We now have the "uBlock Origin" ad-blocker installed on all staff computers for the Chrome and Firefox browsers. This extension uses several advertising and click-tracker lists to stop webpages from automatically sharing your data with others, and to stop them from tracking you. From the uBlock website:
The name “ad blocker” sounds as if the program is blocking actual ads. In reality – yes and no.
An ad blocker is actually blocking the server’s request to download an ad. This occurs when you first land on a web page, at which point your browser begins piecing the page together. At this time pieces of code are coming together in the form of text, images, videos, and other code running behind the scenes.
During this entire process your ad blocker is on the lookout for any requests from a third-party ad server. If a request comes through it is denied by the ad blocker, leaving your site viewing experience uninterrupted.
The idea is that legitimate ads (directly from the website you're currently surfing) will get through, but any "third-party" ads (which not from the website you're surfing, and hence more likely to be tracking you) are blocked. Besides protecting you from cross-website tracking – and potentially from downloading/displaying ads from malware vendors – blocking ads often speeds up the loading of webpages.
Some things to keep in mind:
- It is definitely possible that ad-blockers will corrupt a website's appearance. The whole point is to stop third-party ads from being displayed – this may lead to visual difference in the webpage compared to what it would have displayed with the ads (or with the ad-blocker turned off).
- It is also possible that ad-blockers will corrupt a website's functionality! This is somewhat rare, but as ad-blockers have gotten better, so have the advertisers – in some cases, they will embed javascript code inside the page to verify that an ad was placed before allowing you to view some content or take some actions ... which is related to ...
- You may see pop-ups, banner images, or text on an otherwise-blocked website asking you to please whitelist them (they noticed your ad-blocker and are asking you to explicitly show the ads). By blocking ads, you are interfering with the website's ability to collect ad revenue and hence their ability to show content for free.
- With uBlock installed, you must take an action to re-enable this flow of ad-revenue to sites you approve of. This is the usual way to use uBlock and they make it quite easy to do.
To Whitelist a Website:
- In Chrome and Firefox, you'll see a red or gray shield icon containing a stylized 'u' and 'b'. Click that icon to show the main uBlock panel:
- Click the blue power button image (circle with a line at the top) and uBlock will permanently whitelist the website.
- A grey power-button image means that uBlock is disabled for this website (either it is already whitelisted or the site has no third-party ads or trackers).
- Click the browser's Reload button (next to the URL text area) to reload the page with uBlock disabled.
To Disable uBlock Entirely:
While DUL IT staff strong suggest using uBlock or a similar ad-blocker while you surf the 'net, if you wish to disable it, follow these instructions:
- For Chrome:
- Open a new window or new tab and enter the URL "chrome://extensions/" (if you're not familiar with it, Chrome provides a URL-like interface to many of its internal settings)
- Find uBlock Origin in the card-list and de-select it by clicking the blue slider-button.
- Open a new window or new tab and enter the URL "chrome://extensions/" (if you're not familiar with it, Chrome provides a URL-like interface to many of its internal settings)
- For Firefox:
- Open a new window or new tab and enter the URL "about:addons" (as above, Firefox provides a URL-like interface to many of its internal settings)
- On the left-side menu, click on "Extensions" to bring up the list of extensions
- Find uBlock Origin in the list and click "Disable"
- Open a new window or new tab and enter the URL "about:addons" (as above, Firefox provides a URL-like interface to many of its internal settings)