µMatrix: a better NoScript/µBlock/Ghostery

[th3rEsa]

Yesterday I've stumbled across µMatrix, some extension by one of the two main µBlock developers which basically is a very fine-grained NoScript with "just enough" ad-blocking support. While NoScript works 2-dimensional (allow/deny script x everywhere or nowhere), µMatrix adds a per-site switch:

As you might see, it even blocks ads if you want it to. Rather nice. Bonus improvement: On Windows, replacing NoScript by µMatrix frees 400 MiB of RAM. I have no clue why.

 

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I never used any other type of extension like this before.

I have had to disable it for youtube and plex so far, they would just break. So I suppose it is doing good and if that is the default, its good news.

[Anibal P]

I never used any other type of extension like this before.

I have had to disable it for youtube and plex so far, they would just break. So I suppose it is doing good and if that is the default, its good news.

Pretty much the main problem with apps like this they ALWAYS break more than they fix and for them to "work" you either disable it or set it to be so permissive it's just wasting space 

Gave up on junk apps like this a long time ago, only one I use is an ad blocker as long as it allows whitelisting 

[th3rEsa]

Well, yes, you should set up your permissions once. The thing with µMatrix is that you don't just have the choice to allow YouTube scripts but to explicitly decide on which sites you want to enable them. Yes, by default it works like NoScript in the whitelist mode, but the blacklist mode is just two clicks away.

[Royalty]

I just removed uBlock and installed this and it seemed like Facebook didn't work when I enabled it. Also, how does all the square blocks work? What do they do when I click on them? What would I do if I wanted the maximum protection?

[Ryoken]

uMatrix and uBlock are an epic combo.

So here's how it works, side shows all the sites that are being connected to by that page. Dark Green is the site itself, of a site that is explicitly allowed in your list. Light Green is implicit, normally subdomains. Dark Red is explicitly blocked, light red is again implicitly blocked, which is *normally* any domain that isn't a subdomain of your current site, or otherwise explicitly allowed.

Now the small blocks beside it are for elements on the page that are allowed or blocked. By default iFrames are blocked, images are allowed except on Explicitly blocked domains, and the rest just follows the allowed/blocked domains.

It stores yous allowed/blocked on a session basis, and forgets it after you close the browser. If you want it to remember, or do more fancy stuff, then go into the options --> My rules.

Anything 'matrix-off' is just that, uMatrix is off. After that the pattern is as followes:

Site you are on - Site being connected to - Content - Allow/Block/Inherit

So the default -- * * * block -- is what blocks all domains that aren't the current site you are on, where as * * image allow is what allows all images to load regardless of domain (unless explicitly blocked).

Some of the ones I have in my personal file are ones like - * ajax.googleapis.com * allow, and * code.jquery.com * allow. For obvious reasons.

You can also copy your working list over to the perm list from there.

 

The other handy thing is the blocks based on the hosts file. Now personally I run a modified MVPS hosts file, so I block stuff at that level across any browser. But there are additional hosts files there, which means a lot can be blocked that might get through between my normal updates. This can be super handy when clicking on a link to a random site. If it's blocked outright, I look up why.. normally it's for good reason.. Sometimes it's just tracking/advertising, and I allow it for that session.

There are also a bunch of Privacy settings, but I don't bother with them myself.

[th3rEsa]

I just removed uBlock and installed this and it seemed like Facebook didn't work when I enabled it.

You should allow Facebook to use *.facebook.com scripts/frames/XHRs then. Although I'm pretty much sure that it's overall a good idea to block Facebook.