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StopAd PRO — The ultimate ad blocker for Windows and Mac.
StopAd is the ultimate ad blocker for Windows and Mac. This simple, out-of-the-box solution stops all pop-ups, banners, autoplay, and video ads in apps and browsers. Plus, StopAd includes anti-tracking, anti-malware, and anti-cryptomining security features.
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Chris Rowe
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Would love to try it but I can't get past the "allow developer" part, nothing happens when I click allow. Is this a known issue?
@jeffreydgroot After click “Allow” button you just should click “Next” on the previous screen.
@vladimir_shmalko yes but nothing happens when I click allow, so it won't confirm and I can't continue
@jeffreydgroot Could you please close Security Preferences window and open it again, if “Allow” button still there just try to click again, if it disappeared - restart application and continue.
I haven't tried this product yet, and I plan to watch the project as it matures. I wonder how this service compares to using a browser such as Brave, or even just Google Chrome which has (the rather impressive) Google Safe Browsing for malware and phishing, uBlock for ads (works on youtube, works for miners) - all free. There are also free wider protection software such as ClamAV, Bitdefender, and Microsoft Defender for the windows folks (again, is made by an excellent team).
I imagine they'll add other (arguably superfluous, already freeware alternatives) functionality like "thwart webcam / mic eavesdropping by trusting our app to hook the operating system). Anyway, I don't mean to be a hater, I know I am but I was surprised to see this at the top of PH, and felt obligated to rain on the parade if no one else will. It's early for me to be slamming something I've never even used and at the end of the day if makers on PH haven't already covered these bases but now they do via this service, I suppose that's a net benefit for the community :)
@bsmartt13 Thanks for the feedback.
That's a good start for us, you are absolutely right.
Thanks for proposing features for our product.
Now we gain positive vibes of our users, who like our ultimacy in stopping ads and out of the box setup. Users just need a reliable product, that's a fact.
Once you are a security startup and then you become a #1 endpoint security technology, you know. ;) I'm sure you can give us a chance.
Someday we expect to grow a technology even you can admire, maybe it will be our AI ad detection, which we are currently working on.
Questions to the makers:
1) If I understand this correct, I install this as a native app on my Mac, and it blocks any requests to the ad networks at the network level, so I wont have to install an extension separately for each browser, or the next new browser that I want to try?
2) Also, does it detect 'fuckadblock' and/or provide the features of 'fuckfuckadblock' ?
3) Privacy: What kind of user data is being stored on your servers, other than the ads being reported?
@nitinalabur
1) You are absolutely right.
2) Try it out and tell us how good we are in going stealth mode. You can report such cases in Improve StopAd section.
3) StopAd does its job on the user’s machine without sending any data outside the environment, so you can be sure that your personal data is safe.
Moreover, we have a paid StopAd PRO version; selling user data or showing acceptable ads is not our business model ;)
@saijogeorge Now it isn't possible technically, but we're looking for the right solution
Gave it a try and solid performance. Some things that are stopping me from switching:
a) Dock icon - hate it. Menu bar is enough and even then I hide it with Bartender app.
b) Quite a few Swedish sites have ads that are blocked but the ad section is still shown. On biggest media site in Sweden that is the case. Blocked by most other ad blockers and the areas are defined as adarea in html/css so should be identifiable.
c) Would personally love bit more customization in terms of adding own lists. Maybe once an issue with more local/domestic sites.
@jacoblo Thanks for the feedback.
a) We will definitely add this feature in next iterations. Thank you for an idea.
b) At StopAd we try to be very neat with our adblocking rules.
We make the best rules list by:
1) Working on combination of the best sources by testing them heavily
2) Our own AI technology, which identifies ads and creates rules
3) Our 24/7 support and Improve StopAd section
We are very good at English language sites right now. Sweeden is coming!
c) Now it's all about ultimacy and stability. Customisation is the next step.
Stay tuned and I'm sure you'll find reasons to switch and spread it to the world.
Despite StopAd's persistent protestations when I connected with them through their live chat, this app breaks a significant number of your apps, sites, etc. Even basic functions like logging in were broken for many sites, on both Safari and Chrome. StopAd annoyingly insisted each time I reached out to them that it was not their application, although every single time, the issue was immediately resolved after disabling StopAd.
The final straw, however, was when I realized it broke my VPNs. When I connected to either Nord or VPN Unlimited, I could no longer reach any sites. I reached out to StopAd to request information on how to properly uninstall to isolate the issue and see if StopAd was the culprit. Even though I was hit with the refrain of "It's not StopAd," I insisted on getting the removal instructions.
Lo and behold, the second I uninstalled StopAd, *poof* everything worked again. The VPNs were operational again.. Note: if you used the browser extensions, it seemed to pipe things through without issue, but if you used the system wide VPN, I wasn't able to visit any sites so it is related to the way StopAd intercepts/proxies the connection to work its "magic."
Most importantly, though, although it did work with applications beyond just the browsers, it was no more effective than extensions like uBlock - which has the added benefit of not having any idle CPU usage. I simply don't understand what the value add is. With the monthly fee, you're far better off getting a VPN subscription that has its own ad/tracker blocker like Nord. Combined with uBlock, you're more secure and have system wide blocking.
The persistent issues, deflection by support, cpu footprint and seeming incompatibility with VPN make this one to avoid, especially with the existing alternatives that already exist.
Pros:Cross application support, live chat
Cons:High CPU, expensive, breaks VPN, breaks certain apps, breaks a multitude of websites
Hi, thank you for your feedback.
Apologies for the negative experience you had using StopAd.
We’re continuously improving our technology so we would be thankful to you if you could send us your system information and sites/apps that was crashed.
Regarding the VPN issues - we are working on fixing them now.
The value of StopAd in comparison with extensions is in effective ads removal on all browsers and apps without multiple installs.
I'm genuinely going to give it a try. Disabled Disconnect & ABP extensions. Спасибо, ребята!
works perfectly in all browsers on my Mac and in Safari on my iPhone, protecting my nervous system from the most dreadful thing in the world – mobile popups :)
also, they've got some awesome content on their blog about the advertising industry and the modern internet in general!
Pros:blocks ads on all my devices
Cons:I might miss an interesting ad (? highly doubtful)
My current configuration: Ghostery (open source privacy) + uBlock (open source, light adblock) + AdGuard (very effective mobile adblock) --> no tempation to switch based on your current product
What would make consider switching: add features that progress my goal towards digital minimalism lifestyle:
- Browser: limit minutes I can use time wasting sites such as fb, linkedin, news, youtube. One effective way is to allow user visit the site but blocking the endless content feed
- Mobile: suggest a less tech savy user to uninstall the obtrusive native applications in favor of the mobile site versions, then help the user to take control how much he/she spends on these sites (funny quirk would be to offer better ways to spend time)
- Visualize based on data from my browser + mobile usage: how much time I am wasting, how much data I saved total, how much resources less your solution uses compared to my current configuration, how much am I wasting time compared to other members in the community (my age, gender, industry), what you could have easily completed the past 1,6,12 months if you had decreased the number of wasted minutes by 50% (university course worth of language studies, learn to play la la land theme song on piano etc.)
- Emphasize: you will never use or sell my data, thus the monthly fee. Alternatively you can switch to free version where you reserve the right to sell some data to finance the operations
@juhslk Thanks for your comment, Juho! I'll transmit your suggestions to our team. You use 3 programs for ad blocking! Not too much? And how does it affect your system?
@juhslk, Thank you for a great product features backlog. During last 9 months, our team was focused on bringing to the market the best tool to stop all types of ads. We'll definitely add some gamification and even more entertainment. As for your "bundle" try to check it vs. StopAd. You can also check out our Android version.
@kristina_zagorulko uBlock is the lightest blocker out there, practically no effect on resource usage. Ghostery might not be the lightest extension out there, however it is unrivaled with the privacy protection they provide
Adguard on the other hand I only use on my mobile and it works like a charm
Hi I love the app, it works and it really filtered the "ADS" on some sites that I usually visited that my adblocker didn't caught. It's a bit expensive and I hope there's an option to pay 6months with 2.75 rate. @volodymyr_sytnikov @kristina_zagorulko
@menjxo You can try our 30-day promo from PH website link. After that, you can choose either to go with one browser for free or write us a message on our FB group (https://www.facebook.com/StopAdO...) and we will find a solution for you.
How does this product accomplish its ad-blocking? Is it a DNS service? Some half-way type of VPN? Are you routing traffic through your own servers to block ads?
I use a Pi-hole (Raspberry Pi + software) to block ads at network-level, so I have no need for StopAd, but I'm curious about the technology behind StopAd and the actual method it is using to block ads.
@bscottx StopAd works on a system level and it uses the net driver for that, the app does its job on the machine without sending any data outside the environment. We don't need to use DNS hosts as we work on upper levels to provide ad blocking. Operating in that manner allows StopAd to block ads in multiple browsers and apps at the same time.
@onelargetea Sorry for that. If you'll have a time, just click the Improve StopAd button and your logs will be send to our support - it's important for us to find the reason of your problem. Thank you!
I’m happy to try it on iOS once you add a share sheet action to add the current website to the whitelist!
@kartikcooks Hi! We have in-app whitelist, you can use it now. Share sheet action isn't a problem for our developers. I'll send them your comment and tell you when it will be available asap.
@i_dino Hi Dinesh, when you cast videos through Chromecast, it uses its own in-built Youtube app. Unfortunately, we can't block ads there because we're not a part of their platform. If we find the way to be included in Chromecast in-built apps - you'll be among the first to know:)
Looks great. How do you guys differ from AdGuard, my current ad and tracking blocker that works along similar lines.
@andreasduess Hi, Andreas! Thanks for your comment! Well, you can check how your bundle works vs StopAd. The quick test will show you more than our words. You can also try our free version for one browser - and get great ad blocking level without paying the subscription.
@kristina_zagorulko I am not sure I understand. AdGuard does an excellent job for me - it blocks trackers, ads and fingerprinting. It also uses the "one app for all browsers" model. How do you guys differ?
Needs a pricing page linked in the header or the footer. I don't download/try/install anything that I know its paid and it doesn't clearly shows the pricing structure.
@yogodoshi Cayo, thanks for the suggestion!
You download a completely free product and after the trial period, you can stay with StopAd FREE forever, no strings attached. It works as good as PRO one but works only in one browser and limited to privacy and web protection features.