µBlock, a lean and fast blocker

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by gorhill, Jun 23, 2014.

  1. Socio

    Socio Registered Member

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    I thought I would share this;

    I use Chrome as my main browser and the ublock extension to block trackers, yesterday for example I went to youtube where it blocked 4 trackers until I clicked on a "How to become anonymous online" video then it went bonkers, I tested it again and took picks:

    Before clicking the video;

    http://i.imgur.com/OKt6r5h.jpg

    By the time the video was finished, it kept adding up the whole time;
    http://i.imgur.com/V52McKx.jpg

    I have seen it hit the mid 40's on some sites but looked like everyone and their mamma was trying to track viewers of that video, pretty crazy!
     
  2. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    uBlock Origin 0.9.4.4 available

    Changes:

    • Icons/logo has been reworked a bit more, the last change was done in a hurry in order to restore the extension in the Chrome store. I am rather satisfied with this latest version, so it won't change anymore.
    • Cleanup of filter lists -- please verify that your selected filter lists are still selected:
      • GNU.org's "Block all well known privacy trackers‎" added.
        • Usual warning applies: the more filters one use, the higher the likelihood of web page breakage.
      • Obsolete filter lists have been removed (they were labelled "obsolete, will be removed" since forever).
      • Some filter lists have been relocated to a new server -- issues #14, #75, #844.
      • This will put to work code paths that have not been tested in the pass -- the seamless migration of existing filter lists to a new location, so please ensure that all the filter lists you had selected are still selected with this update.
      • Short term, this will also allow me to reduce the size of the extension package, as from now on I will avoid shipping optional filter lists as part of the extension package.
     
  3. cooperb21

    cooperb21 Registered Member

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    Why am i getting video ads with ublock? I have all filters updated and check easylist and i get them.

    Adblock plus no such issue or adblock edge which im gonna miss since it functions correctly and is a medium between ublock and adblock plus.

    edit: Adguard, Adblock plus, Adblock edge all blocking twitch.tv ads not ublock origin.


    http://i.imgur.com/kzOSB9F.png
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
  4. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    What AdblockPlus/Edge can do, uBlock can do it. What uBlock does NO application, alone, can do it. Handling AdblockPlus' filter lists is just one of the many things uBlock does.
    Perhaps find an hour or so to go through the basics of uBlock and you'll find the reason(s) of the issues you encounter.
     
  5. cooperb21

    cooperb21 Registered Member

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    No thanks i rather just use another blocker that works out of the box and does it's job. No point in using one that is light resource but does a worse job at actually blocking things.
     
  6. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    In the "3rd-Party Filters" tab, what exactly does "Purge Caches" do? And how frequently does this need to be done (if at all)?
     
  7. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    Well, it's up to you of course. But uBlock does very well what it's meant to do, that is provide a 360° protection and let the user configure it as he likes it, and not all users wish exactly the same protection unless, as you, they aspire to a set & forget. Less choices, less protection, less liberty. But I can understand the considerable effort required to spare an hour and go through the available settings : that's the price of liberty, and liberty is never free.
    Good luck!
     
  8. bberkey1

    bberkey1 Registered Member

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    Yup, I use the Ucombo (is that a term yet lol) and there is a bit of a learning curve sure and granted I've been testing them both since they hit the scene so it comes a little easier to understand new changes and what not, but it really doesn't take too much time to figure out how to use them the way you want them to work. I have all my whitelistsed pages that I go to on a regular basis and global rules for browsing and I wouldn't have it any other way.

    I fell the wikis are laid out pretty straight forward, especially with the example pages Raymond puts up to test the features, so an hour of reading and testing should cover 80% of the basic concepts. Reading through the threads here will cover another 10% and the other 10, well that's the beauty of customization and trial and error
     
  9. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    @cooperb, are you using cyberfox? Maybe uBlock doesn't work on it?
     
  10. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    cooperb21 is not really interested in finding out "Why am i getting video ads with ublock?". He has been making that kind of comments for months now, and he is not interested in answers, or solving problems.

    Example, him asking "why ublock seem to block less":

    Asked question: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/2w8cgx/ublock_why_does_it_seem_to_block_less_than/

    Disregard answers, 5 days later, repeat flawed claim:

    Ignored answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/com...adblock_plus_that_still_cant_optimize/couab8g

    Many other instances like this. No point wasting your time trying to help him, he is not really asking for help.
     
  11. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    Great. I think -- I was about to write I know -- that uBlock is worth the effort to discover its treasures. Once that done if I can help on a topic just ask and with others here there will be an answer. It's pure logic. Of course a bug is always possible and that's the great thing in sharing our experiences, right? But it's a lost of time when the problem is only the fact of ignorance of the basics. Hmm, sounds like a scholar comment doesn't it? Long live uBlock, uBlock Origin :)
     
  12. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    Can someone explain this please. Thanks.
     
  13. clubhouse1

    clubhouse1 Registered Member

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    Its amazing exactly how much fine tuning it allows the user to make and therefore customise to your needs....I know ABP has a stranglehold as we speak but who knows what the future holds for ublock...From little acorns mighty oaks grow.
     
  14. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    TomAZ
    As far as I understand and use this Purge Caches feature it is when updating manually 3-rd party filters in order to perform a clean update within the entire filters as opposed to the Purge cache of a given 3-rd party filters only. But I have to admit that I haven't understood the exact nature of the process. I use it when I wish to force the update of all my 3-rd party filters manually since it doing so leads to the Update now feature. Maybe there's nothing more to it : empty the database to allow filling it up.

    EDIT -- When I say that I haven't understood the exact nature of the process it is because of this :
    1- Purge all caches : ok
    2- Appears then :
    2.1- Upper left : Update now
    2.2- Upper right : Apply changes

    What makes the difference between Update now with or without having chosen Apply now, I don't know I'm afraid. I've tested both without being able to understand the difference since in both cases my 3-rd party filters had been correctly updated.
    Still learning... :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 18, 2015
  15. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Is there really an advantage to using uBlock and uMatrix together? I've understood uBlock is best for those who don't want to spend too much time fine-tuning rules, while uMatrix is best for those who want more control and granularity in their rules, so why use both together? Is there some compelling advantage to using the two together? Would it not be better to combine either one with another very different, yet security-oriented extension such as https everywhere or request policy?
     
  16. clubhouse1

    clubhouse1 Registered Member

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    I think the apply now is used when adding or removing 3rd party filters.
     
  17. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    It is, and Apply now in that context is understandable. But in the context of updating if Apply now is not made an obligation why perform it or not since Update now remains possible whether or not I've "Applied now"
    Hmm, English is definitely not my mother-tongue!
     
  18. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    Apply now will save your selection of lists, and reload all the filters. When you Purge all caches, this removes all cached remote versions of the filter lists, so at this point there are two options:

    - Apply changes: since the cached remote versions have been flushed, the filters currently in memory no longer match the selection of filters as seen in the 3rd-party filters pane, so you need to force a reload of the filters for uBlock to match the content of the 3rd-party filters pane. Apply changes will not fetch filter lists from remote servers (unless a list is only available from a remote server), only Update now can do this (or auto-update).

    - Update now will force a fetch of all filter lists which need to be fetched from remote servers, and then reload all filters.

    The rule for Apply changes is as follow: if the current state of uBlock does not match what the 3rd-party filters pane shows, uBlock will offer you to reload all the filters in order to synchronize uBlock's internal state and what the 3rd-party filters pane says.
     
  19. PallMall

    PallMall Guest

    In other words, if I understand well, Purge all caches -> Apply changes re-installs the 3rd-party filters as they were when first initiated. This would mean that purging a cache removes the filters (in their latest state of course) from the memory but that the original lists which remained in the ublock0.sqlite file are called back to memory when I perform the Apply changes? This would explain why the ublock0.sqlite does not reduce in size when having removed a filters' list & applied changes : the original filters remain in the ublock0.sqlite ... The 3rd-party Filters Options page deals with filters in memory together with originals in the ublock0.sqlite file together with fetching those filters with their updates on the remote servers ... it's a triangular system. This brilliant comment of mine is that of a neophyte of course :)

    Thanks gorhill for this explanation. If I haven't understood correctly it is not, IMO, a big deal when the main point remains the blocking which I handle now quite easily with an everlasting pleasure!
     
  20. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    @gorhill-

    I think I now understand the procedure, but what's the need or purpose for doing this (purging the caches)? When and why would this need to be done?
     
  21. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    Yes, except that the original filter lists are not in the sqlite file, they are shipped with the extension as files. If you just unselect a filter list -- as opposed to purging it -- its cached version if any will still occupy space in the sqlite file. If you know you won't select again a list, just click its purge button, this will free up space in the sqlite file.
     
  22. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    To force an update of a filter list if you know there is a fix in it on the remote server. A typical example is EasyList: the maintainers keep adding/removing/editing filters in that list all the time, so a user may need a new hotfix that was just added, and purging the cache for EasyList will force uBlock to see that list as obsolete, so that the Update now button will be available.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 18, 2015
  23. TomAZ

    TomAZ Registered Member

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    Got it now;). Thanks.
     
  24. luxi

    luxi Registered Member

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    I believe those are XHR requests to *.googlevideo.com. If you could see the video then those requests weren't being blocked (YouTube needs XHR scripting to be whitelisted or videos won't play), but they were being logged by uBlock to keep you informed. The video you were watching had nothing to do with it.
     
  25. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    They were being blocked. EasyPrivacy contains a filter to block requests to ||s.youtube.com/stats/ or something like that, and these requests occur constantly when watching a Youtube video. Same thing occur with whatever blocker + EasyPrivacy.
     
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