Blocking ads in Firefox and Chrome

Nobody really likes ads on web pages or enjoys watching crappy commercials. Devices like Tivo give television viewers the option to jump through commercials.  If people skip TV commercials, then why would people put up with huge flashing ads on web pages?  Is it because people don't know about a way to remove ads?  Ahh, but there is an easy solution to block ads.  AdBlock Plus is an extension for Firefox and Chrome which automatically filters most ads from pages, and can even stop the ads inside Youtube videos from appearing.

Installing Adblock Plus is easy on Firefox.  Go to the Tools menu, then select Add-ons and click the "Get Add-ons" button along the top.  Search for "adblock" and install the one called "Adblock Plus."  Choose "Install now" on the dialog box that appears, then restart Firefox.  When Firefox restarts, a tab will open with Adblock filter list to choose from.  Pick "EasyList (English)" and click "Add subscription."  This will create a list of know ads that will periodically update to keep with new ad tactics.

Under Chrome we will use a different extention called "Adblock", not "Adblock Plus."  Setting up Adblock in Chrome is similar, but requires an additional extension if you want a handy button for Adblock.  You will definitely want this button in the event you need to un-block ads on a page.  To install on Chrome, first install the base Adblock extension by clicking the wrench icon in the top right corner, then select Tools, then Extensions.  Click the link on the extensions page for "get more extensions."  Search for "Adblock", then choose the one called "Adblock", not "Adblock Plus."  Adblock Plus for Chrome has a memory leak, which is why I don't recommend it.  Click install on the Adblock page.  Once installed, a new tab will open with a few checkboxes.  Check "Show a button in the toolbar", and click the link to install the helper extension.  When a warning box pops up requesting access to your data, click install.  Now you can click the little red hand icon, go to options, and then click the "Filters" tab. Check the boxes for "Easylist" and "Adblock Custom"  and you're done.

Please keep in mind that many sites such as review and news websites get most of their revenue from ads.  If you frequent sites like this, consider unblocking ads on those sites. Even if you never click the ads, sites still make money every time the ads are loaded.  However, there is no reason that you should have to look at every ad on every page that you happen to view while Google searching.  Enjoy!