More Reasons Why You Should be Using uBlock Origin 

More Reasons Why You Should be Using uBlock Origin 

We’ve noticed more often lately how many bad things can happen when advertisements are displayed. While it’s true that most advertisements can be annoying, most are benign. But many are not.

We’ve featured uBlock Origin before, and now we have even more reasons to use and recommend uBlock Origin: It can help you stay safer on the web.

The other day I was fixing a computer remotely with our Cloudeight Direct computer care session  I was using the customer’s browser to check something when all of sudden I was greeted with a huge ad warning that his computer was infected with 406 viruses and urging him to run a scan. I knew what to do and immediately closed the ad.  Not everyone knows what to do when assaulted by such an ad and panic… they’ll click to run the scan and then find out they have to pay to clean all these viruses. Of course, there are no vir,uses to begin with — it’s all a scam. 

To make a long story shorter – I installed uBlock Origin on his computer so that the chances he will ever see such an ad again is just about zero. And if those kinds of ads are blocked, you don’t have to worry about panicking and clicking something you shouldn’t, right?

uBlock Origin blocks potentially dangerous “redirects”

And another good reason to install uBlock Origin is that it will block redirects that may lead you into troubled waters. A redirect happens when you click a link on a site you trust – one that you assume leads to a safe website – that may lead you to a questionable website.

In the screenshot above, you can see when I clicked a link on a site I trust that I am being redirected to another site. I can choose to disable the block temporarily or permanently. In this case, I clicked on an advertisement (on purpose) and since I was interested in the products offered in the ad, I disabled the block temporarily.

Even the CIA and NSA use adblockers 

 According to “Wired”…

“A letter to Congress shared with Motherboard shows that the US National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other members of the Intelligence Community use ad blockers on their networks as a security protection. ‘The IC has implemented network-based ad-blocking technologies and uses information from several layers, including Domain Name System information, to block unwanted and malicious advertising content,’ the IC chief information officer wrote in the letter.

“You may use an ad blocker to make your browsing experience more pleasant, but the tools also have potential defense benefits. Attackers who try to run malicious ads on unscrupulous ad networks or taint legitimate-looking ads can steal data or sneak malware onto your device if you click, or sometimes by exploiting web vulnerabilities. The fact that the IC views ads as an unnecessary risk and even a threat speaks to long-standing problems with the industry. The NSA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have released public guidance in recent years advising the use of ad blockers as a security protection, but the IC itself wasn’t required to adopt the measure. Its members deployed ad blockers voluntarily…” (Read more here.)

Our favorite adblocker is uBlock Origin

The one adblocker we recommend above all others is uBlock Origin. It is not just an ad blocker, it’s also a malicious content and redirect blocker.

Open-source ad blocker

The uBlock Origin is a free and open-source, cross-platform browser extension for content filtering—primarily aimed at neutralizing privacy invasion in an efficient, user-friendly method.

CPU and memory efficiency

Globally, uBlock Origin could save consumers more than $1.8 billion/year(study). Open source ad blockers are a potentially effective technology for energy conservation.

Various browsers support

uBlock Origin’s extension is available for several of the most widely used browsers, including: Chrome, Chromium, MS Edge, Opera, Firefox and all Safari releases prior to 13.

uBlock Origin

…uBlock Origin continues to be maintained and actively developed by founder and lead developer Raymond Hill.

The uBlock Origin extension remains an industry leading, open-source, cross-platform browser extension with software developed specifically for multiple platform use… uBlock Origin’s extension is available for several of the most widely used browsers, including: Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Opera, Firefox and all Safari releases prior to 13.

The uBlock Origin project still specifically refuses donations at this time, and instead advises all of its clients, users and supporters to donate to block list maintainers.”

Some adblockers have an acceptable ad policy – which could be based on developer biases or monetary considerations, uBlock Origin does not play these games.

You should be using an Ad Blocker

If you’re not using an ad blocker, you should be. And we strongly encourage you to visit the uBlock Origin website and install the uBlock Origin extension in your browser (Chrome, MS Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari -prior to 13- are supported). The uBlock Origin page will automatically detect your browser and provide you with the correct version of the uBlock Origin extension for your browser.

uBlock Origin is another great tool to help keep you safer on the web.

And a reminder…

No software, app, or browser extension can keep you 100% safe, 100% of the time. Your vigilance and common sense are always necessary when you’re on the Internet.

We Want YOU To Be Safe!