This is a guest post written by Tom from chrome-plugins.org
Adblock vs Adblock Plus – Google Chrome Extensions – Constant advertising on the internet has become a problem for many surfers. Internet browsers are highly annoyed by the incessant flooding of pop up ads, video ads, banners and layer advertisement that always show up unannounced and cause inconvenience to all. Many browsers are also worried of being tracked by several sites. One easy way to get rid of these advertisements is by blocking them using Adblock plug-ins that are available for several internet browsers.
For the Google Chrome browser there are even two adblockers available in the Chrome Webstore, both of them have 1,000,000+ users. One is called “AdBlock”, the other one “Adblock Plus for Google Chrome (beta)”. But why are there two Adblock extensions available for Google Chrome, what is their difference and which one is better?
What is Adblock?
Adblock Plus is a browser plug-in that was first released for Firefox as a way to combat intrusive advertising on the internet. It is open-source and created and maintained by an international community of voluntary helpers. According to Mozilla it has been downloaded more than 130 million times, which makes it the most popular browser app in the world. Inspired by this success, an independent developer created “AdBlock for Chrome” long time before the original Adblock Plus was made available for the Google Chrome browser as well. Since it was the only adblocker on Chrome, “AdBlock” became the most popular extension which made it possible for the developer to work on it full time by generating revenues through donations he expects users to make.
Since the official Adblock Plus extension was released, more and more users are making use of having a choice and in no time, Adblock Plus for Chrome has become one of the most popular extensions in the Webstore. The Webstore is one of Google Chrome’s most useful platform where extensions like plug-ins, themes and apps can be downloaded for free to customize and enhance your browser.
The main features of blocking software
There are several ways to check how well blocking software work. Many blocking software simply hide the advertisements instead of blocking and this can cause considerable loss in bandwidth speed. Good blocking software actually stops the download of such advertisements and sometimes even increases the surfing speed.
How is Adblock Plus better?
Adblock Plus is based on the same code as the Firefox version and – although still in beta – superior than AdBlock for its increased efficiency and intelligence. The installation process of Adblock Plus is similar to its competitor with an added benefit of the pop up ad missing. Many users found it intrusive when a pop up ad was displayed asking to donate to the developers. Another major improvement Adblock Plus has incorporated is to maintain the bandwidth speed. The older version slowed down the browsing speed considerably when multiple tabs were opened.
Although not fool proof, Adblock Plus can successfully block most video ads. The only major drawback that Adblock Plus seems to have is that it is still in its initial stages. The interface does not provide all the options like in the older and more established version. This also puts a limitation on customized filters. Although both versions can be easily navigated, Adblock provides better options to customize blocking filters.
Adblock Plus can also be used disable websites and pages with social networking that track a browser’s online activity and send advertisements based on their choices. Both Adblock and Adblock Plus are efficient blocking plug-ins but in a lot of cases, Adblock Plus has the added advantage as it is easy to set up, easy to use and free of cost. 130 million downloads definitely prove this fact.
This guest post was written by Tom, one of the editors of chrome-plugins.org, a non-profit website with user-submitted reviews of extensions, apps, themes and other plugins for Chrome.
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