How to install uBlock Origin

Why this matters

A surprising amount of malware and phishing traffic arrives through the ad network — “malvertising” — rather than email. A content blocker breaks the delivery chain by preventing tracking and ad scripts from loading at all. As a bonus, pages load faster and use less battery.

uBlock Origin is the best-in-class, free, open-source, audited content blocker. It’s the one extension I’d install in someone else’s browser without asking.

How to do it

Firefox (any platform): install uBlock Origin from the Mozilla add-ons site. That’s it — defaults are sensible.

Chrome / Edge / Brave: install uBlock Origin Lite from the Chrome Web Store. (Google removed support for the full uBlock Origin from Chrome in 2024; Lite is the same author’s replacement, slightly less powerful but still effective.)

Safari (Mac/iPhone): install AdGuard for Safari (free, from the Mac App Store / iOS App Store). uBlock Origin is not available on Safari.

For someone less technical: set the browser’s default search to DuckDuckGo at the same time — it doesn’t track or build a profile of search history.

What you don’t need

You don’t need to switch browsers. Firefox + uBlock Origin is the gold standard, but Chrome + uBlock Origin Lite or Safari + AdGuard are both fine. You also don’t need a “secure” browser rebrand — Brave is a fine Chrome fork but doesn’t meaningfully improve on adding a content blocker to a mainstream browser.