When you're surfing through the net, whether reading an article or streaming a video online, ads are no fun. Pop-up and banner ads can make browsing unenjoyable, especially when they have nothing to do with your interests. Thus, for many, ads interrupt the overall browsing experience.
To prevent ads from interfering with your net-surfing and to protect your privacy, ad blockers come in handy. If you use the Mozilla Firefox browser, then their ad blocker extension is a great add-on to use. This article discusses the Mozilla Firefox ad blocker – what it is, its core features as well as the benefits and disadvantages of using an ad blocker.
What Is an Ad Blocker?
An Ad Blocker or Adblock is a written set of codes that could either be a browser extension or a plug-in. Ad blockers regulate or alter the advertising content that is on a web page. Some ad blockers remove the advertising content on a webpage and replace it with something else, while other ad blockers do not. This latter category of ad blockers leave either broken links or holes on the section of the page where the ads would have been.
What Content Do Ad Blockers Remove?
The content that ad blockers remove varies from application to application. Some ad blockers are designed strongly to delete every advertising content on a webpage while other ad blockers remove things specifically that can lead to the compromise of a user’s private information. This includes the tracking codes that give information about activities on the webpage, such as those that tell how long a visitor spends on the website and what pages he views on that website.
In recent years, ad blockers are specially designed to remove very ‘annoying’ ad types that disrupt browsing experience. Examples of these types of ads are banner and pop-up ads.
What is Mozilla Firefox Ad Blocker?
AdBlock for Mozilla Firefox is an add-on or extension to the Firefox browser, which blocks the ads on Firefox and does not allow advertisers to track you on a webpage. There are over 1 million users who use AdBlock for Firefox to block ads while web-searching in Firefox. Adblock does not only block ads. Like all other ad blockers, it helps to improve the load speed of a webpage on the Firefox browser and, very importantly, helps to secure privacy.
The Mozilla Firefox ad blocker is an extension that does not require much effort to install or use. It helps you to browse the internet without unnerving pop-ups and unnecessary distractions or interruptions.
How to Install Adblock for Firefox
The installation process for Adblock is very easy. Simply go to the Firefox Add-ons store and download the most recent version of Adblock. Note that you need the Firefox browser to install and use the add-on. Upon download, accept all necessary permissions and then install.
Features of Adblock for Firefox
Mozilla Firefox AdBlock features the following functions:
Block all ads and pop-ups on the Mozilla Firefox browser
Websites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook are not exempted from this feature. Many ad blockers do not block ads for all sites. However, AdBlock for Firefox ensures that it shuts down all the ads on a webpage that has been opened with the Firefox browser.
Completely exterminate YouTube ads
From the moment you install the AdBlock extension file, all YouTube advertising methods are completely removed. This makes the Firefox Adblock suitable for streaming YouTube videos online, as you can enjoy watching YouTube without getting interrupted by unwanted ads.
Blocking choices for YouTube ads
Sometimes, you might want to support your favorite content creators on YouTube by allowing and watching the ads that pop up while streaming their videos. AdBlock allows you to do that with a simple click on the option. When it does this, it blocks ads everywhere else except pages and channels where you choose to see ads. This is the only YouTube ad blocker that allows you to do this.
Block Ads on Twitch
Mozilla Firefox ad blocker allows you to hide and mute all ads, including the ones that play mid-way on Twitch streams.
Is Firefox Ad Blocker free?
Yes, Adblock is free for all. However, you can donate or try out other premium features which might amount to a small fee. Still, there is no obligation to pay as Firefox aims to make the internet free and accessible to all without any hindrance.
Is AdBlock for Firefox Safe?
Yes. Firefox ad blocker is safe to use. However, you would do well to keep in mind that the official Firefox extension stores and the website are the only safe places to get Adblock from. Because it is an open-source code, anyone can have access to it and create their software. So, there are a lot of dubs on the internet. You want to be careful so as not to download malware into your computer while downloading an ad blocker.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Ad Blocking
Ad blockers, as with virtually everything, have their perks and downsides. Below, we highlight the pros of getting an ad blocker like Firefox’s, as well as the cons you may encounter when you use the Adblock.
Pros
Ad-blocking codes block ads. This means that they block third-party scripts and track codes. When they do these, they help to improve the load time of webpages in which ads were to appear.
For the same reason above, ad blockers such as the Firefox Adblock help to sustain and improve the battery life of the computer.
Ad blockers help to secure the personal information of the user by protecting their privacy.
As an obvious perk, ad blockers improve browsing experience by removing disruptive and ‘annoying’ ads.
Cons
With the upsides highlighted above, what worse could come out of using an ad blocker? Beside the web surfer, another class of persons are negatively affected by ad blockers. This class consists of marketers, whose tools for measuring user experience may be affected by ad blockers. Thus, some major cons of ad blockers are the following:
Ad blockers can mess with analytics
Marketers could find it hard to collect the data that tells them about the behavior of a visitor to their website. This is especially so for iOS devices because ad blockers for iOS typically block not just the advertisement but the analytics script.
To explain this, let us illustrate. Assuming 100 people visited a website and 90 of them are using the Safari application on iOS, this means that because of the script blockers that come with their phone, analytics would tell the marketer that only 10 people visited the website while the other 90 remain invisible.
In such a scenario, your website could receive tons of visitors and even be well appreciated by them but you could lose essential marketing data. This is one way ad blockers prove to be of a disadvantage.
Adblocks diminish user experience
As stated earlier, some ad blockers do not exchange the content of the content they remove, so what the page displays is broken lines or it shows blank. On the part of the website owner, the webpage can be filled with broken links if not handled properly.
Summary
Adblock for Firefox is one of the most powerful ad blockers to use. It can stop all ads, even those that are persistent, from displaying and gives you a smooth and undisturbed use of the internet while on the Firefox web browser. Even though there are a lot of similar extension files on the internet, Adblock, as Firefox’s ad blocker, has proven to be top amongst all others. So, if you use the Firefox browser and desire a tough ad blocker to better your net-surfing experience, then Firefox Adblock is your go-to.