Opera is testing a built-in ad blocker that encourages people to use it

By Justin Pot March 10, 2016

Opera will be the first major browser with a built-in ad blocker, if a feature currently offered in the developer build makes its way to the general release. Ad blockers for other browsers are created by third parties and released as an extension.

Install Opera Developer right now, start browsing, and before long you’ll see a popup asking “Would you like to block ads and surf faster?” If you click yes, ads will start being blocked.

Publishers probably aren’t going to be happy with that, but Opera doesn’t stop there. Click the ad blocker’s icon and you’ll see how many ads have been blocked on a particular page. From there users can run a benchmark, comparing the load time for the site they’re currently browsing with and without ad blocking. The intent seems to be to teach users the degree to which ads are slowing down their browsing experience.

“Our goal is to provide the fastest and the smoothest online experience for our users,” Krystian Kolondra, told PC World. “While working on that we have discovered that a lot more time is spent on handling ads and trackers than we thought earlier.”

Advertising isn’t a feature of the Web anyone loves, but it does help pay for content that is currently free to users. Publishers, already hit by decreasing ad revenue, have long argued that ad blocking hurts their ability to make content, and will even ask users to whitelist their pages.

Opera has a long history of adding features not included by default on other browsers: tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, browser sessions, and private browsing all showed up on Opera before arriving on other major browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. But those innovations never translated into a large market share for Opera, which first came out 21 years ago in April of 1995. Opera’s market share has never cracked the double digits, and according to StatCounter, it currently has a two-percent share of the desktop/laptop browser market.

Adding an ad blocker probably won’t lead to a huge spike in numbers: ad blockers are readily available on other platforms, after all. But Opera is clearly showing what side of the ad blocking fight they’re on, something users and publishers alike will surely notice.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Justin's always had a passion for trying out new software, asking questions, and explaining things – tech journalism is the…

Computing

Scores of people are downgrading back to Windows 10

The screen of the Galaxy Book4 Ultra.

Microsoft continues to struggle with the adoption of Windows 11 among its users. Recent data from Statcounter reveals a notable decline in the operating system’s market share, specifically compared with Windows 10.

After reaching an all-time high of 28.16% in February 2024, Windows 11 has experienced a drop, falling below the 26% mark.

Computing

The ASUS ROG Ally handheld gaming PC has a nice discount today

Starfield running on the Asus ROG Ally.

If you love the power of gaming PCs and the portability of the Nintendo Switch, you should think about getting a handheld gaming PC like the Asus ROG Ally. If you're interested, it's currently on sale from Walmart with an $87 discount that pulls its price down to $400 from $487. It's a pretty popular device so we expect this offer to attract a lot of attention, which means it's probably not going to last long. If you want to get this handheld gaming PC for this cheap, you should proceed with the transaction immediately.

Why you should buy the Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC
It's the version of the Asus ROG Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme that's listed in our roundup of the best handheld gaming PCs, but the Asus ROG Ally Z1 is still a worthwhile purchase because it gives you a gaming PC that you can bring with you wherever you go. Unlike a gaming laptop that's still pretty bulky with its large screen and keyboard, the Asus ROG Ally takes on the form of a portable gaming console like the Nintendo Switch, but with Windows 11 pre-installed as a familiar operating system to navigate and launch the best PC games.

Computing

The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 3060 has a $550 discount

The HP Victus 15L gaming PC in white.

Gamers don't need to spend more than $1,000 if they want to buy a new gaming PC because there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop. From its original price of $1,400, you can get it for just $850 as HP has applied a $550 discount on this machine. However, you shouldn't delay your purchase because there's no assurance that the gaming PC will still be 39% off tomorrow. If you want to make sure that you get it for less than $1,000, you're going to have to complete the transaction for it within the day.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop
You shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop to match the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, but it's surprisingly powerful for its cost. Inside it are the 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, with 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. It's enough to play today's best PC games without any issues, and it may even be capable of running the upcoming PC games of the next few years if you're willing to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.