The popular advertising filtering browser add-on Adblock Plus has updated the Chrome version of its offering. The browser add-on now blocks a new variant of stealthy pop-up advertisements.
The new pop-up (and pop-under) variants evade traditional pop-up blockers by opening on mouse clicks and other user events that are unrelated to the advertisement itself. Built-in blockers in most Web browsers are don’t stop these pop-ups because doing to do so would break the functionality of many legitimate websites since pop-up technology is used for more than just serving up ads.
“Most modern Web browsers have built-in pop-up blockers already, but they typically can block only ‘standard’ pop-ups,” explains Adblock co-founder Till Faida. “There is a new variant of pop-ups on the rise which slip past these blockers. So, Adblock Plus has improved its add-on for Chrome with a universal blocker to stop them all.
Adblock Plus selectively blocks advertising pop-ups by using special filters created by its community of volunteers—human beings who can spot and tag the advert pop-ups without interfering with any site’s functionality.
Adblock Plus is a free ad-blocking tool, and is the product of an open-source community project; it has been downloaded more than 200 million times worldwide. Adblock Plus plugs into any Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Android browser.
