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Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
#49987 09/18/18 04:05 PM
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ryck Online OP
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I updated to Safari 12 this morning and, on opening Safari, got a dialogue box saying that Apple has turned Ghostery off because it slows web browsing....and suggesting that other apps like Ghostery are available at the App Store.

I went to my Safari extensions and turned Ghostery back on, while enduring cautions that my web browsing will be slowed down. Frankly, I am quite happy with my browsing speed and, even if there is a slowdown (I saw nothing that I would deem unacceptable), it's a minor trade-off to get the Ghostery functionality.

It seems to me that Apple should ask if I want something turned off.

Last edited by ryck; 09/18/18 04:08 PM.

ryck

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
ryck #49988 09/18/18 04:22 PM
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I went through the same thing with Ghostery (AdBlock too), and I, too, just turned it back on; same as you, I'm satisfied with its performance.

There's a new AdBlock app, but it wasn't up to par when I tried it; maybe Ghostery's got one too?

Agreed that Apple shouldn't be so free with our personal preferences.

Even worse, though, are the extensions I've been running for years that I lost because Apple won't provide a Gatekeeper-like interface to enable me to run non-Extensions Gallery extensions same as it does for apps! mad

More: Does this mean that if you develop your own personal - NOT for distribution - extension you can't run it on your own Mac without Apple's approval?

Last edited by artie505; 09/18/18 04:40 PM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
artie505 #49990 09/18/18 06:26 PM
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Before updating to Safari 12, I got popup notices from Ghostery that there is a new version that is more compatible with Safari 12. I opted not to install it, keeping the old version. Now, despite searching, I can't find it.

I, too, have re-enabled Ghostery and AdBlock and see no difference in the browsing experience.


Jon

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
ryck #49993 09/18/18 07:58 PM
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AdBlock Plus also got automatically turned off. Took me awhile to get it back on also, because safari is now both encouraging blockers to use their build in blocking function AND placing a 50,000 item limit on the block list. dur?

and Apple.... searching a (hashed) 50,000 item list is, at worst, going to involve 16 tests. Don't tell me that's what's slowing down your browser.


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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
ryck #49995 09/18/18 09:27 PM
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The "slow down" warning it sounds a LOT like the warning you get in Mojave the first time you launch a 32 bit application. Although Safari extensions are not apps per se a 32 bit extension is executable and logically could have a negative effect on Safari performance as if Safari were 32 bit. So I suspect they ave a common genisis. You probably won't see any noticeable performance difference until MacOS 10.15 and/or Safari 13 about this time next year, at which point the extension will have to be upgraded or cease to run altogether.

In Mojave and Safari 12 the extensions gallery and all available Safari extensions extensions have been moved to the App Store. There are currently 42 Safari extensions cataloged in the App Store for MacOS including 11 ad/content blockers. Out of the 11, the only two I recognize are 1Blocker and Ka-Block both of which were quick to switch to the new API that allows Safari to control what sites they do and do not operate on. By-the-way if you search the new App Store for Ghostery you get 1Blocker, Wipr, Magic Lasso Adblock for Safari, and Block Tracking, but no Ghostery.

If you search the App Store for "ad blocker" there are 47 stand alone ad blocking apps some of which are from the same publishers as the Safari extensions. You could add to that number the over 100 VPN products in the App Store. So you are not left entirely without protection.




If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
jchuzi #49996 09/18/18 09:41 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
Before updating to Safari 12, I got popup notices from Ghostery that there is a new version that is more compatible Safari 12. I opted not to install it, keeping the old version. Now, despite searching, I can't find it.


Ghostery Lite. Not ready yet.

Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
joemikeb #49998 09/19/18 07:36 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
There are currently 42 Safari extensions cataloged in the App Store for MacOS including 11 ad/content blockers. Out of the 11, the only two I recognize are 1Blocker and Ka-Block both of which were quick to switch to the new API that allows Safari to control what sites they do and do not operate on.

Why would Safari want to control which sites the Extensions work on? Shouldn't that be the user's choice? With Ghostery, for example, I want it to block trackers from all sites except those that I designate otherwise. If I am at a site where Ghostery causes an issue, such as preventing a video or customer feedback from loading, I just switch it off temporarily.

Last edited by ryck; 09/19/18 07:40 AM.

ryck

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
ryck #49999 09/19/18 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
Why would Safari want to control which sites the Extensions work on? Shouldn't that be the user's choice? With Ghostery, for example, I want it to block trackers from all sites except those that I designate otherwise. If I am at a site where Ghostery causes an issue, such as preventing a video or customer feedback from loading, I just switch it off temporarily.

You are missing the point. Safari is putting all of the control over
  • using reader mode,
  • content blocking,
  • page zoom,
  • auto play of media,
  • popup windows,
  • camera access,
  • microphone access,
  • location access
IN THE CONTROL OF THE USER on a site-by-site basis and REGARDLESS OF WHAT THIRD PARTY EXTENSIONS ARE BEING USED and all controlled by a single drop down menu on the Safari tool bar. They are not taking anything away they are centralizing the user's control and reducing the odds of various blockers interfering with one another. Apple is not taking anything away from your control, rather centralizing it.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
joemikeb #50000 09/19/18 04:36 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
....all controlled by a single drop down menu on the Safari tool bar.

Got it. User choice through a drop down menu is, of course, an agreeable approach.

When you said "....the new API that allows Safari to control what sites they do and do not operate on", I assumed that meant some sort of automaticity with Safari in control.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
ryck #50002 09/19/18 06:08 PM
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NOTE: This is FYI ONLY and not intended as a recommendation.

FWIW this thread got me to thinking about ad blockers — again and recalling that a week or so back some of the most popular ones were found to be going around the sandbox to capture user browsing data for sale to advertisers. That got me to looking at other sites to see what is being recommended. I intentionally limited my browsing to user sites as I don't have much confidence in paid reviewers. What I found in a couple of hours of wildly unscientific browsing...
  • Users pay attention to their fellow users. Each site will have three or four content blockers that get 70% or more of the recommendations, but it is a different three or four for each site. 🧐
  • The most often recommended across all the sites I looked at were...
    • WIPR — not one I was familiar with but generally conceded to have a small footprint, little or no effect on browsing speed, effective, and does not collect much less sell user browsing data
    • AdGuard — reputedly highly effective
    • UGuard — no particular comments users just like it
NOTE: Just to add confusion to the mix, not all Safari extensions are available by searching for Safari Extensions. Due to new Mojave security provisions many are installed from the App Store as Apps which then have to be "authorized" in System Preferences or Settings, then "activated" in Safari > Preferences > Extensions.

NOTE: The lastest beta release of Carbon Copy Cloner has an installer subroutine that walks you through a similar installation routine to give CCC full disk access. I am encountering this more and more often in a variety of apps as they are fully upgraded for Mojave.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
joemikeb #50003 09/19/18 07:30 PM
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For those who have not seen it, I finally came across information about Ghostery Lite when i got a popup about it.


Jon

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
jchuzi #50006 09/19/18 09:08 PM
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Out of the blue, my AdBlock extension, which IS enabled, has stopped working!

Anybody else seeing this?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
artie505 #50007 09/19/18 09:46 PM
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Mine is working. Have you tried toggling it off and on?


Jon

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Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
jchuzi #50008 09/20/18 06:51 AM
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Sorry. I forgot to mention that I had tried toggling before I posted, but with no joy.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think that having "Automatically update extensions from the Safari Extensions Gallery" (which, by the way, no longer exists [*]) checked somehow caused v 1.90 - the new app - to be installed, and it didn't pick up my customizations (nor did it occur to me to see if I could install them), so I uninstalled it, hoping to either reinstall an earlier version of the extension itself or restore from an earlier clone.

Weirdly enough, my archived v 2.67, 2.68, and 2.69 wouldn't install...kept sending me to the App Store for v 1.90, but v 2.66 enabled me to install 2.69, and I"m back in business...with that box unchecked!

I guess it's time to install the app in a clone and see if it works as expected.

[*] Clicking on Safari > Safari Extensions Gallery takes you to the App Store, not the Safari Extensions Gallery.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
artie505 #50009 09/20/18 02:11 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
[*] Clicking on Safari > Safari Extensions Gallery takes you to the App Store, not the Safari Extensions Gallery.

The Safari Extensions Gallery has been moved to the App Store as you discovered and as I mentioned in this post. That list contains only the extensions that will install without manual intervention. But as mentioned in this post in this thread there are a LOT of other apps and in some cases extensions that have to be searched out and installed almost individually.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
joemikeb #50010 09/22/18 06:05 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
The "slow down" warning it sounds a LOT like the warning you get in Mojave the first time you launch a 32 bit application. Although Safari extensions are not apps per se a 32 bit extension is executable and logically could have a negative effect on Safari performance as if Safari were 32 bit. So I suspect they ave a common genisis.

Originally Posted By: AdBlock
Ignore any warning you may see when you re-enable [AdBlock] that AdBlock will slow down your browsing. It won't. Apple is being disingenuous to persuade people to stop using browser extensions and start using Mac apps instead.

If there really is a slowdown, it's not significant enough for either Jon or I to have noticed it.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
artie505 #50011 09/22/18 06:38 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
There's a new AdBlock app....

I installed the new AdBlock app in a clone to see how it differs from the extension and found two glaring differences, one good...one bad; which is which is a personal decision. tongue

First, as noted in AdBlock's Safari > Prefs > Extensions pane entry, the app (v 1.9.1) is more secure than the extension (v 2.69.0).

Second, AdBlock can no longer "Block an ad on this page", i.e. it can no longer block ANY html element on a page. (I've emailed Rhana at AdBlock and asked if the feature's return is in the cards.)

Personally, I'm willing to forego the security, particularly in a situation who's security has never been in question other than technically, for the "block"
feature; the amount of eye garbage it's removed from assorted website screens is simply amazing!


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
artie505 #50012 09/22/18 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
If there really is a slowdown, it's not significant enough for either Jon or I to have noticed it.

The slowdown warning is, I believe, related to Mojave (MacOS 10.14) which I do not believe either you or Jon are running.

I am currently running MacOS 10.14.1 public beta 1 and other than the aggravation of dismissing all the 32 bit warnings after every update, I have not seen any noticeable performance hit from 32 bit apps in Mojave. I suspect any slowdowns are unnoticeable in normal use, but if I were running heavy duty graphic, audio, or gaming apps that stress an 8 core processor the impact would be apparent.

One thing I am pretty sure you will not like in Mojave is the necessity of going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy after installing or updating many apps to specifically grant that app access to various system functions. My wife calls this Apple's anti-FBI strategy. No it cannot be turned off.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Safari 12 turns off Ghostery
joemikeb #50013 09/22/18 04:57 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
If there really is a slowdown, it's not significant enough for either Jon or I to have noticed it.

The slowdown warning is, I believe, related to Mojave (MacOS 10.14) which I do not believe either you or Jon are running.

There appears to be some confusion about that; I saw similar language on AdBlock's website.

The slowdown warning is actually a function of Safari 12, regardless of OS. (You're correct about my not running Mojave.)

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
One thing I am pretty sure you will not like in Mojave is the necessity of going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy after installing or updating many apps to specifically grant that app access to various system functions. My wife calls this Apple's anti-FBI strategy. No it cannot be turned off.

I don't hate ALL security; I'll have no trouble dealing with it on a once/app basis.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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