uBlock Origin can block JavaScript by default now

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 25, 2018
Internet
|
31

A recent update to the cross-browser content blocker uBlock Origin introduced an option to block JavaScript by default for all visited sites or individual sites.

The new option of uBlock Origin 1.17.0 gives users even better control when it comes to blocking content from running automatically on sites that they visit in any of the supported browsers.

Side note: you can read my journey to getting uBlock Origin to update to the new version in Chrome here.

The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you run at least uBlock Origin 1.17.0. Click on the extension's icon in the address bar of the browser that you are using and in the interface that opens on the settings icon. Switch to the about tab on the dashboard; the version of the extension is listed there.

Configure uBlock Origin to disable JavaScript

Users of uBlock Origin have several options when it comes to the new JavaScript blocking functionality:

  1. Enable it for individual sites.
  2. Enable it for all sites.

A click on the uBlock Origin icon displays the main interface that you use to control content. You find the new option to disable JavaScript for the site in the bottom-right corner. The new icon looks like a closed tag </>.

A click disables JavaScript on the site and adds a red cross to the icon to indicate that JavaScript is turned off on the site. Note that this is temporary unless you make the change permanent using icons that uBlock Origin displays after you activate the option.

Advanced users may add individual sites to the "my rules" section of the dashboard. Use the no-scripting: [hostname] true template and replace [hostname] with the domain that you want to disable JavaScript on.

The second option that users have is to block JavaScript on all sites by default similarly to what NoScript does for Firefox.

  1. Open the uBlock Origin settings.
  2. Make sure that the Settings tab is selected.
  3. Check the "Disable JavaScript" box there.

What happens when you disable JavaScript?

One core difference between using the new JavaScript switch and using uBlock Origin without it is that noscript tags are executed when the former is used to disable JavaScript. The latter blocks individual script resources instead only.

The master switch takes precedence over "dynamic filtering rules and static filters related to script resources".

Closing Words

The option to disable JavaScript for all visited sites or on a per-site basis adds another powerful tool to the already-great arsenal that uBlock Origin offers. Users who disable JavaScript globally will run into sites that break as some may require JavaScript for some or even all functionality.

Summary
Article Name
uBlock Origin can block JavaScript by default now
Description
A recent update to the cross-browser content blocker uBlock Origin introduced an option to block JavaScript by default for all visited sites.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
    Reply

    Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 4, 2012 at 7:57 pm
      Reply

      Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.

    2. Leonidas Burton said on September 4, 2023 at 4:51 am
      Reply

      I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
      http://www.google.com/saved

  2. VioletMoon said on August 16, 2023 at 5:26 pm
    Reply

    @Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!

  3. Karl said on August 17, 2023 at 10:36 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
    https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/

    Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.

  4. Anonymous said on August 25, 2023 at 11:44 am
    Reply

    Omg a badge!!!
    Some tangible reward lmao.

    It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.

  5. Scroogled said on August 25, 2023 at 10:57 pm
    Reply

    With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.

    1. lollmaoeven said on August 27, 2023 at 6:24 am
      Reply

      This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)

  6. El Duderino said on August 25, 2023 at 11:14 pm
    Reply

    Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.

    And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.

  7. John G. said on August 26, 2023 at 1:29 am
    Reply

    First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[

  8. Kalmly said on August 26, 2023 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    Yes. Please. Fix the comments.

  9. Kim Schmidt said on September 3, 2023 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.

    Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.

    The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.

    If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.

    And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.

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