Blocking malicious adverts using uBlock Origin Lite.

27 Dec

While malicious adverts on the internet are not as prevalent as they once were, plenty are still about trying to trick or inject harmful code onto your computer so hackers can use it to access your systems and cause harm.

Kimbley IT deploys several technologies to protect your computer systems to defend against these attacks. One of these technologies is the use of an Ad blocker on the browser you use. Ad blockers prevent all adverts from loading, preventing malicious and dishonest adverts from appearing on websites you visit, reducing the chances of your computer getting infected.

Good Ad blockers can also remove annoyances from websites, such as the cookie banner pop-up, which constantly appears on websites requiring you to click accept before you can use the website.

Of course, there might be websites where you do not want the Ad blocker to run. Ad blockers can affect how some websites operate. For example, for your business website, you might want all elements to load so that you can check that the website is working as it should. Likewise, you may have a reliable news website you visit and want to support journalism by allowing adverts to be shown. You can disable the Ad blocker on these sites.

Using uBlock Origin Lite.

At Kimbley IT, we recommend uBlock Origin Lite, an ad blocker available on all major web browsers (Chrome, Edge). Over the years, it has built a great reputation as an effective and lightweight adblocker with open-source coding, meaning anyone can check the extension's source code to ensure it is not doing anything nefarious.

Along with its excellent reputation, uBlock Origin Lite is very easy to use. You can change the blocking level for every website you visit with a couple of clicks - and these settings get saved so every time you visit a website, whatever setting you have put in place will persist on every other subsequent visit.

Setting up your default Ad filtering level.

When you first run the extension, it will ask you what you want as your default level of ad blocking. I recommend the "Optimal" setting, as with the "Basic" setting, Ads get removed, but with "Optimal" selected, the space left behind from where the Ad would have been shown also gets removed - making webpages friendlier to view, without any large whitespaces where Ads would have been.

Under the "Filter Lists" tab, you can put a tick next to "EasyList/uBO – Cookie Notices" under the Annoyances section, and most cookie warning notices will no longer load! If you need to return to this settings page, click on the uBlock Origin Lite icon in your browser extension area to access these settings.

This image shows the screen you seen when you first install uBlock Origin Lite asking you to set your default filtering level.

Changing your Ad filtering level on a per-website basis.

Once you're on a website, you can select the level of Ad filtering you wish to use by clicking the uBlock Original Lite in your browser toolbar or the extensions menu - and moving the slider to your desired filtering level. So, if you're visiting a website you like and trust and wish to support the site, turn off filtering for that site and allow the site Ads to get shown. Likewise, sometimes you may find a website is not loading correctly (typically price comparison and airline websites), and for those, turning off Ad filtering usually corrects any unusual behaviour. Most websites load and work without any issues.