Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Make Google Chrome more like Opera or Firefox (Ad Blocking and Gesture Support)

Like many of you, I excitedly download the new Google Chrome browser moments after it was available for download.

I was impressed by the speed of the new Javascript engine, V8, and had always liked the speed and cleanliness of the Webkit engine when I started using it in Safari.

However, like many of you guys, I quickly realized that this new browser is not without it's shortcomings.

Firefox users bemoan the lack of extensions support, making must-have extensions like Adblock Plus out of reach. Opera users don't like that there is no gesture browsing.

Well, in this post, I'll show you how to put some of that functionality into Windows, so that you can continue to enjoy the web, except faster, and in the new Google Chrome browser.

Blocking ads

First thing we're going to do is restore Adblock type capabilities into the browser.

We're going to use HostsMan for this. This will install an ad blocking hosts file into Windows, so that when your browser tries to lookup something like doubleclick.net, it won't actually go to Doubleclick, and will instead display nothing.

The nice thing about this method is that it is actually cross browser, so it will actually work in IE6/7, Firefox, whatever, without any extensions.

So once you have it installed, do the following steps:
  • Open it up
  • It should look like this:

  • Go to Hosts > Check for Updates

  • Now, select MVPS Hosts, Mike's Ad Blocking Hosts, and Peter Lowe's Adservers List. Select "Overwrite current Hosts", and hit Update. Here's a screenshot of how it looks before you click Update:

Now hit close. You can exit from Hostsman, and ads will be blocked in all browsers now.

Mouse gestures

Now, for all you Opera fans out there, we all know that you guys like gesture browsing. For the newcomers out there, this basically means that you can hold down the right button on your mouse, move the mouse, and some action is performed.

Trust me, it gets addictive.

Now, you can install gesture support in Windows, but unlike Hostsman, it's not freeware. If you like the product, please pay for it.

Anyway, it's called StrokeIt. Download and install it. When it asks you to reboot, you can reboot, or just say no, and start it from your Start menu.

StrokeIt will add a white mouse icon into your system tray, so let's click on that.



Something like this window should appear:



I've gone ahead and created a config file for Google Chrome, which you can download here.

Now, simply go to File > Import config and import the simple_google_chrome.sxp file that you downloaded.



I have made it extremely simple, and only included back and forward, which you can perform by holding down your right click button and moving the mouse from right to left, and left to right, respectively.

I hope this helps you experience the browser more effectively! :)

Stuff to download

HostsMan Add ad blocking to your Windows install.
StrokeIt Add gestures to your Windows install.
simple_google_chrome.sxp Google Chrome gestures to be used with StrokeIt.

42 comments:

Maciej Pietruszka said...

Good article!
Found it very useful

Another lacknes I discovered is synchronisation of bookmarks between chrome installed on 2 different computers

eteran said...

Cool, thanks for that tip. Very helpful.

Unknown said...

I have made an expanded gesture import for Opera-like functionality, you can find it here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/142883563/google_chrome_opera_gestures.sxp.html

Unknown said...

Thanks for the information. Mouse gestures now up and running.

Unknown said...

You know what's weird? I imported bookmarks from Firefox into Chrome, and it seems like it also imported Mouse Gestures and Superstars for Gmail, two Firefox add-ons I was using and liked. Both work in Chrome, which makes me happy, but I've really no idea how they got there.... Hmm.

kite said...

Thank you for providing the download for the Chrome functions in Strokeit. I've used Strokeit for years, but for the life of me just could not get it to work for Chrome. I've wasted most of my Sunday trying to get it to work. I was about ready to chuck the whole thing out the window when I stumbled on this.

The Fuzz said...

great browser like it a lot

Sam said...

I was able to import the file to StrokeIt with no problem, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on Chrome. Are there any other steps I'm missing?

Unknown said...

Ad-Blocking is BAD!! You should read my article on this subject Anti-Ad Blocking

I happen to think ad-blocking is out of line. It costs the publishers thousands of dollars a year to accommodate for people who want to skim the content and refuse to provide the publishers with any value in return. Consuming content is part of modern living, you cant get a news paper or magazine without ads, nor can you get you TV shows without them, despite the use of DVRs which is made for replay, not for skipping ads.

I liken the ad blocking to stealing. I dont think anyone would want to be on the other side, trying to eek a living from our creativity. Why are actors and musicians entitled to make money from people consuming their artistic works and web masters are not?

I have collected a whole lot of information on this subject and have recently release a technology that bypasses ad-blocking software. Of course it is up to the web master to use this Anti-Ad blocking technology with caution. With the power to deliver ads at their whim it must be critical for the publisher to recognize what is a good mix of ads and content. If people come to your site and are bombarded with ads every time the visit they will soon quit visiting your website.

I enable the publisher to deliver ads, if they abuse the tool its not my fault. People will vote with their clicks in the end.

Thats how it should be. I think that people will figure that in order to consume good content they will have to deal with the ads. Thats a fact of life and it will remain that way if I have anything to say about it.

Ciao.

Dylan Rosario
adUup - President and Inventor

EditorPinoy said...

Hi!

I agree with you all that Chrome is good... But...

techmata.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-firefox-and-opera-are-better-than.html

techmata.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-i-choose-firefox-rather-than-opera.html

Not inline with the topic but, These might help ^_^

David said...

you guys need to try gMote at www.handform.net It does gestures plus you can gesture other software programs were 3 different programs can do the same gesture. its cool.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

If ads wouldn't try to take over my browser and flash at me and go on top of the content that I've gone to a web site to read, I'd be happy to leave them alone.

However, enough ads are obnoxious and obscure the information I'm on the internet to get, that I don't feel bad about nuking them.

If there were standards for ads that made them less obnoxious, I wouldn't feel the need to get rid of them in the first place.

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Owen Campbell-Moore said...

I have another program that provides chrome mouse gestures with a few key advantages:

It has a massive memory and CPU advantage, Rocker uses only using 1,400K of memory when loaded, plus it's open source and requires no install :). Very lightweight but functional, just how Chrome was intended.

http://domainrange.blogspot.com/2009/05/chrome-mouse-gestures.html

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LiveEdge said...

If you want mouse gestures with chrome trye LiveEdge at www.zebware.tk. I use it all the time with chrome.

Anonymous said...

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TedInAK said...

StrokeIt is a great program, been using it for about 4 years now. Truly one of the programs on my computer that I can't live without. But one thing you mentioned, you said it wasn't freeware. It might not truly be freeware, but it is free for non-commercial usage. Quoted from StrokeIt's website:

Is it really free?
Yes, StrokeIt is free for individual and not-for-profit charitable entity use (excluding governmental entities and educational institutions).

I do recommend purchasing it though, since it is only $10usd.

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