It seems every website has advertisements. I get it. Everyone wants to make a buck online which is fine. Here are my issues with advertisements on the web and why I block them.

Quantity vs Quality

I can understand the good old banner ad at the top of a website. I can also understand a small ad in the sidebar. However, it seems a lot of websites are cramming ads everywhere. If I’m reading an article, I don’t want ads showing up in the middle of the article. It is distracting.

Slows down your web browser

The more ads that have to load when you visit a website, the slower the site is going to load. This is especially detrimental for folks on older computers and slower connections that can’t handle the bombardment of simultaneously loading ads. Many ads use Flash which can slow even the fastest computers to a crawl. (Pro tip: Uninstall Flash!)

Security risk

There are various ad networks out there which all have their own screening process. Unfortunately the bad folks still find a way to infiltrate those networks with malicious ads. Have you ever seen one of those pop up ads that says there is something wrong with your computer and you need to call “Microsoft” immediately?

You most likely didn’t even click on anything, it just popped up on its own. Maybe you’ve seen an update for Adobe or Firefox, but the actual link doesn’t take you to the legitimate site. (but it looks so real!)

Controversy

Some say it’s not right to use an ad blocker. You’re hurting the company and employees if you block their ads. Some sites like Forbes and Wired even detect if you are using an ad blocker and shame you into shutting it off. Ironically, according to The Stack, they lost web traffic when they enabled the ad blocker detection. (Karma!)

You are threatening the safety of my computer with your insane amount of ads. Why not focus your advertising efforts on products and services that your company sells? If there are sites you want to support, you can always exclude them from the ad blocker.

My recommendation

I used to use Ad Block Plus but their acceptable ad program seems a bit shady to me. Companies can pay for their ads to show up in place of other ads that you are blocking. (what!?!?!?)

I have moved on to an ad blocker called uBlock Origin. It works really well and doesn’t slow my machine down. It’s free and works in Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. (The Safari version is in testing and may be more buggy than other browsers.)

Follow the links below to install uBlock Origin on your browser.

Firefox –> https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/ublock-origin/

Google Chrome –> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm

Microsoft Edge –> https://www.microsoft.com/store/p/app/9nblggh444l4

For more information about uBlock Origin, check out their website below.

uBlock Origin –> https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/

Feedback:

Let me know what you think about blocking advertisements in the comments below. Do you block them and if so, what blocker do you use? Thanks!