Simple Adblocking to Improve the Internet

Okay, simple stuff to get privacy and security in a non-paranoid way that will actually make using the internet better:

1. Use Firefox or Safari (preferably Firefox) on macOS. Use Safari on iOS. There is not a world in which you need to use Chrome.¹
2. Install uBlock Origin for Firefox or uBlock Origin Lite for Safari. Use the default settings on both.

What this will do is, simply, block ads. However, "ads" does not exactly cover what is going on with the code behind the web page. Many of these "ads" are recording the information about your browser and computer that is made available simply from connecting your computer to another (this is unavoidable and should be harmless) and running bidding wars with your own computer's resources before showing you an ad.

Adblocking will speed up the internet, which seems moot now with gigabyte speeds, but can actually be felt while browsing around. This will also prevent security concerns from attacks that look like ads. uBlock Origin is also so thorough that it will block ads in places you wouldn't suspect, like for example, YouTube ads. Popup ads won't block the content of a webpage. And so on.

You can continue to improve your privacy and security with little noticeable effect with the below:

• If you're using Firefox, use the Betterfox user.js. This is a file that sets defaults for your browser beyond what you can easily/directly control from the settings menu, though you can find all of these settings by typing about:config in the address bar. The user.js file will also persist across updates/re-installs/etc. Use the default settings. (That is, just copy the file in your profile folder, don't worry about "common overrides" or "optional hardening.")
  • If you'd like, you can adjust your uBlock Origin filters per Betterfox's recommendations. This is good to do, but not necessary.
• Use a DNS resolver that blocks ads and malware before they even reach your computer.² The simplest is to use Quad9; here are the instructions for macOS and the instructions for iOS. (Yes, you just download and double-click a "profile," go to Settings, and then install the profile.) If you are using iCloud Private Relay, turn it off; Apple will ignore any custom DNS and only use iCloud Private Relay, which has marginal privacy gains, but does nothing to block content.

On iOS using Quad9 will actually block a lot of advertisements within apps, too, which uBlock Origin Lite can't affect.

If you're using Windows, then you really just need to be using Firefox. You can follow all of the same advice as above, though here are the instructions to use Quad9 on Windows 11. If you're using Android, there should be more and better privacy and security options, though I do not know them.

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Footnotes

1. Especially not on iOS; every browser uses the same code, as it were, as Safari anyway. Chrome on iOS is just Safari with a bunch of Google tracking added onto it. If you won't let go of Chrome on macOS/Windows, then use uBlock Origin Lite and consider these guides: Google Privacy Settings You Should Change Right Now and Chrome tracks more than you realize. Here’s how to take back your privacy. You'd be better off figuring out how to install Ungoogled Chromium, though. ↩

2. A DNS resolver takes a URL (like google.com) and lookups what its computer address is, which is its IP address (like 192.45.45.45 or whatever). DNS resolvers can block lookups to ads and malware, never letting your computer connect to that other computer (or server). ↩