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Tech

Ad Blockers Are Good for Security, Too

On day four of our security tuneup, we recommend installing and ad-blocker...but consider white listing trusted sites!
Image: Jacqueline Lin/Motherboard

This post is part of a weeklong series to help our readers improve their digital security. Follow along here.

Day Four: Install an Ad Blocker

Install an ad-blocking extension on your browser. Make sure it’s legitimate and not a knockoff by going to the developer’s website first and following the links. Try AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, or UBlock. Once you’ve done that, go to websites you frequent and trust and add them to the blocker’s “whitelist.” This will show ads only on sites you know, which is how they generate revenue (ahem).

Why should I do this?
Our guide says: “Ad blockers protect you from malware embedded in advertising presented by the shadier sites you may wander across on the web, and sometimes even legitimate sites.”