MB Browser Guard and AdGuard

[brcd]

I use the paid versions of both MalwareBytes and AdGuard for Mac OS. I am curious if I download and install MB Browser Guard, can I run it and AdGuard at the same time without conflicts or system slowdown? Would they compliment each other?  As an aside, when I updated to OS Monterey, it loaded a shield symbol half shaded just outside the search bar which I guess is some sort of privacy protection and I gave no conflicts.   Thanks in advance.

[alvarnell]

The only disadvantage of that approach would be some slowness in rendering each site, but doubt it would be noticeable. I can't say for certain, but because AdGuard includes multiple extensions for different purposes, it is probably capable of blocking things that Malwarebytes doesn't when all are enabled. 

The new green shield in Safari is a feature called Intelligent Tracking Protection which blocks information sent out when you visit any website. Clicking on it tells you how many trackers were blocked and further clicking the ">" shows what sites those trackers are.

Since I use pi-hole DNS to for all network blocking needs, I don't currently use any of the above.

[brcd]

alvarnell - Thanks for the quick response. What you say makes sense. 

[treed]

I've used both 1Blocker and Browser Guard in the past without any problems. There shouldn't be any conflicts. You can run as many content blocking extensions as you like. The more you run, though, the harder it can be to troubleshoot if something is getting blocked (or not blocked) incorrectly... it will get harder and harder to figure out which one is causing the issue in order to report it, or add the site to an allow list or block list.

[Massimiliano]

21 hours ago, treed said:

I've used both 1Blocker and Browser Guard in the past without any problems. There shouldn't be any conflicts. You can run as many content blocking extensions as you like. The more you run, though, the harder it can be to troubleshoot if something is getting blocked (or not blocked) incorrectly... it will get harder and harder to figure out which one is causing the issue in order to report it, or add the site to an allow list or block list.

Unfortunately MWB Browser Guard, at least in Italy, lets almost all advertisements through. Probably Italian sites have found a way to break the protection.
Moreover it has some limits on cookies (I add together 1blocker and Super Agent that, if set correctly, automatically accepts only the functional/technical ones and on some sites if set correctly 1bloker rejects them all regardless, for example where you don't need login)

[gatortail]

@Massimiliano could you please provide some examples?

[Massimiliano]

28 minutes ago, gatortail said:

@Massimiliano could you please provide some examples?

I had tried for some periods to use only your extension on macOS (on iOS and iPadOS devices there is not, at least for Italy so I used as 1blocker) and in others with 1blocker and after discovering Super Agent For Safari (this only to avoid the tedious practice of cookies banner imposed by the EU)

Until about 3 weeks ago with only your extension the sites I normally visited were full of banner ads very invasive, in addition to video advertising

Therefore I had reactivated 1blocker (which I purchased not in subscription but in perpetual mode) and I was thinking of leaving it like that for good

Now to verify, after your question of clarification, I tried to disable everything except MWB BG and indeed the ads, at least at the times I tried, were no longer present.

In the last 3 weeks or so, have you implemented new filters silently?

Being a public beta (or so I understood) I think this is normal, but I was obviously not aware of it.

That's the only explanation I can think of.

I'm waiting for your clarification

Have a nice day

 

 

PS: Regarding certain types of content, which I consider inappropriate, I have partially solved forcing in the hosts file of my Mac Google SafeSearch and inhibiting the ability to access other search engines (unfortunately you can not do on devices other than Mac without JailBreak, practice that I consider aberrant and stupid)

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[gatortail]

@Massimiliano Yes, we've made several improvements thru v1.0.5.  We should be releasing v1.0.6 shortly. 

[Massimiliano]

12 minutes ago, gatortail said:

@Massimiliano Yes, we've made several improvements thru v1.0.5.  We should be releasing v1.0.6 shortly. 

Well, congratulations. It's a whole other thing now.

I hope it will come soon in Italy too, also for iOS and iPadOS

As written several times the Call Protection and SMS Protection, for me would be a thing that serves little purpose in fact, having been Beta Tester for 3 years, the only call that had blocked was the Apple support while several, unfortunately of Scam type, had passed smoothly; SMS, at least in Italy, are little used, and in my case, if they do not belong to contacts in my address book, I normally trash them regardless, except for any OTP codes. 
I think, but this is just a suggestion, that they should be two separate products Protection for Safari and Protection for Calls/SMS. This one, though, I think is more of a suggestion that might be of interest to @treed

 

This instead is a request for you @gatortail : is it possible in some way to split the ad blocker function from the tracker one; there is a site that I'm interested in looking at, that has ads, frequent but not invasive; I have to disable that protection to be able to see the site but I would like to allow them the ads but not the tracking. Is there any way that you know of? Thanks

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Edited December 1, 2021 by Massimiliano
Added a request for @gatortail

[Massimiliano]

Some websites that still manage to get around your block. I'm just attaching the links so you can analyze them.

They are all local newspapers

If I find more I will update the post

Piazza Pinerolese

L'eco del Chisone

Voce Pinerolese

Edited December 2, 2021 by Massimiliano
Updated list of websites that can bypass ad blocking

[gatortail]

I'll ask our research team to review.

[Massimiliano]

3 hours ago, gatortail said:

I'll ask our research team to review.

Thanks

If I find others, almost all Italian, for obvious reasons, I will not fail to report them in this discussion so that you can implement better filters.

[gatortail]

We made one change based upon the sites you shared.  Also, v1.0.6 is now available.

[Massimiliano]

4 hours ago, gatortail said:

We made one change based upon the sites you shared.  Also, v1.0.6 is now available.

Thanks.

It had been updated in the background. I visited the sites at this time and now the ads are gone. Hopefully they won't find another way to get past your defenses.

[Massimiliano]

@gatortail

There are still many sites in Italy that manage to bypass your ad blockers.

The list is impossible

[gatortail]

@Massimiliano if you provide a list I can ask our research team to analyze. 

[Massimiliano]

16 hours ago, gatortail said:

@Massimiliano if you provide a list I can ask our research team to analyze. 

I am not able to get you the list because these sites I discover them by chance

But on the same sites after a few hours, without changing anything in MWB BG settings, these ads disappear

This is the only help I can give you

It almost seems, but I'm not inside the processes enough to understand it precisely, that these AD circuits manage to break through the protection but the latter has a kind of AI and learns to block them

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