Tag: uBlock Origin

Refer previous post.

Google Chrome browser has been warning users of uBlock Origin that it will soon be disabled. The reason is that Chrome (and other browsers based on Chromium like Edge) will be moving from existing standard “Manifest v2” to a new standard “Manifest v3”.   The creator/maintainer of uBlock Origin, has indicated that he will not be adapting uBlock Origin to Manifest v3.

Chrome is suggesting that you will have to find an alternative ad blocker before Google Chrome disables it for good.  A suggested alternative is uBlock Origin Lite – a “fork” of the original. It is a content-blocking extension that functions on the upcoming Manifest v3 system but lacks some features of the original.

uBlock Origin still works on Firefox and I have switched to that browser for watching YouTube videos. Edge is still my default browser and I will still also continue to use Chrome.

 I installed uBlock Origin Lite on Chrome and it blocked the pre-roll ads on YouTube. However, like the ad blocker I use on my Apple iPad, it produces a black screen for a few seconds in place of the pre-roll ads. I am not sure about the annoying ads that interrupt the video. They have not appeared so far, and I will update this post if they do appear – or a blank screen appears.

My Ad Blocker of choice is UBlock Origin, but it no longer works on Chrome when accessing YouTube.

In fact, Google says it will disable UBlock Origin on Chrome this year. This is the message when you click Manage Extension for UBlock Origin on Chrome:

This extension may soon no longer be supported

Remove or replace it with similar extensions from the Chrome Web Store

It continues to work fully on Firefox and Edge** so I guess I will start viewing YouTube on Firefox. those browsers.** YouTube is almost un-watchable with ads interrupting at various random times.  I don’t mind the pre-roll ads, but it is the abrupt interruptions that annoy me.

I will stop using Chrome if it becomes necessary.

The podcast SECURITY NOW Ep 986 mentioned this subject, and it is not known yet if UBlock Origin will update its Chrome Extension to comply with the new Chrome policy.

This is the entry for UBlock Origin on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin

UBlock Origin is the pick of the Ad Blockers, and I intend to continue using for as long as I can, if necessary, by not using browsers that block it. So far, Chrome is only blocking it on YouTube, but they have stated that they will fully block it this year.

As I have previously stated, I leave the default browser/search engines in place. That means, with Windows PCs the default browser is Edge with Bing as the search engine. I also use 2 other browsers – Firefox / DuckDuckGo and Chrome / Google.

** UPDATE MICROSOFT EDGE

A similar situation exists with Edge and YouTube (which is not surprising now that Edge is based on Chromium)