Malwarebytes' 'Browser Guard' add-on blocks browser hijacking, pop-up scams, and other...

[Polycount]

The internet is both wonderful and risky in almost equal measure. You can access virtually all of the world's modern knowledge with just a few clicks (most of the time), but you can also fall victim to subtle scams, viruses, and other dangers. Most savvy users know how to avoid the majority of these pitfalls, but even tech enthusiasts aren't immune to smaller troubles.

Browser hijacking, back-button hijacking, pop-ups, and other similar annoyances are common, and just about everybody encounters them from time to time. Several browser and add-on makers have tried to address the problem with their own solutions, and now Malwarebytes is joining their ranks.

As of a few days ago, the company (best known for its ultra-popular and equally useful anti-virus utility) launched "Browser Guard," a free extension for Chrome and Firefox that blocks all of the irritating scams mentioned above, and more.

It also "filters out" content it deems suspicious, according to Betanews, and blocks ads and ad trackers. In short, it seems to pull features and functionality from various other similar tools and combines them into one cohesive package.

While we can't verify Browser Guard's effectiveness without extensive testing of our own, users seem to be fairly happy with it; across both Chrome and Firefox. The add-on's rating currently sits between 4 and 4.3 stars on both platforms, and collectively boasts around 180,000 users as of writing.

If you want to try it out for yourself, visit Browser Guard's official Chrome or Firefox extension page and give it a whirl.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81920-malwarebytes-browser-guard-add-blocks-browser-hijacking-pop.html

 

[ziffel66]

Finally, the tool I've been waiting for. I can finally get friends & family to stop calling me saying "Microsoft says I have a virus and wants me to call an 800 number".

 

[hahahanoobs]

Thanks for the heads up.

Update: Ok so after about 30mins, I noticed the number of ads and trackers goes up significantly every time you refresh a page. Techspot is currently at 147! Something must be wrong with this addon. I'll have to keep my eye on it.

Update2: The number just keeps going up and up. It's up to 500+ now. I think this addon is still in beta phase. I don't recommend using it as an ad blocker for now, so disable that part of the addon in the settings if you don't need it.

 

[Uncle Al]

LOL ..... you just never really know!

 

[Paulos7]

After reading some reviews, I decided not to install it. Sounds kinda buggy and too many notifications.
Slightly off topic, but I've always thought that the best way to spy on people would be to have a popular anti-virus product. I mean, you're giving the program permission to scan your files all of the time. No, who would do that? Just paranoia I guess, right? Right?

 

[rrwards]

After reading some reviews, I decided not to install it. Sounds kinda buggy and too many notifications.
Slightly off topic, but I've always thought that the best way to spy on people would be to have a popular anti-virus product. I mean, you're giving the program permission to scan your files all of the time. No, who would do that? Just paranoia I guess, right? Right?

Definitely possible, you'd have to analyze the traffic leaving your computer to see what exactly is being reported to the AV company aka far too complicated for the average person.