I appreciate all the free stuff that’s available on the Internet, and I know that much of it is available due the the presence of advertising.  That’s why I’m somewhat conflicted about the use of AdBlockers, and haven’t used one for at least 3 years (since I switched from Firefox to Safari, but that’s another story).

I don’t know what the final straw was that led me to seek out an AdBlocking solution for Safari, but whatever it was, I’m thankful that it came.  A quick Google search led me to highly rated AdBlock for Safari, written by Michael Gundlach.  After a bit of research to learn what there was to learn about it before installing, I took the plunge.

The software is simple to install and the instructions are clear at every step along the way.  It works really well, and will automatically update itself when a new version is released.  According to this interview with Gundlach, only one user in a thousand donates anything for the product, so I resolved to use it for a while, and if I found it useful that I would make a donation.  Let’s just say that my expectations were exceeded.

A few days after my donation, I received this message from Michael in my inbox:

Hi there!

I wanted to say thanks for paying for AdBlock at http://chromeadblock.com/pay .
I wrote AdBlock hoping to make people’s lives better, and you just told me that
I managed to do it 🙂 Thank you very, very much! You are so great!

It’s been over a year since I quit my job, asking my users to pay what they can
afford for AdBlock to fund its development. Most users (like, 99%) choose NOT
to pay, so you should know that I appreciate your support that much more!

In any case, Katie and I feel that this is important work, so I’ll keep working
on AdBlock as long as I am able. You’re helping us continue on our path… did
I say thank you yet? Thank you! 😀

Happy ad blocking,
– Michael

 

So AdBlock for Safari is free and definitely worth a few minutes of your time to install, as well as at least a few bucks for the effort that Michael has put in to making this product available.  Download AdBlock for Safari here now.

Edit: Michael is also the creator of Chrome AdBlock software, which I haven’t used, but suspect performs just as well as the Safari version.  You can see in Michael’s thank you message that it says thank you for paying for Chrome AdBlock. I guess he just sees payments and doesn’t know where they come from, although it would be interesting to see if Chrome or Safari users are more likely to make a donation.