Over 40 million people have downloaded AdBlock, a free program for blocking ads on the Web. We were skeptical initially but are now converts.
Often, when a website comes in slowly it's because it's loading ads. Lately, Joy's computer has been so slow, she could put on water for tea and come back before the site had loaded. Then she loaded Adblock, and it helped. It counts the ads it kills and gives you totals; it knocked off 2,500 in the first week.
What made Bob turn to AdBlock was pants. He bought some pants online and by the next day the entire clothing business had ads for pants on whatever website he called up. It was clear to the nitwits in marketing that this guy obviously had an endless desire for pants. After installing Adblock, they were blocked. ("Honest: I bought two pairs of pants, guys. That's it. I don't need more pants.")
The same thing happens with this column. If we write about printers, every public relations outfit in the known universe starts sending us pitches for printers. It's like, "Hey these guys are writing about printers, let's load 'em up. Obviously they are now going to write about printers for the rest of their lives. It's a no brainer." At least no brains seem to have been involved.
AdBlock is one of two prominent blocking programs, each made by a different company. Both are free. Adblock works with Chrome, Safari and Opera browsers. If you use some other Web browser, like Firefox or Internet Explorer, it won't work. Adblock Plus works on cellphones and any Web browser. However, to make money, it began unblocking ads from 70 companies last September. As a result, the Interactive Advertising Bureau dumped it from its annual conference. The company claims it still blocks the most intrusive ads. But if you use Firefox, consider Ublock. For Edge, Microsoft's new version of Internet Explorer, try Adguard, which unfortunately costs $20 a year. To find any of these, just Google their name.
Sometimes, you'll go to a site that won't let you in if you want you to block their ads. We ran into that for Forbes magazine. (Okay, you don't want us to block your ads, we won't look at your magazine. We fail to understand how that helps you gain readers.)
Free Credit Scores
Joy was pleased with our credit score after we let WalletHub.com evaluate us. Last December WalletHub became the first website to offer free credit scores, full reports and a financial fitness analysis.
We learned on the site that it's better to keep your credit card for a long time if you want to improve your score. Our average card is 4 years old. That's considered new. (We can't help but be tempted by new cash-back offers, and we tend to cancel old cards to avoid fees or prevent confusion.)
Internuts
-- "22 Life Hacks You'll Wonder How You Did Without." Search on those words to find some surprising tips. For example, to remove wrinkles from your shirt, throw it in the dryer with some ice cubes and let it rip, so to speak, for five minutes.
-- "Grab Your Fork and Travel Back in Time With These Old USDA Dietary Guidelines." The U.S. government recently changed their dietary guidelines for the umpteenth time. For instance, for a time, butter and margarine were their very own healthy food group.
Good Reader Tip
We aren't the only ones who have become frustrated with HP printers. A reader sent us a link to a YouTube video with the title "HP Photosmart Won't Print Black Ink."
It turned out our own problem just involved cleaning the printhead. This is easy to do. Click the "all apps" or "all programs" link on your Windows PC, then find the printer software. Then click "maintenance," and "clean printhead," or words to that effect.
Our reader had his first HP problem after installing so-called third-party ink. Nowadays, HP won't even let you print if you don't use HP cartridges. This is also true for many other manufacturers because ink is where they make their money. In our reader's case, after three or four days repeatedly cleaning the printhead, it wasn't dead any more, but it was still crippled. He bought a new printhead for $67 and then had to buy all new ink cartridges.
(It's not that we are against HP printers, we have one on our desk right now. It's that we don't like these kinds of business practices.)
App Happy
-- "YouCam Makeup." Bob has long maintained that women look fine without makeup. The world isn't listening to Bob. "YouCam Makeup," a free app, has now been downloaded over 100 million times. It lets you try on makeup virtually, using your own photos.
-- "Docady" makes it easier to organize all your important documents. It pulls them from various online locations, such as email or online storage services such as iCloud and Dropbox, and sends you reminders when anything is about to expire, such as your passport.
-- "DriveMode" is a free app for Android users who want to use their apps in the car without getting distracted. It gives you a blank screen for all apps -- messaging, navigation, music, etc. Use voice control to change the Pandora radio station, listen to a text message and search for directions. The app creators were developers and advisors for Tesla and ZipCar.
-- "FingerCheck 360" is a smart phone app for handling payroll. It costs $6 per employee per month. It combines time tracking and payroll so you don't have to re-enter hours worked. When workers clock in, the payroll data gets entered automatically. Taxes are calculated as well.
Bob and Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at bobschwa@gmail.com and joydee@oncomp.com.
SundayMonday Business on 02/01/2016