So you’ve decided to do something about all those annoying ads you’re barraged with online. What pushed you over the edge? Auto-play video ads? Blaring banners? Tired of your music interrupted by a sudden sponsorship? Was it the realization they intentionally make the ‘Close’ buttons [x] on ads super tiny so you accidentally click the […]
uMatrix + uBlock Origin
Edit: For YouTube there is also SponsorBlock, but I don’t use YouTube directly anymore. It’s part of FreeTube, so you could add SponsorBlock to the list too if you want. More Edit: yt-dlp also supports SponsorBlock for downloaded videos.
Umatrix was awesome but is unfortunately not maintained anymore since July 21, 2021. Ublock origin is a perfect replacement though and can be deeply configured behind its simpler appearance. Coupled with the LibRedirect add-on in the Librewolf browser and I can navigate ad and tracking free.
Dang, I was not aware uMatrix was not maintained anymore. But it does still its job and has its own usefulness. I like the interface and how everything is layed out easily, where I can allow or deny specific domains or categories back and forth. It shows in a table which domain requests what category (and how many). So this is to me invaluable and a good companion alongside uBlock Origin. I can also just allow only images for a certain domain in example, not just its entirety. Its easy to see and work from this table to me. Like in this screenshot:
I noticed that it was not maintained when some pop-ups showed up while they used to be blocked. I also first missed that level of granularity from umatrix. You can replicate it with the element picker mode in Ublock but I realized that I could live with the “basic” Ublock advanced settings.
I can’t replicate this with ublock element picker, because not every element can be picked like in matrix. Also I can see what domain each element is that I am about to block, and even just block or allow specific elements per domain. umatrix also does not save all changed rules until I click the save button. Its easy to revert and try stuff.
With the element picker in ublock its not like that. In example I use zapper to block stuff (btw it can only block, not allow stuff). And now when I want to make that setup permanent, I have to reload site and start doing the same again with the permanent block element functionality.
But on the other side, for some webpages ublocks visual blocker is much better. In my experience, both tools are good and cannot replicate the other. I even think umatrix should be installed by default everywhere ublock origin is installed too, but someone trustworthy needs to maintain it.
Using Ublock picker (not zapper) you can block/allow elements per domain and save/revert your choices. But overall, like I already said, I agree with you that umatrix offered a more granular and easy approach. It would be nice to see that implemented in Ublock. I nonetheless understand why it’s not the case since it would benefit only few users and may scared most of the others.
Hopefully umatrix will work for you for a long time. For me it was not and that’s how I discovered Ublock and adapt to its “limitations”. On a daily basis it helps me browse the internet like umatrix did. It’s just sad that umatrix was not forked.
umatrix was forked. The fork is called nuTensor. I only use nuTensor.
nuTensor releases
Disclosure: Not associated with nuTensor, just a gullible user
Last commit: 2023-07-25
Thanks for sharing!