It is a little unfortunate that much of our online time is spent using a web browser and they are one of the weakest areas that can leave us open to vulnerabilities.

Some of which we can see as they annoy us to death, and many we can’t see as all they do goes on in the background.

Here are some of the best extensions you can add to your browser which will bump up your security and help prevent any hackers from stealing yours, or your family’s information.

Adverts and Popups

No matter where we serve we seem to be bombarded with adverts or never-ending windows or adverts which pop up.

As annoying as they are they can still catch out a good number of people when they are presented with what appears to be something from a legitimate source.

Quickly entering the wrong information when asked can leave a user with a much larger problem.

To stop things of this nature and halt the in surge of would-be hackers the uBlock plug-in can be installed on most browsers. This takes no further set-up after installation and keeps most of these nasty pop-ups at bay.

Unseen Scripts

A lot of sites use scripts which are inserted into a site’s code for legitimate reasons. Many hackers have now cottoned on to this and use the same practice for gaining information or using system resources for their own benefit.

One example being of the cryptocurrency mining that was being performed on user’s computers without their knowledge.

Script blocker once installed will prevent a lot of scripts from running unless users decide to let them run. Any malicious code will be halted which is a good thing. This is one area users don’t see, and anything which stops unseen attacks has to be praised.

An All-In-One Solution

One extension acts like an all-in-one-solution. This is PrivacyBadger, and it is used for script blocking, tracking site blocking, and it also blocks ads.

On the ad side of things it wasn’t designed as an ad-blocker. However, as most ads are generated from scripts, it prevents these by default.

The makers of this extension sum it all up in a straightforward way. If you can see the ad, then they can see you. This is quite logical, and it shows how often we leave ourselves open to hackers every time we go onto the internet.

Another Custom Blocker

Ghostery is another extension which blocks ads, eliminates tracking websites with the ability to tweak it further so you can prevent even more content that can be deemed as malicious.

Your browsing experience e will be freed from clutter when these ads are blocked. And when tracking websites are unable to track you, your whole time online will feel quicker as pages load faster as there is less code being loaded.

Secure Connections

This actually contains two things rather than one of the areas mentioned above. Changes are being made on the internet, and all sites should be https rather than the more conventional HTTP headers of the website address.

At present, though not all sites have switched and it leaves a lot of unencrypted site addresses which can leave users unprotected.

HTTPS Everywhere takes any commands for loading a web page and translates them all before the page is loaded and presented to the end user.

In the short term until all pages are created this way it is the best solution to make sure you are adequately protected. It also has the added benefits of protecting you from a lot of surveillance (you never know who is watching) and your account information falling into the wrong hands.

One further step you can take, although this isn’t an extension as such although some companies offer something very similar.

To adequately protect your connection and lock out any hackers or the chance for you to fall under any surveillance is to get a good VPN which can be worth their weight in gold.

These will protect your connection whether you are in your browser or if you are connecting in any other say such as gaming or a media streaming application which comes with its own application.

There are many of these VPN’s, and some companies do offer in browser extensions. You can check Top50VPN for more options.

This can be a great solution if you are accessing the internet from a public hotspot, but they will only protect you from that browser you are using at the time and more often than not come with limited functionality.