uBlock

uBlock is an accessible and user-friendly browser extension created to provide you with a simple method of blocking adverts and banners on the web pages you visit, while also enabling you to manually select other items you wish to stop from being displayed.

The add-on features compatible versions for Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome (along with other Chromium-based browsers, like Opera).

Depending on the preferred web explorer, different setup procedures apply; while in Firefox and Safari, you can simply drop the downloaded file over any open window of the program, in Google Chrome this has to be done in the ‘Extensions’ section.

The main role of uBlock resides in disabling advertisements from the pages you regularly visit, a dedicated power button letting you activate or deactivate the feature at will. It also informs you how many ads are being hidden.

A ‘Picker Mode’ helps you manually indicate the items in a page that you consider should be blocked. You can thus create and customize your own filters, applying them with little to no effort. This will, evidently, require more experience in the field.

The extension’s purpose goes beyond a simple adblocker, as it can also protect your safety online, ensuring you do not access dangerous websites, for instance. This is done with the use of a set of numerous filters: ‘Ads’, ‘Privacy’, ‘Malware Domains’, ‘Multipurpose’, ‘Regions, Languages’, which you can activate or deactivate, according to your needs. The more you use, however, the more it will impact your CPU.

Nonetheless, uBlock allows you to import or create your own filters and rules from scratch, as well as build a whitelist, thus ensuring you fully decide when and what  should be displayed on the websites you visit.

In conclusion, uBlock is an effective and very easy to understand browser add-on which you can resort to for hiding not only adverts, but countless other bothersome elements in your favorite web pages, which otherwise consume resources for no good reason.