synaesthesia Posted May 18, 2014 Posted May 18, 2014 What are people's thoughts on using the Adblock extension in schools? I haven't looked into the licensing part of it - firstly and most importantly, is it allowed? If so, do you think it's worth doing? Some of the adverts that pop up still get past various filters and are inappropriate at times or downright annoying considering we're working in education and not a home user. Of course we were never shown the adverts when watching VHS copies of Channel 4 Schools or anything so same should apply, right?
X-13 Posted May 18, 2014 Posted May 18, 2014 (edited) I force adblock on chrome. Way too many "educational" websites have dodgy ads... Edited May 18, 2014 by X-13 1
Popular Post Arthur Posted May 18, 2014 Popular Post Posted May 18, 2014 (edited) do you think it's worth doing? Very much so! YouTube ads serving malware « Bromium Labs NHS website sent users to malware infected domain « Neowin Malware attacks thousands of Yahoo.com visitors through Java exploit « Ars Technica Ongoing malware attack targeting Apache hijacks 20,000 sites « Ars Technica Attackers Using Google Image Search to Distribute Malware « PC World Searching for images on Bing? Beware malicious search engine poisoning « Naked Security You might find it worthwhile to also block ads in Internet Explorer via tracking protection lists. The relevant registry values are shown below, but you need to ensure the folder where the .tpl's get downloaded to already exists (it isn't by default IIRC). Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE\Lists\{560378B1-C7BC-4B80-983D-C72B8CB036BB}] "Path"="%LOCALAPPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Tracking Protection\\{560378B1-C7BC-4B80-983D-C72B8CB036BB}.tpl" "Name"="EasyList" "Url"="http://easylist-msie.adblockplus.org/easylist.tpl" "Enabled"=dword:00000001 "LastUpdateTime"=dword:00000001 "TTL"=dword:00000004 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE\Lists\{7DF43E5D-53FE-48DD-BEC2-BAB72F6B8D91}] "Path"="%LOCALAPPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\Tracking Protection\\{7DF43E5D-53FE-48DD-BEC2-BAB72F6B8D91}.tpl" "Name"="Fanboy Adblock List" "Url"="http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/ie/fanboy-noele.tpl" "Enabled"=dword:00000001 "LastUpdateTime"=dword:00000001 "TTL"=dword:00000004 Edited May 18, 2014 by Arthur 6
synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2014 Author Posted May 19, 2014 Any reports of "false positives" - anything being blocked that shouldn't be? Would this have any effect on lessons that may otherwise rely on them, Business studies perhaps?
X-13 Posted May 19, 2014 Posted May 19, 2014 Any reports of "false positives" - anything being blocked that shouldn't be? Would this have any effect on lessons that may otherwise rely on them, Business studies perhaps? The only issue I've had with adblock plus was with YouTube videos. Though that was before I brought it in here. There used to be a problem with videos not buffering properly because of the unskippable ads being blocked, but that was sorted a while ago. Le EDIT: woops... thought you were still talking about Adblock. 1
Bompalompalomp Posted May 19, 2014 Posted May 19, 2014 Adblock is on all of the netbooks here. I've heard that it's a memory hog recently, but it hasn't affected us really. I think that's getting fixed, too. I honestly couldn't imagine not using it wherever possible in schools. The kids are allowed to go on game sites during their after school club here and some of the ads on those sites that make it through the firewall have contained nudity or malicious clickbait in the past. Combine that with kids clicking sponsored links and game ads that aren't related to what they're doing... You can add exceptions for sites that you feel need it (on-demand services, etc. 4oD?) so I'd just roll it out with whatever settings you would like for sites that they commonly use. I haven't ever noticed a false positive that hasn't been user-defined. I'd definitely make sure to disable the option where the blocking tab pops up on every flash and javascript object, though. I've had to sort out staff laptops for "it broke my Candy Crush!" because of wandering cursors.
Arthur Posted May 19, 2014 Posted May 19, 2014 (edited) Any reports of "false positives" - anything being blocked that shouldn't be? Not really, although most people use Chrome here. IE only tends to get used when a site doesn't work in Chrome (so not very often ). I suppose you could deploy the Adblock extension and/or the IE TPLs to a small number of users to see how it goes? The other alternative would be to block ads on your proxy (Smoothwall has an 'Adverts' category), although this is obviously of little use when staff take laptops home, but at least it enables you to unblock sites that have been blocked inadvertently. Edited May 19, 2014 by Arthur
Arthur Posted May 19, 2014 Posted May 19, 2014 I've heard that it's a memory hog recently, but it hasn't affected us really. I think that's getting fixed, too. FWIW, the HTTPSwitchboard extension uses significantly less RAM than Adblock Plus, although it looks more complicated. http://github.com/gorhill/httpswitchboard/wiki/Adblock-Plus-memory-consumption 1
synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2014 Author Posted May 19, 2014 (edited) Installed it on a couple of test PCs, and the firstrun keeps popping up Mandatory profiles so it keeps cropping up with a new window saying it's installed, as well as another popup saying "would you like to update" :| Edit: Can get rid of the pop up window saying it's been installed, but not the little yes/no box that asks if I'd like the icon to go into the status bar Edited May 19, 2014 by synaesthesia
Arthur Posted June 6, 2015 Posted June 6, 2015 Installed it on a couple of test PCs, and the firstrun keeps popping up There's now an official way to suppress the first run page that appears after installation. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; [b]Adblock Plus (Stable Build)[/b] [HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\3rdparty\extensions\cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb\policy] "suppress_first_run_page" = dword:0000001 ; [b]Adblock Plus (Development Build)[/b]* [HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\3rdparty\extensions\ldcecbkkoecffmfljeihcmifjjdoepkn\policy] "suppress_first_run_page" = dword:0000001 * If you don't use the development build of AdBlock Plus, this registry setting can be ignored Source: https://gist.github.com/abphowto/0a891ecd7348d6669260 1
rich_tech Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I use it religiously on my home and work machines as it stops an annoyance for me (I loathe ads) I know that Channel4.com in the uk now will not play video unless you disable it, other than that it seems to work fine on my usage and cause no issues.
Arthur Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I know that Channel4.com in the uk now will not play video unless you disable it scorecardresearch.com is the only domain you need to unblock to play videos on the Channel 4 website.
dry Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I use it religiously on my home and work machines as it stops an annoyance for me (I loathe ads) I know that Channel4.com in the uk now will not play video unless you disable it, other than that it seems to work fine on my usage and cause no issues. You can pause Adblock, watch the first batch of adverts and then re-enable adblock once the video starts. Saves watching 3 batches of ads throughout the programme.
TechMonkey Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I block adverts at our Smoothwall to be safe. A few false positives but it seems to help. It also means we have a central way to enable anything that causes an issue. I have heard there is a contender to AdBlock that is less memory hungry and a bit less advert friendly than AdBlock is now.
synaesthesia Posted June 8, 2015 Author Posted June 8, 2015 In fairness, Adblock have recently made it clear that it's job is to remove the utterly annoying ads - the youtube ones, the popunders, popups and anything that generally gets in the way of the content. I wouldn't bemoan well placed adverts even in a school environment.
Arthur Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I have heard there is a contender to AdBlock that is less memory hungry and a bit less advert friendly than AdBlock is now. That would be uBlock Origin. It's good, although I don't think I would use it in a school environment. I block adverts at our Smoothwall to be safe. A few false positives but it seems to help. It also means we have a central way to enable anything that causes an issue. That's what we do now. Much easier!
OB1 Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 I block adverts at our Smoothwall to be safe. A few false positives but it seems to help. We're always trying to improve. Feel free to feed those false positives back to us here.
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