AdFree

AdFree

User guide

Everything AdFree can do, in the order you are likely to need it — installing, reading the popup, turning lists on and off, whitelisting a site and reporting an ad that slipped through.

  1. 1

    Installing AdFree

    Open the Chrome Web Store listing and choose Add to Chrome, then confirm. Chrome will list the permissions the extension needs; blocking requests on the pages you visit is what the site access permission is for. Once installed, pin AdFree to the toolbar so the counter and the switch are one click away: open Chrome's extensions menu (the puzzle-piece icon) and click the pin next to AdFree.

  2. 2

    Reading the popup

    Clicking the AdFree icon opens the popup. The number is how much has been blocked. The main switch turns blocking on and off for the site you are on, and the gear opens the filter-list settings. If the number never moves on a page full of ads, reload the tab once — extensions only take effect on pages loaded after they were installed or updated.

  3. 3

    Turning filter lists on and off

    Open the gear in the popup to see the five lists you control: General, RU AdList, Community, Japanese and YoYo. All are on by default. Switching one off takes effect immediately, which makes it a good way to find out which list is responsible if a page misbehaves. The site-specific rules for YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and pop-under networks are not in this list; they stay on while blocking is on.

  4. 4

    Pausing AdFree on one site

    Some sites you may want to support, and a few will insist on it. Open the popup on that site and turn the switch off: blocking stops there, including in the frames that page embeds, and continues normally everywhere else. Turn the switch back on the same way.

  5. 5

    Reporting an ad that got through

    Press Report Ad in the popup while you are on the page with the ad. The address of that page is sent so a rule can be written for it — only the site and path, never the query string, and never anything else about you. Reports feed the community blocklist that ships with the next update.

  6. 6

    Keeping it working

    Advertising networks change constantly, and so do YouTube and Twitch. Chrome updates extensions automatically in the background, but you can force it: open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode and press Update. If a site still misbehaves after updating, report it.

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