rules are ignored, so when uBlock does not understand the Adguard rule it will be skipped. Were the pop-unders blocked at pornhub with ONLY adguard's filter lists enabled (so uBlock's own filter disabled)?

@SeriousHoax Question:
1. You being a malware tester, do you use blocking third-party scripts of uBlockOrigin?
2. Having tested malware, would not you agree that when anti-adblock mechanisms can bypass blocking 3P scripts and (i)frames, this can be done by malware writers also?
3. Do you agree that third-party blocking of only scripts and (i)frames (excluding XMLHTTPrequests, websocket etc) currently is a flawed mechanism already and sort of becomes irrelevant for security considering that same origin policy mechanism and OOP(i)frame isolation are constantly improving?

Regards Lenny
 
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Arequire

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Content Creator
Feb 10, 2017
1,814
In that case aren’t you lowering security by https inspection? Not sure if that’s better than an extension.
Yes, but Adguard acknowledge the issues of HTTPS interception and mitigates them where possible:

Whether it's less safe than an extension depends on which is more likely to occur: An issue relating to HTTPS interception that weakens/breaks TLS to the point where criminals can extract sensitive information from the connection, or ad networks serving ads via web requests that extensions are unable to block.
 
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SeriousHoax

Level 47
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Mar 16, 2019
3,630
Yes, invalid rules are ignored, so when uBlock does not understand the Adguard rule it will be skipped. Were the pop-unders blocked at pornhub with ONLY adguard's filter lists enabled (so uBlock's own filter disabled)?
I didn't do a full test, didn't check the log, I just checked whether there was any popup or not and I didn't see any. I clicked another video from the side and it loaded normally. I have less knowledge about all this ad blocking filtering rule but I have all the ublock filters enabled including experimental and some additional filters like Fanboy's enhanced tracking protection, annoyances, etc.
1. You being a malware tester, do you use blocking third-party scripts of uBlockOrigin?
I do block third party scripts but I use uMatrix for that.
2. Having tested malware, would not you agree that when anti-adblock mechanisms can bypass blocking 3P scripts and (i)frames, this can be done by malware writers also?
3. Do you agree that third-party blocking of only scripts and (i)frames (excluding XMLHTTPrequests, websocket etc) currently is a flawed mechanism already and sort of becomes irrelevant for security considering that same origin policy mechanism and OOP(i)frame isolation are constantly improving?
I won't say flawed mechanism but more like traditional which are still very effective but not as much as before. Malware writers have improved their techniques, many malwares are hosted on secure HTTPS sites nowadays that's why some AVs like Kaspersky, ESET, Avast does HTTPS scanning but that itself could lead to other issues so there isn't any clear cut solution to all the threat vectors.
 

Stas

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Feb 21, 2015
456
Universal Bypass does more than redirecting. It usually gets you pass those timer than you may often see while downloading stuff but you would rarely come to such a site where it'll be used. And for redirecting use ClearURLs instead. It does what Skip Redirect does and a lot more. Enable log of ClearURL then test yourself or browse sites for few hours then check the log.
I tried ClearURL before and removed it because sometimes it was clearing some text in the comments I posted. Sometimes less is better.
 

Lenny_Fox

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Oct 1, 2019
1,120
I didn't do a full test, didn't check the log, I just checked whether there was any popup or not and I didn't see any. I clicked another video from the side and it loaded normally. I have less knowledge about all this ad blocking filtering rule but I have all the ublock filters enabled including experimental and some additional filters like Fanboy's enhanced tracking protection, annoyances, etc.
I tested uBlockorigin with only Adguard filters and although uB0 skips some AG rules it can block the nasty popups (y)
1579009271298.png


So running uBlock with AdGuard filters only seems to work well also
 

Prorootect

Level 69
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Nov 5, 2011
5,855

Burrito

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May 16, 2018
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Good discussion SeriousHoax & Lenny_Linux. (y)

I learned several things..

And, as recommended -- I went to Pornhub to conduct some empirical testing.

Based on a small sample set for initial testing, and lack of control of all the variables, I'll have to spend a little more time there for scientific purposes.

Hi, better (100%) solution is to NOT go on pornhub, like me ...

It's just for science Prorootect.

It's like a doctor with attractive nude patients --- it's all professional.

Maybe I kept my eyes closed while I was there...
 

divinenews

Level 1
Jun 26, 2012
27
"Boostaler Browser Extension" - It makes sites load much FASTER.

About a month ago, a friend of mine told me about this browser extension. It takes a little tweaking to figure out how to install it, but it is the greatest extension to increasing browsing speed that I have ever used. It speeds up the browser load time, not the computer's system. This means that those of us who sensitive to the page load times are very happy.

You can read about it on Ghacks.com HERE and on Github.com HERE.

And, you can download the Boostaler zip file for the browsers you use at the following sites:
Chrome - eladkarako/chrome_extensions
Firefox - eladkarako/chrome_extensions

(*After you download the zip file, unzip it and then configure it, you have to close your browser and reopen it to get the faster speed.)

Some people have a hard time installing it. But, for those of you who manage to work it out, it's magic. Or, at least it is for me.

Good luck,😀
divinenews.

 

Prorootect

Level 69
Verified
Nov 5, 2011
5,855
The only extension I would recommend and use on all my systems is "contentblockhelper" Super powerful and customisable!
Hi, yes truly this is BEST content blocking extension, sure, I've it but disabled, sorry ... because it's too time-consuming, so we're wasting too much time with.
I use uBlock to check uMatrix finds, that's is...
So uBlock + uMatrix is sufficient, very satisfying, I use both.
... and adblockingfiltersetp too - look on test results on All Ads Simutaneously page: on linearpublishing.com: All Ads Simutaneously - so I don't have color ads on this test, none.
 

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