Adblock Plus is a lightweight extension that runs in the background of your preferred browser and, hence the name, blocks annoying ads on the Internet from being displayed. According to Adblock’s site, this includes, “video ads on YouTube, Facebook ads, flashy banners, pop-ups, pop-unders and much more.” No, it’s not too good to be true; it does its job impeccably. A kind developer coded this janitorial masterpiece, and you can get it for free.

It runs in desktop browsers–Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer (shudder), Opera, or Yandex Browser (whatever that is), as well as on your Android Phone. Sorry, iOS users: Apple’s restrictions don’t allow for browser modifications like Adblock.

Although the average user might not realize it, most websites you visit amass information about you based off of your IP address. It’s no secret that Facebook does it. Amazon analyzes your shopping habits. Countless others undoubtedly have pages of your browsing history.

Adblock, fortunately, is versatile when it comes to online privacy as it is blocking ads. You can disable tracking by navigating to Adblock’s options page and enabling “EasyPrivacy.”

Regrettably, there is a thorn in the rosebush that is Ablock Plus. Many websites support themselves solely from ad revenue… When someone installs the extension and visits a site like this, the owner of the site doesn’t get any monetary return. Your favorite content creators, believe it or not, make a living off of people wanting hot Christian singles in their area.

Adblock offers a way to support site owners, but it does require a bit of time. Head over to Adblock’s option page once again, click the “Whitelisted Domains” tab, then input sites you wish to support (e.g. www.reddit.com).

Enjoy a cleaner Internet, everyone! Oh, before I wrap up this post, here’s an interesting tidbit: If you click on the Adblock Plus icon in your browser, you can see how many ads have been blocked so far. Me? 65,402 and counting.