Do you want to block ads and prevent tracking? This article gives you the results of research into how effective different Windows browsers and extensions are. The results, unfortunately, demonstrate that there is NO browser of the 7 that is fully able to block 3rd-party cookies through all 7 methods tested and prevent tracking through those 7 methods. In addition, for various reason, there isn't any extension for cookies or for anti-tracking that always works, either. There are, in other words, lots of gaping holes in the wall we think we build. Please do keep in mind, however, that this research did not test ALL relevant extensions and all available browsers. I will consider switching to Safari or Tor!
I have rather oversimplified the results below, in that I've added scores without (usually) showing how many categories they came from, out of the 7. I encourage you to read the BC article or the full paper!
Browser base scores using default settings:
Chrome 0/7
Opera 0/7
Firefox 1/7
Safari 5/7 - note that default settings do well!
Edge 2.5/7
Cliqz 3/7
Tor Browser (which is really Chrome) 4.5/7
Browsers with third-party cookie block turned on:
Chrome 2.5/7
Opera 2.5/7
Firefox 3.5/7
Safari 2.5/7
Edge 2.5/7
Cliqz 3.5/7
Tor Browser - enabled by default
Browsers with tracking block turned on:
Chrome - none
Opera - Ad Blocker only 2/7
Firefox 1/7
Safari - No Intelligent Tracking Prevention for even a short time compromises this feature, thus 3/7 (i.e. NEVER TURN IT OFF!)
Edge - none
Cliqz - none
Tor Browser doesn't recommend additional settings and doesn't recommend adding extensions.
The extension results vary from browser to browser and also which extensions are available for each browser, so it gets a little complicated. In addition, they didn't test extensions in all 7 browsers, only Chrome, FireFox, Opera and Edge.
Ad Blocker extensions:
Chrome:
0/7=
- AdRemover
-Windscribe - Free VPN and Ad Blocker
-uBlock
1.5/7=
-AdBlocker Ultimate
-Ads Killer
-Hola ad blocker
2/7=
-Fair AdBlocker
3/7=
-AdGuard AdBlocker
-AdBlock Pro
4/7=
uBlock Adblocker Plus
uBlock Origin
uBlock Plus Adblocker
5/7=
-AdBlock
-Adblock Plus
Opera:
0/7=
-AdBlocker Lite (lite mode)
-AdBlock
1.5/7=
-AdBlocker Ultimate
2/7=
-AdBlock Fast
-AdBlocker Lite (full mode)
3/7=
-Adguard
-ContentBlockHelper
4/7=
-uBlock Origin
5/7=
-Adblock Plus
Firefox:
2.5/7=
-AdBlock
-AdBlocker Ultimate
4/7=
-Adguard AdBlocker
5/7=
-uBlock Origin
-Adblock Plus
Edge:
2.5/7=
-AdBlock
4/7=
-Adblock Plus
-Adguard Adblocker
5/7=
-uBlock Origin
Tracking Protection Extensions. It looks like it's time for me to either dump Blur, which scored miserably, or use something else for tracking protection! Blur has some other nice features, like anonymous emails, but clearly I must consider uMatrix and Ghostery. Keep in mind that trackers and script blockers are not all easy to use. For example, I'm testing uMatrix right now and it's blocking YouTube videos, forcing me to have to go through and figure out which set, which I can't zoom in on, is being blocked. In YouTube's case, there is an option to import a rule for YouTube, either with or without a Google account.
Chrome:
0/7=
-Blur
1/7=
-ScriptSafe
2/7=
-Ghostery
-Privacy Badger
-Disconnect
4/7=
-uMatrix
Opera:
0/7=
-Blur
2/7=
-Disconnect
-Privacy Badger
3/7=
-Ghostery
Firefox:
1/7=
-DuckDuckGo Plus
3/7=
-Privacy Badger
4/7=
-Ghostery
2.5/7= (in 4 of the 7)
-Cliqz
Edge:
3/7=
-Ghostery
Bleeping Computer's summary of research
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