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Topic: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers (Read 151 times) previous topic - next topic - Topic derived from Re: NPS Fees
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Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Quote from: G Plam  - 
I use the following addons.  They tend to block popup ads and other sorted malware.  They disguise your IP address.  This tends to give a measure of web surfing privacy.  Not fool proof but good enough to block super cookies and others unnecessary web trackers on your personal property. 


Ghostery
AdBlock
uBlock Origin

Be aware when you install this stuff it will break 'ease of use'.
Glen, I have some understanding of "ease of use" (because I looked it up), but can you explain what you mean by "break ease of use"?
Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB
 
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #1 –
Quote from: Chris Horst  - 
Glen, I have some understanding of "ease of use" (because I looked it up), but can you explain what you mean by "break ease of use"?
Chris

What I mean is various functionally is blocked also.    For instance when I'm using a chrome browser with all my protection plugins on.  I can not add images to this forum.   I think some sort of  (java) script is used to upload images and one of my plugins is blocking the script function.   ( Javascript not the safest thing to be running. It allows a untrusted actor (web page sent from another computer) to send and run functions on your computer outside your control.)  I might add this is also true on other  web sites IE my bank, medical clinic, auto and RV insurance.     I have one web browser (Apple Safari) that is plugin free that I switch too when I what to do any business on those sites.  

Your home router is a hardware firewall.   We've improved hardware and software firewalls over the years.  What is new in the 'Internet' world are web firewalls.  uBlock Origin for example.   Web firewalls allow for a more user control of what web pages can do or not do on your personal computer.    All I'm and others like me are asking is to have honesty about what is happening within and without the web browser application. 

I hope I'm not leading you deeper and deeper into computer geekdom.  Bottom line when you add one application over the top of another you run the risk of breaking something.

 


personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #2 –
Quote from: G Plam  - 
What I mean is various functionally is blocked also.    For instance when I'm using a chrome browser with all my protection plugins on.  I can not add images to this forum.  I think some sort of  (java) script is used to upload images and one of my plugins is blocking the script function.  ( Javascript not the safest thing to be running. It allows a untrusted actor (web page sent from another computer) to send and run functions on your computer outside your control.)  I might add this is also true on other  web sites IE my bank, medical clinic, auto and RV insurance.   


Believe you are confusing Javascript with Java in terms of security risk level.

HTG Explains: Should You Disable JavaScript?

Quote
Should You Disable JavaScript?

We recommend against disabling JavaScript. It’s a widely used language that makes the web what it is today, allowing for websites to be more responsive, dynamic, and interactive.  Disabling JavaScript takes websites back to a time when they were simple documents without any other features. While some people may long to return to that time, that’s not the web we live on today.

There have certainly been a few cases where disabling JavaScript could have blocked a new security vulnerability from being exploited, but those have been rare and fixed quickly.

Bear in mind that there have been cases where browsers themselves were exploited and disabling JavaScript didn’t help. To protect against such attacks, we could stop using browsers entirely, downloading web page HTML files and reading them by hand in a text editor. But we don’t. The small risk of using a web browser instead of a text editor is worth the huge improvement in usability a browser offers. The same is true for JavaScript – leaving it enabled is a very small risk for a very big benefit.

Of course, your browser is yours. You have the ability to control what it does – you could even disable all images entirely and browse the web without ever downloading an image. You could disable Flash entirely and never watch videos online. You could use a text-mode browser like w3m in the terminal instead of using a graphical browser.
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #3 –
Quote from: Michelle C  - 
Believe you are confusing Javascript with Java in terms of security risk level.

<smile> I'll be the very first  to admit I'm not a good technical writer or for that fact a good writer at all.    I see now that I did tend to conflate Java and Javascript.   But I disagree with the assumption that allowing a unknown actor  access to any control of my personal PC  isn't somehow a risk.    There are many many cases of 'main' steam web sites loading malware thru web based advertising content.  Just off the top of my head Yahoo come to mind. 

I agree with the thought that turning off Java, Javascript, Flash, and blocking the leaking of personal information drives down 'ease of use' and enjoyment of the rich content the web has to offer.   <smile> That was my point. 


personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #4 –
Quote from: G Plam  - 
<smile> I'll be the very first  to admit I'm not a good technical writer or for that fact a good writer at all.    I see now that I did tend to conflate Java and Javascript.  But I disagree with the assumption that allowing a unknown actor  access to any control of my personal PC  isn't somehow a risk.    There are many many cases of 'main' steam web sites loading malware thru web based advertising content.  Just off the top of my head Yahoo come to mind. 

I agree with the thought that turning off Java, Javascript, Flash, and blocking the leaking of personal information drives down 'ease of use' and enjoyment of the rich content the web has to offer.  <smile> That was my point.
Thanks, Glen, for the explanation. You can see why I started a new topic. I try to control what goes on behind the scenes on my computer, but it often becomes too technical for my addled mind.  :)

Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #5 –
Quote from: G Plam  - 
<smile> I'll be the very first  to admit I'm not a good technical writer or for that fact a good writer at all.    I see now that I did tend to conflate Java and Javascript.   But I disagree with the assumption that allowing a unknown actor  access to any control of my personal PC  isn't somehow a risk.   

Javascript does not access control of your PC.  It is not a significant security risk.  It's not even related to Java.  However, as always, you should do what you feel comfortable with.  I only half tongue-in-cheek suggest if you are concerned that your bank and your doctor have Javascript on their websites and are thus a security risk, perhaps it's time for a new bank and doctor  ;)
Re: Addons/Ease of Use/Popup ad & malware blockers
Reply #6 –
I run two protection add-ons in Firefox: NoScript and uBlock Origin.

NoScript adds a layer of safety against annoying or malicious scripts originating outside the website you're looking at, and allows you to whitelist sites you actually trust. The downside is that it does assume a certain level of technical savvy to enable and disable scripting on a per-site basis, but if configured properly, it will not interfere with the browsing experience on most sites (for example, this one). News and entertainment sites, in particular, especially ones with a lot of ads, will actually load content from dozens of external sites, many of which want to execute scripts of their own, for who knows what purpose. The more "dependencies" required for a site to function, the less safe it is, in my opinion.

uBlock Origin is an ad blocker. Other ad blockers basically hold advertisers at ransom -- "acceptable ads" are ones where the advertiser has paid to let their ads through the ad blocker, which defeats the purpose. There's an awful lot of malware delivered by sketchy advertisers, even though the ad network distributing the ads may be "legit" as far as that goes. Ads also suck bandwidth and cause websites to load much more slowly than they need to. Ad-blocking is an arms race, though -- there are website plugins that detect ad-blockers and won't let you in unless you disable them.

As for virus scanners, they are resource hogs that will leave you unprotected if you don't sign up for an auto-renewing subscription once the "free" demo expires. Once on your computer, they can be extremely difficult to remove -- doesn't sound much different from the viruses they claim to be "protecting" you from.

Windows users can use Windows Defender (built into Windows itself, and free to use) plus the script and ad blockers I mentioned above. I've been running without a 3rd party virus scanner for years now, with no virus infections to date.

It's too bad that web browsers and operating systems for the most part leave users unprotected by default. This makes it way too easy for creeps to prey on users -- worst case scenario is to find out your computer has been infected and is now part of a "botnet" that can be "rented" by criminals to deliver massive amounts of spam or malware, or launch hack attacks against websites all around the world.

fu
2015 TK
fu
2015TK