Ghostery Review
Launched in 2009, Ghostery is an ad blocking browser extension available for individual users and companies. Ghostery Marketing Cloud Management is the corporate version of the product and it allows businesses to measure performance and to block trackers on multiple websites. Ghostery is supported for all leading browsers such as Opera, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer. There are also apps available for Android and iOS. Unlike other ad blockers, Ghostery provides specific information about the trackers that it blocks. Its unique design and performance have enabled it to become the favorite choice for many people. In this review, we’ll find out more about what Ghostery offers.
How much does it cost?
The personal edition is available for free and the company makes most of its income from the enterprise version. There are no donation requested and Ghostery doesn’t have a list of acceptable ads, meaning that they don’t allow companies to pay a fee in order to approve “acceptable ads”. Thanks to this, Ghostery offers a better browsing experience.
Chrome version
Chrome users can click on the menu button in the browser and go to More Tools, select Extensions to get Ghostery. Once you are in the Extensions screen, you will be able to choose the option to get additional extensions. Type Ghostery on the left side, several options will appear here. Select the Ghostery extension from www.ghostery.com and click on the add to Chrome button that is under the extensions heading. After clicking the add to Chrome button, click the add extension button.
Once Ghostery is installed, you will be prompted to take a tour. Click on the following two screens. You will be taken to a page where you can determine the types of trackers that you wish to block. Click on the arrows to expand each category, which will give you the chance to select single sources, or the entire category. Once a new page is opened, you will see the blue ghost icon on the corner. This is the Ghostery icon and you need to click on it to see the trackers on the page. When you click on the gear, you get access to the options section. There are three tabs there: General, Advanced and About.
In the General tab, you will be able to choose the option to share data with Ghostery, which gives the extension more information about your browsing preferences. The information can help Ghostery to improve your experience. It is also possible to allow auto updating to make sure that the database stays fresh. Last, but not least, you can select the trackers that you want on, or whitelist some websites.
In the Advanced tab, you will see different options like Display, Blocking, Auto update, Import/Export and Language. You can adjust the settings there to match your preferences. If you want to find out more about Ghostery and contact the team, you can go to the About tab. Finally, after you have changed the settings according to your preferences, you can close Chrome and then open it again.
Ghostery for Firefox
The first thing you need to do to get Ghostery for Firefox is to click on the menu button. Then, click Add-ons and in the search field, type in Ghostery and click Install. Once you have installed the add-on, close and re-open Firefox. You will see the Ghostery icon and the extension is now ready to be used.
You can change the settings by clicking on the Ghostery icon (the ghost) and then click on the three vertical dots, then go to My Ghostery. You will see that the options are located on this page under the headings. Here you can adjust the settings in a similar ways as you would in Chrome. Once you have adjusted all the settings, you can start using Ghostery and enjoy a smoother, safer browsing experience.
Ghostery for Android
Ghostery offers its own Android app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Simply go to the Google Play Store and look for Ghostery Privacy Browser. Click on Install and then open the app. Once you have the app on your Android device, you will be able to select the settings. In the In-App Privacy section, you can click on all or none. Once you have completed the steps, you can see the Ghostery Privacy Browse and in the last image, 20 trackers on the page under the ghost will appear. When you click on the ghost, you will have the chance to change any of the sliders.
Ghostery Privacy Browser for iOS
There is also a version of Ghostery Privacy Browser for iOS and you can get it from the App Store. The app works on iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone and when you are installing it, you will be asked if you want to share tracker data with the Ghostery team. You will be able to manage your privacy preferences. After you have adjusted the settings, you can open the browser. It uses Duck Duck Go as the search engine by default, which offers greater privacy for your searches. Unlike popular search engines like Google, Duck Duck Go is focused on privacy and it won’t collect or share your personal data. When you go to a website, you will see the Ghost symbol for Ghostery. If you click on it, you will see a full list of trackers, all of which will be enabled. There are two ways of blocking them. You ca either go into the settings and block all trackers or clear cookies, cache and enable WiFi protection.
Is it worth using?
When you use Ghostery, the pages you access will load faster since the extension blocks ads and other content that you may not want to see. Still, it is advisable to avoid placing too many blocks to make sure that your browsing is not severely limited. Ghostery stands apart from the competition by providing detailed information about the trackers and allowing you to block them. Ghostery is free, but you can support the extension by providing information that can be used to improve the performance of the extension. However, you don’t have to provide any data if you prefer not to do it. The compatibility is excellent as Ghostery supports multiple browsers and platforms.
Conclusion
Ghostery offers good performance and convenient design. It is updated on a regular basis and it is possible to block individual trackers or all of them. Ease of use is another advantage of Ghostery, as well as the fact that it doesn’t approve acceptable ads, which gives a cleaner browsing experience.