Adblock Plus for Google Chrome issue

OK.

I've been running Adblock Plus for Google Chrome for a while now, and all was OK. I also was running HTTPS Everywhere, ScriptNo and BitDefender's TrafficLight.

Yesterday, I was going to update the blacklists, and as soon as I hit Update now, nothing happened. Not only nothing happened, as every subscription disappeared from the interface, including entries I manually added in Add your own filters.

But, despite that, Adblock Plus was still blocking ads. I know, because I visited Softpedia's website and the ad was being blocked.

I disabled all extensions, and re-enabled Adblock Plus, but to no avail. I still couldn't see it. So, I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. I still couldn't see any subscription, including Recommended filters for Google Chrome.

So, I decided to delete my Chromium profile, where I had these extensions. This time, I only installed Adblock Plus. I now can see the main subscription lists. But, when I tried to manually add, for example, Fanboy lists, it said Downloading, but the download never finished.

I delete the subscriptions I added, and now whenever I use the Add button, the subscriptions aren't added, at all.

This is some freakish situation. I must say that the Chromium build/snapshot is exactly the same, as when I started using Adblock Plus. So, we can exclude compatibility issues.

I installed Adblock and it works. How the heck can Adblock Plus go this mad all of a sudden and not even work with a 100% clean Chromium user profile?

Has this occurred to anyone in the past? I'm going to look Adblockplus forums, but I'm wondering if any of you ever encountered such?

 

Ask on the ABP forum?

 

I did say I was going to look at ABP forum.

But, I first want to explore other options. I'll be upgrading Chromium to a new snapshot later on; maybe it will help solving this issue... who knows...

I also must say I'm very intrigued by AdFender, after reading what user Creer mentioned here.

Adblock also used lots of memory, at the image of Adblock Plus... I do like the 8-12MB RAM usage in comparison to way more than 40MB at times.

I do note that, with my system/machine, after removing Adblock Plus due to the emerging problem with it, the browser is actually more responsive and websites load faster. The other ones I'm using HTTPS Everywhere is using ~25MB, ScriptNo and TrafficLight both ~11MB. The browser feels light, actually. But, with AdblockPlus/AdBlock it actually was a bit slower.

Maybe AdFender will work OK, or I'll just keep using the hosts file to block ads and trackers. I need a balance between what gets blocked and performance. My machine doesn't run on steroids.

 

Moon, keep in mind that in my case (I have added to filters.txt about 6 different adblocking lists). Adfender original filters.txt had about 150KB, mine has 1.6MB and over 50k lines of rules. Despite of this it's extremely fast and no resources hungry. CPU time after few hours of browsing is the same comparing to paid Ad Muncher.

 

Thanks for sharing that information.

 

I read a review over at Raymond.cc. Looks to be similar to Privoxy but with a UI.
Also, I'm pretty sure that it was mentioned @Wilders quite a few months ago although the Raymond review is from Jan 2012.

Edit: not quite a few months but just a few weeks!

 

How did u add other filters ? which filters did u add ? can u upload ur filters file ?

 

You are welcome Moon.

Yes you are right but I believe nobody use made by self filters.txt lists since every 5 min Adfender checks for updates and over write this files with own adblocking list (main EasyList). To make it work you have to block in firewall Adfender's auto-updates.

Other thing I saw reports that after few hours of working Adfender ads filtering stop working. Simple solution - just edit your browser proxy settings to 127.0.0.1 and set port 7070. After that it will work as should.

 

I add them in Notepad++ (since I prefer it over built-in notepad.exe).
You have to create empty file: filters.txt and to this file paste all filters you want to. After your filters.txt is done you can over write original filters.txt and restart Adfender.exe.
filters.txt is placed under this path on my computer: C:\ProgramData\AdFender\Config\

Important: you can only add filters with adblock plus format (with .txt extension).

If you need filters here is a thread where you will find them gathered together:
-http://www.smokey-services.eu/forums/index.php/topic,163474.0.html

To add: just open filter lists you want and copy (CTRL+A, CTRL+C) to created by you filters.txt file.

Note that some filters when you merge them into one filters.txt file, probably will be double but from my tests it doesn't affect browsing speed or effectiveness in blocking ads.

I've added to my filters.txt file these lists:
EasyList, EasyPrivacy List, EasyList Polish, EasyList Germany, Fanboy Ultimate Lists and Fanboy's Poland Adblock List.
And BTW. Adfender doesn't support DNT so in case of EasyPrivacy List you will have to remove full Do Not Track Header.

 

Its kinda off-topic, but I read somewhere AdBlock would start to allow non-intrusive ads. Yesterday, I noticed some ads that used to be blocked, not being so. Any1 experienced the same? (using Google Chrome)

 

D0t, it was discussed earlier in this thread.
There is workaround however - adblock lists as .txt files are public, when you experience a problem with ads you can always edit whitelist header from these lists.
I know it's extra work but it's free so far comparing to paid alternatives.

 

Has the "white-list" been implemented for the ABP for Chrome? It was initially set up for Firefox only, AFAIK.

 

Vasa, to tell the truth I don't know since I don't use adblock plus extension for chrome but... official adblock plus list (EasyList) shows that there is "Whitelists" header. So I guess yes, it probably has.

 

Not to worry, even I don't That's why I wasn't sure.

And this is presumably by our very own HM!
https://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9654&p=57140#p57140

 

I'm everywhere >_>

 

Thanx for the explanation .. have disabled adblock in FF and chrome and use adfender for a few days to see how it works
and will add filters to it as shown by u

 

You are welcome.

BTW. if your filters.txt file contains not supported entries like mentioned by me donottrack entries then after run adfender.exe you will notice high cpu usage by this process and adfender icon won't show up in tray.
It's a sign that in your list is/are error/s.

 

Yep, ABP broken here too on Chromium and Chrome Dev. Trying out this AdFender, seems very lite and notice an improvement in browsing speed when compared to ABP. Nice find.

 

question;
can this work editing the 'internet options-connections-lan settings
in control panel...something like privoxy

 

Yes. That's what I did to get it working with Chromium.

I just tried Adblock hxxps://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom Wow, it’s a lot better than last time I tested it. It’s been updated since Chrome 17 hit and it’s now way faster, faster than ABP and with better element collapsing. It uses around 30mb which isn’t that much more than a Chrome tab really. Impressed.

 

As Jimbo said, it will work. This is how I have it configured on Chrome and IE.

 

ok...now this method is like the privoxy systemwide-[to work with all browses],but this use easylist filter.
what about adding "easylist privacy" filter..think this will make it stronger.

 

Look at my previous posts in this thread.
You can use any adblock plus format filter list or lists.

 

i contact support and they say by end of march easylist privacy will be added..
also sware iron is working gret with this app.

 

If you don't want to wait for the next release here I've uploaded my list I mentioned earlier in this thread:
-http://itsecurityenthusiast.wordpress.com/creers-adblock-filter-list-for-adfender/

with short instruction 'how to'.