Blocking mode: easy mode

Back to Blocking mode

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This is uBlock Origin (uBO)'s default mode.

Roughly similar to using Adblock Plus with many filter lists.

Ads are blocked through EasyList and Peter Lowe’s Ad server list, and privacy exposure is reduced through the use of EasyPrivacy. Some malware filter lists are selected by default. Also, uBO's own filter lists are selected as complement to the selected 3rd-party filter lists.

This mode is suitable for those who are concerned about reducing their privacy exposure, but yet still prefer an install-and-forget approach.

Characteristics

• Low likelihood of web pages being broken.
• Web pages should load somewhat faster compared to the very easy mode.

How to enable this mode

Settings pane:

• I am an advanced user: unchecked.

3rd-party filters pane:

• All of uBO's custom filter lists: checked
• EasyList: checked
• Peter Lowe’s Ad server list: checked
• EasyPrivacy: checked
• Online Malicious URL Blocklist‎: checked
• All other filter lists: unchecked

Tips

You can significantly augment the blocking power in easy mode by merely enabling more filter lists. If you add more filter lists, keep in mind:

• the more filter lists one uses, the higher the probability of web page breakage.
• not all filter lists are of good quality:
  • some may cause too much web page breakage.
  • some may result in some network requests to unexpectedly become unblocked (example).

Another even better way to augment blocking power in easy mode is to enable "I am an advanced user" from the Settings pane in the dashboard, and block specific 3rd parties using dynamic filtering -- i.e. essentially using dynamic filtering in default-allow mode. For example, one could choose to globally block facebook.com and facebook.net in order to prevent Facebook from being able to track you wherever you go, except on Facebook. Globally blocking ubiquitous hostnames except on their respective websites is a very easy way to reduce significantly privacy exposure.