If you are still using chrome at this point it's on you
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Why it happened?
Security, kinda. Google didn't like having extensions which could have their execution modified outside the core code (e.g. the block lists). Also, I'd put money on Google hating anything which reduces ad revenue.
What to use instead?
uBlock Origin, in FireFox.
Also, I'd put money on Google hating anything which reduces ad revenue.
You don't need to speculate. Google is a publicly traded company. The same year they announced Manifest V3 (I think 2019) they said in their shareholder statements that ad blocking tools are a threat to their revenue.
That's the year I moved to Firefox and haven't looked back.
but they didn't have their execution modified. What got updated was datafiles, not code. This is just a shitty excuse by google.
I like Adnauseam which not only blocks all ads but clicks them first. I'm not really sure why they don't understand the concept of an arms race, but I do.
When I used it, it sadly didn't block some of the ads UBO does, which I found strange since it's just UBO with extras.
Btw there's still uBlock Origin Lite on the Chrome Web Store. Chrome users (some of us need it for work) can use that instead.
Firefox is what you use instead. There I helped.
For those still on chrome: the switch is easier than might expect. U can basically import all ur stuff, web history, bookmarks, etc with one click when it boots the first time.
I had to transfer about 8 or so Chrome accounts to Firefox. I'd been meaning to do it for years and then when I got around to it it only took about 20 minutes. Wish I'd done it years ago.
Wait until you learn about firefox's container tabs (confusingly renamed to multi-account containers)
Instead of needing to sign in/out to switch accounts, you can set up this thing called container tabs.
Each container tab is given it's own color and is basically it's own copy (aka container) of firefox.
So I can click the new tab button then click blue and I have a tab that is already signed into my work microsoft, google, etc accounts.
And I can click on purple and I have a tab that is signed into my personal microsoft, google, spotify, etc accounts.
And both tabs live in the same tab bar, but the websites/accounts inside each tab can't see each other.
That's great, exactly what I need. I appreciate the heads up. I'm gonna look into it.
Laughs in firefox
It has made the mobile web usable again.
Thank fuck there's no one here promoting Brave.
For the folks silently wondering "why not Brave?" Brave has silently added referral codes to links you pushed in the past. Not messing with links I click is like the one thing I'd hope browsers do by default. So they lost all trust after that.
Me personally, I don't like that Chromium browsers (Brave is Chromium based) have a majority share of the browser market giving Google de facto control over how web standards operate. I've even seen someone go so far as to call Chromium the reference implementation for web standards.
Also, weird crypto stuff, but it is opt out. The only time I use Brave is when a site refuses to work on non Chromium (even with extensions that trick sites into thinking it is Chrome). Which is very rare.
Why not Vivaldi at that point then?
No real reason. It's less than once a year.
Use LibreWolf. Security and privacy enhanced Firefox. Also comes with uBlock origin installed.
That browser is my main driver, but it's out of the box settings makes it a bad choice for regular users in my opinion. Although knowing the usual crowd on Lemmy a lot of power users lurk around here.
which ootb setting would a regular user realistically need to change? i was actually happy to not have to do anything i'd normally do when installing a new browser
The anti-canvas fingerprinting that replaces all canvases (or whatever it is, usually dynamicly drawn stuff) with rainbow square does break a lot of stuff. It used to break even pasting of images to messenger.
Spoofing the timezone is one that comes to mind. I noticed all the times on websites were off by a significant amount, and that is something that will confuse a regular user. I thought something was wrong until I remembered that LibreWolf tries to hide locale info as much as possible.
I find deleting history and cookies every time I close the browser to be an unnecessary annoyance. You can easily change it, though.
you can easily disable the deletion of cookies on a site-by-site basis from the address bar. turns out there's only a handful sites i visit where setting an exception is necessary, so i rather appreciate this feature.
i like having access to my browsing history though, so that one I've indeed turned off
I was unaware of that, thanks. I might try that.
I get why you'd be okay with history being locally saved, but saving cookies is a slippery slope. It's very hard to know exactly what's being recorded on you, even on a privacy-focused browser
As soon as you log in and then allow a website to auto login on your computer, you just give up any anonymity you had towards that website
I do block all third party cookies/known tracking cookies, so it's not totally open. But you're right. It's just that in my case that's a compromise I'm alright with for general internet use.
only tangentially related but, what’s the cutoff for power users y’reckon? like i still feel like i don’t know what i’m doing, but i also recently did a bunch of troubleshooting on a new distro install without outside help.
is there a difference between power users and stubborn people who are just willing to trial-and-error their problems away until they understand it? lmao
is there a difference between power users and stubborn people who are just willing to trial-and-error their problems away until they understand it? lmao
IMO you just described the process of becoming a power user.
In my mind power users are, roughly, people who want to use technology the way they want to and are willing to deal with the headaches that come with it. For example your description of you would put you into the group of power users.
Power users tend to know what they're doing but we all have to start from knowing nothing. Hell I'm still learning new things and I've been doing this shit basically my whole life.
This is the only correct answer. Firefox is enshitifying fast, chromium is simply cancer
LibreWolf. Waterfox. IronFox. *Fox. Fuck Chromium-based browsers, 100%.
Apps like AdGuard for Windows or macOS work at the system level, so they block ads and trackers across all browsers and even other apps.
How? What does "system level" mean? Sounds like it must be not only system level but manipulating programs?
/edit: Product page and FAQ are non-telling. Finally found the knowledge base which is not linked in the main nav.
They man-in-the-middle HTTPS for example. So yeah, more intrusive than what I would understand as "system level" behavior.
How does HTTPS filtering work? If it were easy, HTTPS wouldn’t be that secure.
Uhm, yeah.
AdGuard is just a rebrand of a shady Russian advertising company. They were never trusted.
Then they revamped their website and created a lot of astroturfing accounts on Reddit. It was super obvious too, the most basic kind of SEO possible and a bunch of random usernames recently created defending AdGuard on every thread.
Sure let's trust those guys with a root certificate in your devices! Sounds safe!
Source?
Also, what about Blokada?
I've looked into it a little bit after their comment. The company is registered in Cyprus. Not much more official or verifiable info I could find. Their developers seem to be in Russia. For me that was enough to look for alternatives.
I looked for German ones in particular because I'm from Germany, and https://dnsforge.de/ has one with ad blocking and DNS over HTTPS (necessary for Windows which has no choice of DNS over TCP).
AdGuard has been around for a very long time.
Have there been any actual concerns come up involving their service, which run locally (unless you're using their DNS)?
The only thing I use them for is their public DNS which blocks some ads because I'm too lazy to set up a pihole.
doesn't it just work on the DNS level? I've also seen apps creating a local vpn to manage traffic
They host a public DNS you can use.
They also offer DNS with more configuration. And then they also offer this app, which does more.
Firefox, Labybird, or anything not Chrome flavored.
Isn't Ladybird a ways off?
I use Firefox on my main PC, but I have a old little pixelbook with chrome on it. Ublock still works.
Not that I want to use chrome but does that mean this will not work either?
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