All of the major desktop browsers have plug-ins that handily eliminate the majority of ads, but what do you do when you’re on your phone? Sure, there are third-party browsers that allow plug-ins, but what if you’re stuck on (or prefer) the stock browser?

Lucky for you, AdFree Android does exactly this.

IMPORTANT NOTE: AdFree Android requires that you have root access. If you do not have root, it won’t work at all. Applications like AdFree Android are just one of the many benefits of rooting your phone. For more, check out Why You Should Root Your Android Phone.

Unlike most browser extensions that block ads at the browser level, AdFree Android works by blocking them at the operating system level by modifying your phone’s hosts file.

Setting up AdFree Android is a cinch. After downloading it from the Android Market, go ahead and open it up. Like all root applications, it will ask for superuser permissions which you should grant. There are a few options from the main menu, but the one you want now is right at the top – Download & Install Hosts.

Clicking the button will do exactly what it says, and give you a prompt saying if it was successful. That’s it! If you know what they do you can play around with the other options, but for normal use the defaults work fine.

Ads in a desktop environment are annoying, but in a mobile setting they can seriously impede your browsing experience. Ads that demand your attention by clicking to remove them can be difficult to dismiss with a touch screen. If you’re on a metered data plan, they consume precious bandwidth. With AdFree Android, however, ads become a thing of the past.

AdFree Android can be downloaded from the Android Market here, or by scanning the QR Code below. If you find AdFree Android useful, consider donating to the developers.

The post Banish In-Browser Advertisments On Your Android Phone With AdFree first appeared on Techerator.

Facebook explains:

Facebook occasionally pairs advertisements with relevant social actions from a user’s friends to create Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. These respect all privacy rules.

So what does that mean?  Well, if I was to add “amateur science” to my interests, you could legitimately see something like this on your main page:

While there isn’t anything particularly harmful about this type of advertising, it is making you an unknowing spokesperson for something you might not want to publicly support.  Even worse, this feature is enabled by default and hidden deep within your privacy settings.

Here’s how to prevent your likeness from being used in Facebook ads:

1. Click Settings –>  Privacy –> News Feed and Wall
2. Click the easily-neglected Facebook Ads tab at the top of this page
3. Set the Appearance in Facebook Ads field to ‘No one’
   

You’ll now be free of any accidental or unknown participation in Facebook advertisements.

What are your thoughts about Facebook’s decision to include you in advertisements by default?  Share them in the comments.

The post Facebook Can Use Your Likeness in Advertisements Unless You Disable It first appeared on Techerator.