Microsoft Edge Now Offers AdBlock Plus

Windows 10 users will now be able to control the amount of ads they encounter when using Microsoft Edge with the launch of AdBlock and AdBlock Plus applications.

The free apps are now available to download from the Windows Store, after Microsoft originally opened up Edge browser extensions to testers in March.

Many use ad blockers because they find ads intrusive while others believe some creatives slow down system performance, use excessive amounts of data and reduce battery life, while others hold security fears. A number of advertising networks have been used to launch malvertising attacks in recent times.

The apps promise to block a wide range of advertising services, including tracking, malware domains, banners, pop-ups and video ads, even on Facebook and YouTube.

Extensive

Described as “a browser built for doing”, Microsoft revealed Edge as the spiritual successor to Internet Explorer with the launch of Windows 10 last year.

The browser s the latest in a number of popular apps and services to gain support for AdBlock and AdBlock Plus.

The apps arrived on the iOS app store for the first time last October, a month after they returned to Google’s Play Store after both being removed in March 2013.

Earlier this month, Opera updated its Android browser with native adblocking, claiming that doing so will boost page loads times by 40 percent and reduce data consumption by 14 percent.

Recent research from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB UK) suggests one in five British adults use ad blocking, but would be less likely to do so if adverts didn’t interfere with what they were doing. However nearly two thirds claimed they prefer free, ad-supported content to a subscription-based model.

Even the government has got involved in the debate, after Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has suggested the government might step in to aid publishers in their battle against ad blocking software amid rising concerns within the industry.

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