Must Have - Blockers - Chrome

Are you concerned about your privacy and data? and do you want to control some of that? then read on buddy. You can get a little bit of control over what part of data to share with website you visit, what ads to see or on which websites to see. I'll be sharing my knowledge with you. I will be suggesting alternative as well so you could choose what suits you the best based on your surfing habits.

This article is based on blockers for chrome browser

Claiming Control

You need to make changes in your browser settings and you need some add-ons to do the rest of the work for you. Since advertisements can be intrusive if designed and implemented incorrectly and can spoil the surfing experience specially when doing office related work on Internet so in this article, I'll be listing only AdBlocker, Content Blockers, Tracker Blockers with additional features. You could choose any one or combination based on your likes and surfing habits.

Add-ons

1. uBlock Origin - This is one the best add-ons i have come across. Kudos to Raymond for developing this for us and making life easier. It blocks Ads, Trackers, Bad-Websites, Click Tracking, Mixed Resources, Fonts and you can also add custom rules to it as well. It works on filters & rules and Its customizable and is light on memory too. Here is the link to it : uBlock Origin


2. DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - how can you miss DuckDuckGo when talking about privacy? right? but I am not talking about search engine here. They have released an official extension for chrome which doesn't compromise on privacy and also doesn't have bad impact on browsing experience. It blocks intrusive trackers which doesn't break the site and also shows how much you are exposed to a website using grades. It is also light on resources. You can check for the add-on here : DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials


3. Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker - One of the oldest one in the list. Its straight up ad-blocker with lists updated and maintained. It also claims to block trackers and it actually blocks some of them, not all. It is done to provide speedy loading without rendering page unresponsive like some of the ad-blockers are famous for. Here is the link to it : Ghostery – Privacy Ad Blocker


4. Privacy Badger - Another old horse in the race of blocking Trackers. Now this is specifically for blocking cookies and trackers and that's it. It does not block ads or content. It eats cookies sometimes when hungry and it does block trackers and it does change headers to send do not track request humbly and thats it. It servers the purpose it is created for. It is an add-on from EFF Organization who brought you HTTPS Everywhere. You can look for this hungry fella here : Privacy Badger


5. TunnelBear Blocker - If you use TunnelBear VPN then you have already guessed the company it is from and you are correct though you won't be getting any cookies. It blocks scripts, Fingerprints, Email Trackers, Trackers in general and Ultrasonic tracking(though not sure how this particular feature works). Its definitely not your average joe ad-blocker. You can get it from here : TunnelBear Blocker


6. uMatrix : It is a powerful Content Blocker which blocks scripts, click trackers, Mixed content, ads and even classes etc(Everything mostly). You can block anything on website with this add-on. It is developed by Raymond who also developed uBlock Origins. Beware though if you don't know what you are blocking and set it to blocked everything like a jealous ex you might end up breaking your surfing experience(I have seen people rating it one star because they could not get umatrix to properly to its full advantage). It is powerful add-on which can be customized to be used as full on package to block every tracker and stuff though it could break website from loading certain elements or full pages if customized incorrectly. You can get it here : uMatrix


7. AdGuard AdBlocker - List won't be completed if we don't mention Adguard in it. The most popular and top rated Ad-Blocker I suppose. It Blocks ads and trackers and optimize filters to provide performance without compromising on serving what it is made for. It blocks every type of ad one can think of which also includes video ads as well. You can get it from : AdGuard AdBlocker


8. AdBlocker Ultimate - Second Most rated adblocker which shows no mercy when it comes to ads as it has no whitelist and has policy of blocking even the non-intrusive and helpful ads as well. Its a straight-up no bullshit blocker with on off switch and thats it. You can get it from : AdBlocker Ultimate


9. Fair AdBlocker - This blocker blocks literally everything that is thrown at it and it comes with a whitelist, Sweet. It is lightweight and they also claim it to be more stable than AdGuard which is supposedly the top rated adblocker on the store. I personally liked its UI. You can get it from : Fair AdBlocker


10. AdRemover for Google Chrome™ - This is the last in the list of the blockers. This fella can block every ad and you don't need to mess with its UI every now and then. It is simple ad-blocker offering basic filters and features and it works as it should. You can get it from : AdRemover for Google Chrome™


These are enough blockers to choose from or to make a combination from. The combination of add-ons from these to use varies from person to person according to their use cases. Having too many add-ons can also severely affect your browsers performance and might even cause crashes on some computers. Remember excess of everything is bad. Too many blockers or multiple layer of blockers can prevents sites from loading (can even break them) or act/behave weird. So choose only those add-ons which you really need and can actually help you serving better surfing experience.

Happy AdFree Surfing