Adblock Plus

ant wrote:

lakrsrool wrote:The setting adblockplus.please_kill_startup_performance to "yes" as mentioned in the above post didn't help in my case either. This is due in part because in the event FF is using cache to load the initial startup page the load for the more recent versions of FF has become too fast for ABP.

Again this is because the issue is that FF, as is the case with any web page first started up, will use cache as long as the cache is saved (retained) which is for the purpose of speeding up the page load.

I've apparently solved my specific issue by setting FF to clear cache on exiting the browser. You do this by going to FF "Options" > "Privacy" tab > Click "Clear history when Firefox closes" to check the box > Click on "Settings" > Click on "Cache" ONLY to check this option and click "OK".

Note: If you haven't cleared cache for sometime it will likely take awhile to finish clearing it out which means FF will run for awhile after exiting hence you'll typically need to wait awhile before launching again as the instance of FF will remain during the time cache is cleared.

This web site Force Firefox to reload from the network on startup provides and example how to do this, but BE SURE AND JUST CHECK THE "CACHE" SELECTION (NOT THE OTHERS as shown in the example) as this is all that needs to be done for the purposes of this topic in the "Settings" option of the "Clear history when Firefox closes" option of the "Privacy" settings for FF.

Now after this change Firefox cannot use cache the first time it loads my startup page after initially launching the browser (cache will be used during the browser session however which is a good thing). An argument can be made that it's a good thing to clear cache now and then to save on memory glut anyway regardless of this specific issue of ABP occasionally failing to block adds due to the load speed of the more recent FF browser versions.

Let me know if this solves the problem as far as ABP occasionally not blocking adds in FF as well.

Ugh, I need caches due to my slow Internet connections.

ant, just try the above suggestion (it's easy enough to change back if it makes no difference), it really only costs 2-3 seconds of time so I don't think you'll really notice that much difference as far as your "slow Internet connection" is concerned. You only need to check "Cache" in the "Settings" when you "clear history" (it will take awhile to clear history on the first exit of FF but after that you won't notice much difference if any as far as how long it takes FF to close after that)

Check and see if this doesn't help you out.... In my case however there was only one specific add that seemed to get past ABP a majority of the time (that is on my startup page), so you may have other issues, especially if trying the option to "clear cache" doesn't work for you.

lakrsrool wrote:

ant wrote:

lakrsrool wrote:The setting adblockplus.please_kill_startup_performance to "yes" as mentioned in the above post didn't help in my case either. This is due in part because in the event FF is using cache to load the initial startup page the load for the more recent versions of FF has become too fast for ABP.

Again this is because the issue is that FF, as is the case with any web page first started up, will use cache as long as the cache is saved (retained) which is for the purpose of speeding up the page load.

I've apparently solved my specific issue by setting FF to clear cache on exiting the browser. You do this by going to FF "Options" > "Privacy" tab > Click "Clear history when Firefox closes" to check the box > Click on "Settings" > Click on "Cache" ONLY to check this option and click "OK".

Note: If you haven't cleared cache for sometime it will likely take awhile to finish clearing it out which means FF will run for awhile after exiting hence you'll typically need to wait awhile before launching again as the instance of FF will remain during the time cache is cleared.

This web site Force Firefox to reload from the network on startup provides and example how to do this, but BE SURE AND JUST CHECK THE "CACHE" SELECTION (NOT THE OTHERS as shown in the example) as this is all that needs to be done for the purposes of this topic in the "Settings" option of the "Clear history when Firefox closes" option of the "Privacy" settings for FF.

Now after this change Firefox cannot use cache the first time it loads my startup page after initially launching the browser (cache will be used during the browser session however which is a good thing). An argument can be made that it's a good thing to clear cache now and then to save on memory glut anyway regardless of this specific issue of ABP occasionally failing to block adds due to the load speed of the more recent FF browser versions.

Let me know if this solves the problem as far as ABP occasionally not blocking adds in FF as well.

Ugh, I need caches due to my slow Internet connections.

ant, just try the above suggestion (it's easy enough to change back if it makes no difference), it really only costs 2-3 seconds of time so I don't think you'll really notice that much difference as far as your "slow Internet connection" is concerned. You only need to check "Cache" in the "Settings" when you "clear history" (it will take awhile to clear history on the first exit of FF but after that you won't notice much difference if any as far as how long it takes FF to close after that)

Check and see if this doesn't help you out.... In my case however there was only one specific add that seemed to get past ABP a majority of the time (that is on my startup page), so you may have other issues, especially if trying the option to "clear cache" doesn't work for you.

I tried it on my office's machine with its fast Internet connection. Yes, it does work with no caches. At home, it will be a problem. You don't know how slow my Internet is at home. BTW, I was using SeaMonkey v2.26.1 web browser.

Cucamonga wrote:

Oded wrote:Exactly.
I've stopped updating Adblock. Am using 2.5.1 with no issues.

Too bad the fix suggested does not work (I've tried it).

Is there a way to keep ABP from automatically updating from 2.5.1 on Firefox for Android?

For now, I've started using this workaround on my tablet - after booting up, before doing anything that might call Firefox, I use a Home Screen shortcut to go to this page - http://simple-adblock.com/faq/testing-your-adblocker/ - and refresh it a couple of times until it confirms that ABP is functional. I then refrain from completely quitting Firefox until I shut the tablet down. This way, I don't have to worry about another app launching Firefox and loading up a bunch of tracking cookies before ABP gets around to working.

I ran multiple tests using the above web page you've provided to TEST ABP using the FF browser and in my case ABP FAILED the test EVERY TIME when I did NOT "Clear cache" when closing FF (see my comments above on this topic regarding the FF cache setting).

It is interesting to note that while ABP failed every time under the above circumstances, when I DID "Clear cache" when closing FF then ABP PASSED this test (TEST OK) each and every time.

I tried multiple tests in both cases and the results were consistent in each case every time, APB failed the web page test if not clearing cache but on the other hand passed the web page test (successful) in the event I did have FF "Clear cache" when closing FF. I will add one caveat, that is that I did detect a slight one second delay occasionally before the "Element Hiding" part of the test PASSED when opening the page the first time but APB nevertheless did PASS each and every time when I had FF set to "Clear cache".

So I'm happy to see that the test you've thankfully provided does bear out my findings regarding my conclusion that in my case there appears to be a difference how well ABP works between clearing cache and not doing so.

Once again you set FF to "Clear cache" by going to FF "Options" > "Privacy" tab > Click "Clear history when Firefox closes" to check the box > Click on "Settings" > Click on "Cache" ONLY to check this option and click "OK".

Oh and thanks Cucamonga for providing this "test page".

FOR GODS SAKE FIX 2.5.1 ON FIREFOX 19.2

peeeeeeeeee wrote:FOR GODS SAKE FIX 2.5.1 ON FIREFOX 19.2

No. How about you upgrade your old browser.

fanboy wrote:

peeeeeeeeee wrote:FOR GODS SAKE FIX 2.5.1 ON FIREFOX 19.2

No. How about you upgrade your old browser.

Agreed. That's very old unless the user is stuck on a very old OS who needs to upgrade that too!

It appears I've finally reliably solved my relatively recent problem with some or parts of some ads not getting blocked.

After awhile setting FF to clear cache didn't work every time anymore, I noticed more and more when I first woke my computer up from "sleep" for some reason ABP failed to block parts of these two specific ads for the first launch of browser as before and then occasionally other ads have been appearing more now and then as well (not sure if some presumably unrelated changes I've done in the interim had an impact on this or not).

So I've since tried adding this to ABP and happily with very good results : Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus 1.3. I am FINALLY ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY BLOCK THE ADS that were so persistently getting past ABP recently up until now.

More info on this: Element Hiding Helper

After a little playing around with this APB "Element Hiding" add-on I have been able to get rid of the parts of those pesky ads that was so difficult to deal with (some had to do with frames).

As of now after adding this add-on some of the time ads will at times momentarily appear while the page is getting painted and it does take slightly longer to load the page (in my case, however that's not an issue for me as I don't at all mind a 2-4 second delay in order to be free of ads) but eventually for me once the page is completely loaded all the ads DO disappear (get blocked by ABP) in my case. Btw, I'm using ABP 2.6.5 so for me this add-on does work with the most current ABP version.

It can be a bit tricky getting the right "filter rule" but what is nice is that this "Element Hiding" add-on shows you what happens before you add the filter so that if to much gets blocked on the page you then try a different approach to creating the "filter rule" until you get it right.

So far I've been using this new add-on for about a day now and probably launched the browser start-page (that has had those two problematic ads) dozens of times in the interim and each and every time so far once the start-page is completely loaded ALL the ads get blocked (disappear) eventually.

Basic steps to install and how to use here: How to Use the Element Hiding Helper with Adblock Plus

Anyone having issues with ads with the current ABP, try this and if you do, please report back in this thread as to how it worked out for you.

I can put up with the slight amount of added delay before all the ads get blocked sometimes causing some of the ads to show momentarily as long as in the end the ads are all gone once the page is completely loaded.

ant wrote:Yeah, I know. I wonder why they can't fix it/undo this bug.

Because not enough people are reporting it/complaining over at https://issues.adblockplus.org/ I'm afraid.


To everyone who read this thread, Please take your time to go over to https://issues.adblockplus.org / https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/549 and report your problem there as well, not just here. And make sure to explain that their so called "extensions.adblockplus.please_kill_startup_performance" actually does not work.


While its good that we find workarounds that may or may not work for everyone, do not settle with this as a permanent solution.
Do not give the dev(s) a reason to ignore the problem they introduced.

G_HZ wrote:Hello
I switched to version 2.51 because I block various things at startup. I do not not safe with version 2.6 ...
Please give the option to choose between an early start or a secure boot.

What do you mean by that? You want to say, you have the same problem like I do? Good grief, I'm wondering why ABP is getting late in Mozilla Firefox browser. Sometimes, when I open Firefox with built it ABP in, He freeze it and then hit "Not responding" like a freakin' moron. I don't think it's up to ABP, I think it's to Firefox. He is doing the same thing with my Adobe Flash player I use when I'm YouTube.

Guest13713 wrote:

ant wrote:Yeah, I know. I wonder why they can't fix it/undo this bug.

Because not enough people are reporting it/complaining over at https://issues.adblockplus.org/ I'm afraid.


To everyone who read this thread, Please take your time to go over to https://issues.adblockplus.org / https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/549 and report your problem there as well, not just here. And make sure to explain that their so called "extensions.adblockplus.please_kill_startup_performance" actually does not work.


While its good that we find workarounds that may or may not work for everyone, do not settle with this as a permanent solution.
Do not give the dev(s) a reason to ignore the problem they introduced.

They should do that. It's stupid why they ignoring it.

Adblock Plus no longer blocks ads on starting firefox for me either. I'm using Firefox 29.0, Adblock Plus v 2.6.4, windows 7. I have firefox set to clear the cache every time it's closed, so that's no "fix" for me as it was already set that way. I also have it set to open the last session, BUT it only loads the first page in each window, all the rest must be selected before loading. So if I have 3 windows open when I close firefox, on restarting I get three pages of ads with no functioning adblock plus on them. Adblock - when it used to work on even those first pages - never slowed down the loading of a firefox session notably even when I had hundreds of tabs... but now it's notably slow before reloading those first pages will eliminate the ads. So for whatever reason, adblock is working and loading notably slower than it used to. Very frustrating, especially when the page is one that also has popups, and you had no clue that was the case until you restarted firefox, in other words, until it's too late...

It's funny to see this has not been remedied after 6+ months. While the idea in https://issues.adblockplus.org/ticket/549 does look like promising - there has been no updates for three months on it.

I guess it's time to accept the fact we live in the new normal of xxx, xxx developers that think they know what's best for the user.

I know, right? It's like the solution has been there all along and they've just been too lazy to implement it, not like it's something about how extensions are loaded by Firefox that the ABP devs have no control over.

As a workaround that you can try, go to Options->Tabs and check "don't load tabs until selected"

Then, the next time you restart the browser, and load up tabs other than the default one, ABP should have loaded before the other tabs; this setting also makes the browser start up faster, and it's something I wish Chrome had.

Still a problem with FF35; this is ridiculous. It's Feb 15th now; can we get on the ball?

Irritated wrote:Still a problem with FF35; this is ridiculous. It's Feb 15th now; can we get on the ball?

The mere passage of time makes everything possible, amirite?