Installing Ad Blockers

Occasionally, useful websites will display advertising that is offensive or inappropriate.  One option to eliminate advertising is to subscribe to a paid ad-free version of a particular site.  This supports creation of the provider’s content without exposing our families to potentially inappropriate advertising.

A type of program or app called an ad blocker can also be useful in eliminating this type of content.  Two of the most common are called AdBlock or AdblockPlus.  Both seem to work fairly well, and work on various browsers.  Be sure to chose one that works for the browser on your device, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, or mobile device.

Following are instructions for installing and setting up AdBlock – note that Adblock Plus is very similar.

Go to: https://getadblock.com/ and click on the Install button.

After installation, click on the red stop sign in the upper right corner of your browser (lower right corner for Adblock Plus) or go to tools/extensions.

Under “Adblock”, click on “Options”.  Uncheck “Allow some non-intrusive advertising”.

Occasionally, a vendor’s own ads will still show up on their own website (like Amazon.com).  Apparently not all ad blockers are able to eliminate this type of ad.  Nevertheless, the vast majority of advertising will be eliminated.

Finally, since many sites rely on advertising to produce their content, it is typically possible to whitelist specific sites to allow viewing of ads as a way for users to support them financially.  However, it is difficult to ensure that a site will only show non-offensive ads, both currently and at any point in the future.