Adblocker uBlock Origin gets traffic block option on browser launch

Adblocker uBlock Origin gets the option to block network traffic in Chromium browsers before the browser is launched. The plugin is waiting for filter lists to load. The program also gets a dark mode.

The changes are in uBlock Origin 1.41.0, which has been available since Wednesday. The new version includes an option to block all network traffic in the browser until the add-on’s filter lists are loaded. This option is mainly interesting for Chrome and other Chromium browsers such as Edge, because they sometimes load pages at startup. This happens, for example, if the browser closes unexpectedly. The feature is enabled by default, but can be turned off.

UBlock Origin is also getting a dark mode. Users can enable these in the settings. In this mode it is possible to choose an accent color. The developers also fixed a bug. This bug prevented videos on websites using FingerprintJS V3 from launching. The minimum system requirements for the plugin have increased; from now on, at least Firefox 68, Chromium 66 or Opera 53 is required. For the latter browser, the add-on has not yet been approved at the time of writing.