MacOS Catalina advice needed

[razz]

Need advice with this update. It talks about the improved security features but Safari does not work with Adblock which I need to control the ads that deluge with every search. I had to switch browsers from using Safari to Chrome in order to use Adblock.
Can anyone advise me if Adblock or another ad blocking works with Safari in MacOS Catalina or is it still too new?

[SteveinMN]

Apple changed the way Safari 13 handles extensions like AdBlock. It is unlikely AdBlock will be able to update their extension for Safari, or that anyone else will create an extension for Safari that will handle ad-/tracker blocking (or any other extension function).

In the meantime, I'm not sure what you use for Web search; perhaps switching to a more private Web search tool (like DuckDuckGo (https://www.duckduckgo.com)) would help for the future (it won't stop trackers and marketers from using old information to put advertising in front of you now).

[razz]

Thanks, Steve, I am using Duck Duck Go as my browser. You suggested it a while ago and I have used it ever since. I just wondered if Catalina was going to help but it seems not. I will be using Duck Duck Go even when I finally install Catalina.

[SteveinMN]

DuckDuckGo is a great start, but they can't do anything about the dozens of Web trackers many sites use.

In looking into this a little further (now that I have a little time) there are some settings in Safari 13 which can be set to be more aggressive against advertising and script injection. I don't run 13 myself (primarily for this reason) so I can't point you to specific settings, but marching around Preferences/Privacy (or something similar) could yield a few checkboxes worth ticking (or unticking).

It also seems there are some ad blockers available in the macOS App Store but none of them appear to be as useful as AdBlock and some (all?) now cost money. I know moving from one browser to another is not trivial, but if not seeing ads is a privacy issue and worth a little nuisance factor, moving to Firefox (or some derivative of it, not one of the Chrome derivatives) is the way to go. Firefox still supports extensions like AdBlock, Privacy Badger, NoScript, Facebook Container, and more.

Another alternative, if you have a VPN, is to use that to limit what Web sites show you. However, VPNs can have negative effects on some sites (they see you're using a VPN or just reject browsers that have any kind of script blocking enabled) and they mess with me sending IMAP mail from my laptop-based mail application. Probably more of a nuisance factor than switching Web browsers.

[razz]

Never used Firefox before. Have to think about all of this. Sometimes my lack of knowledge is downright annoying - so many things to consider. But, I do love my computer and iPhone so won't grumble too loudly.

[ToomuchStuff]

How computer literate are you, or are your or other kids you know? I am moving more toward the Raspberry PI, very low powered device, with Pihole.
I've bought and used Pi's for a few years, as training tools, so I don't screw up working/main machines. (and making low powered specialized devices) The newest one, the Pi 4, is finally good enough for a lower powered, NAS device for my uses.
Anyway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBXTnrD_Zs4

Edit: Something else you could find/search, is get a copy of those blacklists and put it in your devices Hosts file.