Are Ad Blockers Good For Security?

Ad blockers are a great way to make your browsing experience more relaxing. Ad blockers can be used to prevent popups, YouTube ads, and even banners on websites that advertise products. These ad blocking products help to prevent children from seeing adult content, block trackers, and maintain a cleaner browsing experience. 

42.7% of people worldwide use an ad blocker when browsing the internet, with most people using free software to block their ads as opposed to paying for premium versions. This article breaks down some of the most frequently asked questions about ad blockers? 

How Do Ad Blockers Work?

Ad blockers integrate with your web browser and use a set of filters in order to block certain content. These filters examine elements of each site you load and tell your browser to block those elements that do not match their filters.

Most ad blockers offer users the option to activate or deactivate various categories. This means that the extent of ad blocking is customisable by you. Your ad blocker can block an entire website, or it can look out for ads that likely show explicit content, or obtrusive sounds and videos. 

Each of an ad blocker’s filters comprises one text string, but setting these up manually would be a lot of work for most users. Ad blockers tend to contain tens of thousands of rules, and are routinely updated whenever new advertising techniques emerge. 

Can Ad Blockers Protect You From Trackers? 

Some ad blockers protect you from trackers. Trackers slow down your internet speeds, and many users find trackers to be invasive.

Trackers send your information to companies, usually for advertising purposes. Your online habits might be sent to the website publishers, marketers, advertisers, or sites that track analytics. Many ad blockers these days provide protection from trackers as well as ads.

What Are the Disadvantages of Ad Blockers?

The quality of your ad blocker depends on the quality of its filters. Some ad blockers have filters that are too lax, and allow ads to slip through. Others break legitimate websites, meaning you will have to whitelist them one by one. 

Ad blockers are also unable to block more subtle sorts of ads. If a website includes an affiliate link within their text, this will likely not be picked up by an ad blocker. This sort of discrete advertisement is often tolerated by people browsing the web, but it can still be worth noting.

Do Ad Blockers Slow Down Browsers?

Free ad blockers often rely on the browser’s built-in scripting technology, meaning speeds can be slower. However, ad blockers also perform many services that speed up your browsing speeds such as blocking trackers, and preventing large and distracting ads. 

What Are the Benefits of Ad Blockers?

Aside from the main benefit of blocking annoying ads and making pages clearer to view, ad blockers provide a huge host of benefits. 

They reduce your bandwidth and battery use, which can be hugely helpful for people browsing on their mobile phones. They can also block fake products and malware, which often finds its way to people through a process known as ‘malvertising’ in which hackers use advertisements to hijack viewers’ CPUs. 

How Do Free Ad Blockers Make Money?

The main ways ad blockers make money are through freemium models, donations, and allowing acceptable ads, which is when ad blockers use ‘acceptable ads’, whose revenue they take a cut of. 

Freemium models mean that you can sample a free version of the ad blocker with some limitations. These limitations can be time (e.g. a free trial) or function (e.g. only being able to use certain features of the premium model), and are imposed in order to tempt users to purchase a premium service. 

Many ad blockers use a donation system to generate money, relying on the goodwill of their customers. They often accept donations or help with their product, but do not necessarily generate huge profits. 

Why Can I Still See Ads When Using An Ad Blocker? 

Some ad blockers make money through fees and revenue split from whitelisting ads from their sponsors. For example, some ad blockers use an “acceptable ads” program. This is when ads who meet the criteria for things like placement and size are allowed to be shown to users as long as the revenue gained is split between the website and the ad blocker company.

Some companies even pay huge fees to ad blocking companies to get their own ads whitelisted. For example, it has been alleged that Google, Microsoft, and Amazon all do this. 

Why Are Some People Against Ad Blockers?

Many creators argue that ad blocking is unethical as it reduces their revenue. Websites are often hosting content that is free to view, so creators place advertisements in order to gain some money from their web pages. This money can either be used to pay for hosting and site maintenance, or can be kept as profit.

However, these days most content creators have evolved more subtle forms of advertising, such as affiliate links and sponsored video content. 

Are Ad Blockers Good For Security?

Ad blockers do not replace anti-malware software. Although they do a good job at blocking the malware that comes in the form of some malvertisements, they do not fully protect you from malware and viruses. 

Ad blockers are generally safe, provided you choose reliable software, but they should not be used as your one and only security measure.