i’m in australia so we’re a step or 2 behind the once mighty USA - in some things, that is …. 😁
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Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
And they wonder why people use an ad blocker???
- Thread starter romanof
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In the late 70's, "Cable TV" came to our house.
The premise was (IIRC) that one would pay USD8.99/mo for a direct feed to Content, and other goodies one could not get via the Air.
This was back when MTv actually streamed videos of artists who produced music (albeit limited to what was Popular, at the time).
Over the years, "Cable" has morphed-into an absolute mess; particularly with how much advertised content is injected into every hour.
Ain't no way on GGE that I'm gana pay USD189+/mo for Content that I a) don't really enjoy, b) Content that's repeatedly interspersed with regular advertisements and c) tied to a Connection that I have found to be essential.
I do have to say that the quality of the production in the advertisements since the aforementioned days of Regular Broadcast has improved by many thousands, in percentile . . .
"Honey?! Where's the Lavoris?"
"It's like a petunia..."
But, the "Wow" is gone:
"Real Meat Juices"
"Why go anywhere else!"
I'm on Fiber, now, and this is provided by Teh T (when I gift them USD100 for the privilege).
I receive HBO (MAX) 'gratis' for said privilege.
Even HBO(M) plugs {Skip} adverts for their In-House productions on every view.
Crazy stuff.
There is a good article on Ars Technica on the theme that the Ad Industry's belief, just like the Emperor, has no clothes.
https://arstechnica.com/culture/202...hing-a-bar-of-soap-has-invaded-my-online-ads/
Goes along with my theory (somewhat) that most ads are worthless now and have been even before the Internet. (Unless you are in the ad-serving business, in which case, the clothes probably are silk and with gold lace.)
https://arstechnica.com/culture/202...hing-a-bar-of-soap-has-invaded-my-online-ads/
Goes along with my theory (somewhat) that most ads are worthless now and have been even before the Internet. (Unless you are in the ad-serving business, in which case, the clothes probably are silk and with gold lace.)
Over the years I think I have at least tried every every Mac compatible web browser and ad blocking extension or app. While I admit it is possible to tweak Ghostery or uBlock to a satisfactory result there is no browser that works as well out of the box at blocking ads and trackers as Brave. I should add that you do not need to subscribe to Brave’s BAT (Basic Attention Token) option, you don’t need to subscribe to anything, not even the app itself. It will work on any device and syncs anonymously.
I have an acid test for a browser’s ad blocking capabilities. Simply go to mac-forums (https://www.mac-forums.com/) if you see a Google ad panel near the top above the forum index you are not using Brave. The Amazon one on the right cannot be removed but Brave is the ONLY browser I have tried that blocks that Google box advertising computers and parts/accessories. If your browser does not block that panel it won't be the only example.
I have an acid test for a browser’s ad blocking capabilities. Simply go to mac-forums (https://www.mac-forums.com/) if you see a Google ad panel near the top above the forum index you are not using Brave. The Amazon one on the right cannot be removed but Brave is the ONLY browser I have tried that blocks that Google box advertising computers and parts/accessories. If your browser does not block that panel it won't be the only example.
- I was today years old before learning MacRumors had a competitor forum.
- Huh. I use Firefox, Firefox ESR and Firefox Dynasty (as well as Interweb-Nightly), and three prophylactic add-ons: uBlock Origin, uMatrix, and SponsorBlock for YouTube. These have been my go-to for several years, across tens of different varieties and revisions of Mozilla browsers, from TenFourFox to Firefox, across multiple architectures.
What I don’t see in Firefox ESR when I browse to your example: an ad placeholder anywhere. I’ll happily share how my uBlock Origin lists and uMatrix grid default are set up, if anyone wants to know.
- Brave is still a Chromium-based browser whose “killer” feature is it can mine cryptocurrency and can do so with a polished front-end UI/UX. It’s a libertarian bro’s moisture dream.
This girl passes. 🙅♀️
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Well, that is entirely fair enough. You have obviously devoted a lot of time, effort and some cost to achieve the results you have.
I don't ascribe to BAT (any more) or Cryptocurrency but those elements of Brave are easily removed or at least hidden with some minor tweaking. I like that it works as well on any device as it's my default on iPad and iPhone too.
I'm sure some people will be interested in your settings, it would certainly save a lot of time so thanks for that offer.
I have Firefox as my second preference and encouraged my wife to use it which she now does as default on her MBA. It has a lot going for it but does not block Fingerprinting as well as Brave does see; https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/
Despite that it's a pretty secure browser with good ad an tracking blocking built in again "out of the box" but that is my point. Out of the box Brave works exceptionally well for ad an tracking blocking and with a few adjustments like turning "Use Google Services for push messaging" off and adjusting Web RTC settings most of the default settings are fine. Few people will go to the trouble you an I obviously have.
As an interesting example I turned Brave Shields off for a moment to compare on the mac-forums page and was immediately presented with a popup declaring "Google wants to instal Widevine" yes or no. Widevine as you probably know is a DRM used to protect Google's media partners such as, such as Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Discovery+, Paramount+ and many more. It's implications are inconvenient at the very least and does it track you? Good question huh? Interestingly if you do allow it to be installed (I didn't) Brave offers a setting to turn it off.
Either way, thanks for your great reply, generous offer and trying my acid test.😃
Looks the same in my Firefox Nightly even with Adguard and uBlock Origin turned off.
Seems this is enough:
I have? Gosh. Could you elaborate on my “time, effort, and some cost”?
(I kid you so.)
The only “time” and “effort” involved in using a browser is in the everyday of using a browser for, say, these last 29 years. It didn’t take anything beyond that to “achieve the results”. Nearly everything, going back several years, comes to “set it and forget it”. Those settings are saved and transferred to a new machine when I move to new hardware, to avoid a need to spend time and effort to repeat motions.
If one has anything worthy of being fingerprinted and followed (i.e., spearphishing prey), then one probably has much bigger problems to be dealing with (and they are probably using the most generic of the most generic products on the market at this moment).
For those who don’t use a site’s social media “share” buttons, one can avoid a major chunk of fingerprinting tools.
Further to that, if one is still fingerprinted, but any ads served based on that fingerprint profile are blocked from loading, then — at best — a marketer can suss there’s a browser on hardware which rejects having ads served, loaded, and displayed, and a user behind it who (again, prophylactic) doesn’t click on behaviour-based prompts (like “share” buttons).
If that is still of concern to you, then you probably have bigger problems to worry about; a Vidalia/Tor layer, coupled with a robust VPN provider, is probably what you would want to use anyway.
Again, I don’t go through trouble.
The difference is I’m not 19 years old and only just figuring out basic, 101-level, privacy-and-don’t-disctract-me stuff for the first time, nor am I a senior parent who was never more at home “surfing on the world wide web” than I was when I opened FB on my AOL browser, followed afterward by IE8, on my Windows XP home desktop made by Packard-Bell.
When you’ve been around a bit and you know how basic things work online, you assemble what works into a single profile setting. You save it. Then one needs not have to think about it again. The only revisits to these occur after commercial interests try to implement new modes or proprietary standards of trying to “reach their products with marketing and ads”, as that’s the only thing they know how to do — much as a freshwater lake leech only knows how to suck blood from whatever it can latch onto.
Widevine DRM, much as WMDRM/Silverlight before it, isn’t novel stuff. In addition, I’m neither a user nor subscriber of nearly every service you’ve listed here.
I also feel like this is veering awfully close to my getting a good mansplaining, and I’d rather you not. Thanks.
Not really?
Enjoy your Brave and enjoy cheerleading for them.
I’m good with what’s dependable and what works.
AdGuard's extension on Edge/Safari & Ublock Origin on Firefox blocks. Seems your acid test is...
Q-6
I've said this several times now but I'll say it again. "Out of the box" is what I'm comparing. That means without ad blocking or tracking extensions and with default settings.
out of the box
1. Of a product, existing or ready to use upon opening; prefabricated; requiring no assembly, installation, modification, etc., by the user or customer. Usually hyphenated when used before a noun.
Would seem your "out of the box" solution is lacking what others can. Keep up the English lessons, always worth a laugh...
Q-6
Aguard paused. 1Blocker turned off. I don't see anything Google in Safari.
And I even forgot to tell Proton VPN to block ads and trackers:
Also no DNS-filtering for Ads at the moment, because I can't decide what works best I always get back to the standard Cloudflare settings. But Adguard is doing this when not turned off for a specific website. But when ProtonVPN is active it overrides Adguard DNS to its own servers I think.
And I even forgot to tell Proton VPN to block ads and trackers:
Also no DNS-filtering for Ads at the moment, because I can't decide what works best I always get back to the standard Cloudflare settings. But Adguard is doing this when not turned off for a specific website. But when ProtonVPN is active it overrides Adguard DNS to its own servers I think.
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I use ad blocking software and uBlock Origin, which may thrill the owners of this site to no end. LOL In my case, I'm using older hardware, and using Linux and ad blocking does mean the difference between this computer being usable for Internet. Although, past practical realities, I find ads annoying.
It's always such a shock when I use a system with no ad blocking to see how infested sites can be with advertising.
As for browsers, I use Firefox. Brave is appealing in some ways--but one reason I stick with Firefox is that it's not based on Chrome/Chromium. I'm a bit uncomfortable with how dominant Chrome/Chromium has become. It reminds me too much of the days of the Internet Exploder dominance...
It's always such a shock when I use a system with no ad blocking to see how infested sites can be with advertising.
As for browsers, I use Firefox. Brave is appealing in some ways--but one reason I stick with Firefox is that it's not based on Chrome/Chromium. I'm a bit uncomfortable with how dominant Chrome/Chromium has become. It reminds me too much of the days of the Internet Exploder dominance...
Tried 'em all. Settled on NextDNS (HaGeZi Pro blocklist) + 1Blocker. Works great.
My main browser is Firefox Nightly. The update schedule is a little annoying but everything always works.
I want to switch to a lightweight Firefox fork like LibreWolf, Waterfox or PulseBrowser or a more secure one like Mullvad Browser. Have them all installed, but most don't support container tabs and I need those.
Did you also try those:
Mullvad has adblockingDNS too, what also works in other Browser.
I have this in notes, but forgot what the different numbers mean. But all those extended ones and the 39 must be for blocking ads and trackers.
tls://extended.dns.mullvad.net
https://extended.dns.mullvad.net/dns-query
100.64.0.39
100.64.0.7
LibreDNS is blocking ads too, if you use this noads instead of dot:
DNS over TLS
IP 116.202.176.26
IPv6 2a01:4f8:1c0c:8274::1
Port 853
Domain dot.libredns.gr
DNS over TLS
IP 116.202.176.26
IPv6 2a01:4f8:1c0c:8274::1
Port 853
Domain dot.libredns.gr
noads.libredns.gr
I can set DNS in my Router in System Settings, in Adguard, in VPN and in Browser (except Safari). Will only the last instance matter? I don't really understand this.
It seems ProtonVPN ist using AdguardDNS, since I set it to block ads and trackers now. Before in the DNS leakstest I always saw Proton Servers.
Edit: It's only in Safari now. Firefox still shows Proton Servers. Strange. Normally it's the same. I only changed my region in System Settings what sometimes confuses Private Relay but not in that way. (Doesn't change anything to set it to my real region).
Safari:
Firefox:
P.S.: Sorry for the Spam. 🙈
It seems ProtonVPN ist using AdguardDNS, since I set it to block ads and trackers now. Before in the DNS leakstest I always saw Proton Servers.
Edit: It's only in Safari now. Firefox still shows Proton Servers. Strange. Normally it's the same. I only changed my region in System Settings what sometimes confuses Private Relay but not in that way. (Doesn't change anything to set it to my real region).
Safari:
Firefox:
P.S.: Sorry for the Spam. 🙈
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Network-wide ad blocking: https://pi-hole.net/
Run it yourself. Pi-hole + Unbound = ad blocking private DNS recursive resolver. < 0.1 ms local DNS.
Then add the client/browser solutions on top of that.
Run it yourself. Pi-hole + Unbound = ad blocking private DNS recursive resolver. < 0.1 ms local DNS.
Then add the client/browser solutions on top of that.
Yes, I heard of this very often. But I think that's too complicated for me. My health issues doesn't allow enough concentration for learning to use a Pi.
I'll try it next year if this helps what I'll start in October.
Despite being labelled a "Cheer Leader" for Brave browser anyone who reads all 6 pages of this thread will see that some people have gone to considerable lengths to rid themselves of ads and trackers.
All I have been suggesting is that Brave will block pretty much all ads and trackers on it's default settings. Yes, you can add a good VPN (I have) and up the Privacy & Security settings or Shields in Brave but that can be done if and when you find shortfalls in your expectations.
Apart from that it requires no personal details, even for syncing across devices and is comparatively low on CPU resource demands.
I am not a "fanboy" for brave nor am I in anyway employed by them it's simply that after 30+ years of Mac use it's the best free browser for todays hostile internet I've found. Vivaldi comes close, Firefox is good, even the radically different Arc browser is pretty secure but none I've tried offer the comprehensive set of Settings available in Brave.
Yes, it's Chromium based which makes transitioning from the seemingly ubiquitous Google Chrome an easy task but thats about where the similarity ends.
In the end it's all down to "suck it an see". Try it, and if you don't like it delete it. 🤷♂️
All I have been suggesting is that Brave will block pretty much all ads and trackers on it's default settings. Yes, you can add a good VPN (I have) and up the Privacy & Security settings or Shields in Brave but that can be done if and when you find shortfalls in your expectations.
Apart from that it requires no personal details, even for syncing across devices and is comparatively low on CPU resource demands.
I am not a "fanboy" for brave nor am I in anyway employed by them it's simply that after 30+ years of Mac use it's the best free browser for todays hostile internet I've found. Vivaldi comes close, Firefox is good, even the radically different Arc browser is pretty secure but none I've tried offer the comprehensive set of Settings available in Brave.
Yes, it's Chromium based which makes transitioning from the seemingly ubiquitous Google Chrome an easy task but thats about where the similarity ends.
In the end it's all down to "suck it an see". Try it, and if you don't like it delete it. 🤷♂️