Raymond.cc roundup of ad blocking extensions

[mouser]

Nice roundup with lots of charts showing performance impacts of a variety of ad blockers, on memory, cpu, page loading times, etc.

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-ad-blocking-extensions-tested-for-best-performance/

[JavaJones]

Nice. Go µBlock Origin! I discovered it recently myself, thanks to another DC member, and it's been good so far. Nice to see my impressions confirmed.

- Oshyan

[tomos]

^ FWIW I prefer the uBlock variation - the "origin" version started blocking whole webpages which I felt wasn't it's job:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=41317.msg385536#msg385536

[mwb1100]

I find the whole uBlock/uBlock Origin thing to be an unfortunate and confusing mess.

I guess I'm just glad that Adguard seemed to perform respectably, even if it wasn't a top performer. I've been happy with it.

[tomos]

I find the whole uBlock/uBlock Origin thing to be an unfortunate and confusing mess.

agreed -
the fact of it ('Origin') going beyond my idea of what an adblocker does, made me more active in reporting my preference.

FWIW I'm currently using PaleMoon and 'Adblock Latitude' - I am still waiting for the ideal browser/adblocking extension ;-)

[wraith808]

^ FWIW I prefer the uBlock variation - the "origin" version started blocking whole webpages which I felt wasn't it's job:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=41317.msg385536#msg385536

Same here.  And the direction that's been taken since the split has confirmed at least in my mind, my choice.

[4wd]

I find the whole uBlock/uBlock Origin thing to be an unfortunate and confusing mess.

agreed -
the fact of it ('Origin') going beyond my idea of what an adblocker does, made me more active in reporting my preference.

Add me to this list, Origin just became too intrusive so I switched back to uBlock (non-Origin).

FWIW I'm currently using PaleMoon and 'Adblock Latitude' - I am still waiting for the ideal browser/adblocking extension ;-)

I'm using PM with uBlock (0.9.5.0) since they provided support for the pre-Australis interface I thought I may as well try it out - was using Adblock Latitude for a while.

[Innuendo]

I guess I'm just glad that Adguard seemed to perform respectably, even if it wasn't a top performer. I've been happy with it.

Adguard wasn't always first place, but it was always at least second. This was a test of the browser extension, though, and I've never used that. I've always used the paid stand-alone application.

The testing was...interesting. I feel they should have added https sites to their test as well as tested for if the ad blocker broke any web pages. This test seemed to be all about volume of ads blocked & memory consumption. That's part of the equation, sure, but other things should have been considered in the product ranking.

[wraith808]

I find the whole uBlock/uBlock Origin thing to be an unfortunate and confusing mess.

agreed -
the fact of it ('Origin') going beyond my idea of what an adblocker does, made me more active in reporting my preference.

Add me to this list, Origin just became too intrusive so I switched back to uBlock (non-Origin).

FWIW I'm currently using PaleMoon and 'Adblock Latitude' - I am still waiting for the ideal browser/adblocking extension ;-)

I'm using PM with uBlock (0.9.5.0) since they provided support for the pre-Australis interface I thought I may as well try it out - was using Adblock Latitude for a while.

It's also funny that they tested Ghostery, but not Disconnect.  I saw their reasoning, and found it... lacking.  I'm using Disconnect and uBlock and those two together seem to be covering it.  Disconnect blocks most of them first, and uBlock gets whatever slips through.

[Innuendo]

It's also funny that they tested Ghostery, but not Disconnect.  I saw their reasoning, and found it... lacking.  I'm using Disconnect and uBlock and those two together seem to be covering it.  Disconnect blocks most of them first, and uBlock gets whatever slips through.

Usually I like Raymond.cc, but this article looks like they started with a conclusion they wanted to promote & built the article and testing methodology around it.

[f0dder]

^ FWIW I prefer the uBlock variation - the "origin" version started blocking whole webpages which I felt wasn't it's job:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=41317.msg385536#msg385536

I don't mind that too much - I've only seen it blocking sourceforge, and that's kinda warranted given how dicky SF have been...

And I really don't want to use the non-Origin version, considering what a bastard the dude behind that is...

[tomos]

^ FWIW I prefer the uBlock variation - the "origin" version started blocking whole webpages which I felt wasn't it's job:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=41317.msg385536#msg385536

I don't mind that too much - I've only seen it blocking sourceforge, and that's kinda warranted given how dicky SF have been...

uBlock Origin now works on PaleMoon, so I have dumped Adblock Latitude (which was blocking stuff it shouldnt have been).
Using the other version on Firefox which I also use most days.

I did notice it saying this:

Important: uBlock Origin is NOT an "ad blocker": it is a wide-spectrum blocker -- which happens to be able to function as a mere "ad blocker". The default behavior of uBlock Origin when newly installed is to block ads, trackers and malware sites -- through EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe’s ad/tracking/malware servers, various lists of malware sites, and uBlock Origin's own filter lists.

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/
which gave me a better understanding for how it works.

Re the feud or whatever went on, at the time I did look into it a bit, and it seemed to be more about messy misunderstandings and all that can bring, rather than any kind of nastiness - so I didnt feel I *should* support one or the other.

[f0dder]

Re the feud or whatever went on, at the time I did look into it a bit, and it seemed to be more about messy misunderstandings and all that can bring, rather than any kind of nastiness - so I didnt feel I *should* support one or the other.

Not only removing references to the original author, but phrasing the text as if you're the original author, and putting up big donate buttons... that's a bit more than just "misunderstandings", it's dicky.

[tomos]

^ yeah, fair enough.
I got the impression he regretted afterwards - but maybe that was just trying to make good after the backlash.

[f0dder]

^ yeah, fair enough.
I got the impression he regretted afterwards - but maybe that was just trying to make good after the backlash.

He might have, I didn't look back after reverting to Origin

[wraith808]

Eh... I didn't really think it was *that* bad.  And considering the way that Gorhill just up and left, I didn't feel loyalty to either side.  I just use the one that works.  And the fact that I couldn't even get to pages that I wanted to with origin running made me not regret my decision to uninstall it and go with the other.

[f0dder]

And the fact that I couldn't even get to pages that I wanted to with origin running made me not regret my decision to uninstall it and go with the other.

You can choose not to subscribe to the badware filters, or you can use one of the buttons for specific sites...
[attachthumb=#]

[superboyac]

ok, just went through this.  Man, I'm glad someone did these tests.  So here's my question...why use a product like Adguard?  (I switched to this from ad muncher recently).  ublock origin is clearly the best of the bunch, and it works as a plugin.  is there any advantage to adguard, which is different than plugins in that it runs as a separate software service, not really a plugin although it behaves the same way in browsers.  I think someone here did a great review on it.

The only reason i can think of is that it blocks things other than browser stuff.  Supposedly, it blocks it directly at the source, whatever that means.  But the advantage of this was supposed to be that it's even faster than just a plain ol plugin blocker.  But...now that these tests are out, that is not really the case.  So why use it?  You would think it has additional features a plugin doesn't, but i can't really think of any that a plugin doesn't have.  Like, I just use the white and black list features for the most part, and all blockers have that.

[mwb1100]

why use a product like Adguard?

I use it because:

  - AdMuncher stopped being effective for some things
  - I got a decent deal on AdGuard
  - at the time I found the situation between uBlock and  uBlock Origin confusing
  - I can't remember why I decided against Adblock Plus
  - AdGuard seemed to have active, decent support on their forums

AdGuard is working well enough for me. Someday I might reexamine that decision.  Some of my browsing is slower than I'd like, and I get the feeling that AdGuard might be factor with that.

[superboyac]

why use a product like Adguard?

I use it because:

  - AdMuncher stopped being effective for some things
  - I got a decent deal on AdGuard
  - at the time I found the situation between uBlock and  uBlock Origin confusing
  - I can't remember why I decided against Adblock Plus
  - AdGuard seemed to have active, decent support on their forums

AdGuard is working well enough for me. Someday I might reexamine that decision.  Some of my browsing is slower than I'd like, and I get the feeling that AdGuard might be factor with that.

Thanks.
Regarding that last bit...I have definitely noticed the performance hit as well.  But if it's slower because it's blocking stuff, that's fine.  If not, then I may not really need it because ublock is just plain faster.

around the time ublock got popular, adblock was beginning to not work very well.  I don't remember why exactly either, but i think it had to do with the whole https thing with google, youtube, flash, etc.  it all seemed to happen at around the same time.

[f0dder]

So here's my question...why use a product like Adguard?  (I switched to this from ad muncher recently).

Don't - they can't filter HTTPS without either using a MITM proxy method (BAD BAD BAD), or doing API hooking (less bad, but still bad).

You really shouldn't be needing ad filtering other places than in the browser (if so: consider finding replacements for those applications), where you should use uBlock Origin.