Have you noticed how cluttered and obnoxious the web is at times? For example, cookie banners and blinding white themes are a constant barrage of annoyance and distraction. Thankfully, modern web extensions solve many of those problems, but there are a few essentials that I can’t live without.
6BlockTube: Beat the Algorithm and Reclaim Your Recommendations
Science fiction has been warning us for years that AI would destroy humanity, and we all thought it would appear like the Terminator with all guns blazing, but the reality is more like a boring dystopia. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook all have AI-driven recommendation algorithms, each rotting our brains one piece of content at a time.
YouTube’s recommendation system is wild; if you watch one video about AI, it takes over your feed for about two weeks. A siege of FOMO (fear of missing out) and endless hype relentlessly bombards my fragile, squishy little human mind without mercy. It seems like YouTube punishes us for being inquisitive. We need a hero to counterbalance this assault;where is John Connor? Cue BlockTube.
BlockTube isn’t the most creative name, and it doesn’t have the most inventive UI either, but the idea behind it is great. For one, you’re able to block videos and channels from appearing on your YouTube feed by simply clicking on an icon next to the video thumbnail.
However, blocking videos and channels directly isn’t its most useful feature; instead, that’s reserved for the keyword filter.
For example, I have filters for AI, artificial intelligence, GPT, and so on, and no videos with such titles will appear in my feed. That allows me to take back control of the content that I consume, not only because it blocks desired videos, but also because it controls the signal that I feed back to YouTube. If I can’t see certain videos, I won’t click on them, and YouTube stops suggesting them. It’s like cultivating a perfect garden, trimming off the topics that bother me, and letting the ones that interest me grow. I’d put this add-on in the category of health and safety, to be truthful, and it’s an absolute must-have.
BlockTube is available on boththe Chrome Web Storeandthe Firefox AMO. It’s also free and open-source software (FOSS).
5I Still Don’t Care About Cookies—Yes, Still
It’s 2025, and my browser has been asking me relentlessly (compelled by law), since 2011, if it’s okay to use cookies—15-20 times a day for fourteen years. That’s potentially over 102,000 times that it has asked me the same question, over and over—it drives me nuts. Yes! I still don’t care about cookies! Only out-of-touch bureaucrats could have come up with such a law, and it doesn’t change anything. Before, websites just tracked me; now, they annoy me before tracking me. It’s obvious that I need a solution, and I Still Don’t Care About Cookies is it.
Again, this web extension has a silly name, but it’s usually one of the first that I install. Its function is simple: websites annoy me; this extension shuts them up. It achieves this by accepting whatever cookie settings that websites request, because “I still don’t care about cookies.” Some of you may disagree with this approach, but there are two reasons why it’s okay:
IStillDon’t Care About Cookies is a fork of the extension I Don’t Care About Cookies, which was acquired by Avast in 2022, and one can only speculate about their intention. Since 2024, I Still Don’t Care About Cookies hasn’t received any updates, but it still works and is functional—I still use it. It’s available onthe Firefox AMOandthe Chrome Web Store.
4Cookie AutoDelete: I Said I Don’t Care About Cookies
I just said that I don’t care about cookies, and it’s because Cookie AutoDelete (CAD) deletes them automatically. Every time I leave a website, CAD deletes all cookies that are not whitelisted. I have used CAD for years because it’s reliable. I simply define what cookies that I want to keep, and it frequently destroys everything else. This keeps my sessions neat and tidy, with zero effort.
Cookie consent banners save your preferences in a cookie, even if it’s an objection. But CAD deletes all cookies, including those consent preferences, so websites continually ask me the same question every time I visit them. This is why I Still Don’t Care About Cookies is essential for me: it manages cookie banners automatically, so I can let CAD delete all cookies without their constant badgering.
CAD allows you to save cookies permanently (whitelist) or until you close the browser (gray list). There are also additional options to automatically delete cookies when you change domains, close the browser, or start it.
To understand more about cookies, see our post onwhy you should delete your cookies regularly, or another post that explains thedifferent types of browser cookies.
CAD is a FOSS extension that has been around for years. It’s available onthe Firefox AMOandthe Edge Add-on Store.
3SponsorBlock: Skip the Noise, Not the Content
2Dark Reader: Save Your Eyes and Your Energy Bill
Before dark mode was common, opening my laptop was like opening a sunbed. There were times that I genuinely considered wearing sunglasses just to browse the web. If I have to break out a Geiger counter just to use my computer, then something is off.
Dark Reader does one thing, and does it well: it sets all websites to dark mode, saving my eyes, skin, health, and the environment. Almost every website I visit works flawlessly; however, it does provide switches and sliders to adjust site-specific colors in the rare instances that it does not. Now I don’t need to lather on the sunscreen just to perform a Google search.
Dark Reader is a recommended extension onthe Firefox AMO,which means it passes Mozilla’s stringent code reviews. It’s also available onthe Chrome Web Store.
1Vimium: The Hacker’s Browser
No, not the Hollywood bad guys. Vim—another piece of software—is an advanced text editor with a very enthusiastic user base, and for some Vim users, the termhackertakes on a different meaning. Some Vim users refer to themselves as hackers because they constantlyhackon their configuration. It’s a little cringey, but Vim is arguably one of the greatest tools ever built. So, all things considered, I’ll give them a pass.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, Vimium brings Vim keyboard shortcuts (aka keymaps) to the browser. Vimium is important to me because once I mastered Vim keymaps, using normal (non-Vim) software became difficult. It’s both a blessing and a curse, because Vim keymaps improve my efficiency drastically, but I no longer feel comfortable with 99% of the software out there. I wait patiently for the day that a browsernativelysupports Vim keymaps, but for now I am stuck with Vim web extensions, and honestly, Vimium is decent.
Vim keymaps are burned directly into my brainstem at this point. When I use a normal text box in a web browser, I feel utterly lost and instinctively start mashing on the keyboard, wondering why nothing works. There are many Vim-based web extensions out there, but Vimium is the one that I’ve settled on for now. I will spare you the boring details of every feature and sum it up with one simple fact: I don’t need to use a mouse, and I love that.
There are several other key features that make Vimium indispensable, like a custom web search box that I can program with different search engines. For example, I can hit the O key, typeh, and it activates a custom Google search query for How-to Geek, all without touching the mouse.
Vimium is available for both Firefox and Chromium-based browsers, and it’s always the first web extension that I install. You can find it onthe Firefox AMO,Chrome Web Store, and the Edge Add-on Store.
These are time-tested extensions that I have used for years. Each addresses a different annoyance that makes the modern web unbearable. A testament to how valuable they are is how I feel when I don’t have them, and in most cases, the web feels like a completely different place.
Although Vimium is my favorite, I find that BlockTube yields a lot of value. BlockTube, although basic, doesn’t just make the web more bearable; it makes content safer. When I can influence the social media algorithms in a way that benefits me, I see less emotionally provocative and more beneficial content, which has long-term health benefits.
