Ad blockers are programs designed to remove or make alterations to the advertisements on the web pages. It is usually in the form of a browser extension and only blocks ads on the browser. There are more powerful ad blockers which function as standalone software that can eliminate ads on all types of web browsers.
Every ad blocker is different – some will replace the advertisement with something else, while others will leave the place empty with broken links to the ads. The following is a description of how an ad blocker work.
Types of Content
The type of content that it will block vary across different programs. Some will only block certain types of content, while others have the ability to block all types of advertising content, from banner ads to video ads. In some ad blockers, they disable blocking of Google text ads by default as they are regarded as valuable ads. It not only can block ads, but it can also block tracking codes to protect your privacy. Tracking codes are used primarily by the marketers to obtain information on what the visitors do on the page to improve the product offerings.
Benefits
Removing ads from the web pages you are viewing can reduce the number of downloaded scripts. Some sites display ads that cause a lot of scripts to load in the background, eventually causing the browser to hang and forcing you to have to quit the browser and reopen the tabs. You know if something is loading in the background if you can hear processing sound on your hardware. The ads take up CPU and bandwidth to load. Therefore, removing them will definitely improve the page loading speed. If you use a laptop, it will be able to run longer on the battery.
How It Work
Ad blockers like AdGuard can work immediately without any configuration. Usually, you can find the extension in the extension section of your browser. First, you install the ad-blocking extension. After that, you refresh the browser, and it will start working in removing the ads. Get more details at https://adguard.com/en/article/block-pop-ups.html.
Page Code Filtering
There are two main ways an ad-blocking application used to block the ads. The first method is called page code filtering. In page code filtering, it will first compare the website you open with its database to see if it can find any similar code. The database contains a list of servers that serve advertisements. Before a website can load, it must first fetch the components from the server. The application simply blocks all the connections so that the place where the ad is served will be a blank space. They frequently update the server list to ensure that the ads can be blocked effectively.
Request Blocking
The second the method is called request blocking, which blocks ads based on filter lists. Usually, there are preset filters that you can select to activate. It may also give you the option to set up your own filters. With filters, you can remove advertisements that contain a specific keyword, such as AdSense. In ad-blocking applications that use filter lists, it will not block any ads until you tell it what to do by the filter list. Filter lists act like a set of rules that tell the ad blocker what to do. The filter list can also be used to filter away malware. Whitelist filter can prevent popups from being blocked on essential sites, for example, college blackboards or accommodation sites. Some applications have acceptable ads exception turned on by default. Acceptable ads mean that it will not block valuable ads on the web pages that you visit. Every list can be disabled individually in the settings.
Javascript Ads
Some ads, like Javascript ads cannot be blocked by page code filtering or request blocking. It does not retrieve its content from the server, but it is instead embedded in the web page designs. If you want to block a Javascript ad, you can configure it right from your web browser. In Chrome, you can go to Settings > Privacy > Content Settings and click on the Manage exceptions button. When the Javascript exceptions pop up appear, you can enter the URL with the Javascript ads in the [*.]example.com text box and hit the enter key. When done, it will show the URL with the status block under Behavior. This will prevent any Javascript from loading the next time you open the webpage.
Updated Filter List
When choosing an ad-blocking extension, always choose one that is updated frequently. The program should maintain an extensive list of safe and unsafe websites. It is estimated that about 10% of sites contain adware and phishing elements. This makes it all the more important to protect yourself from being exposed to popup ads that could potentially install adware and malware on your computer.