Mozilla’s Firefox Focus - No Ad Browser

Published February 17, 2022

Let me start this post by saying that promoting the Mozilla’s Firefox Focus browser is akin to shooting myself in the foot when it comes to earning money on this blog. You will note that I have ads here on Low Tech Grandma. They’re pretty difficult to miss.

The display ads are compliments of Google. Google also controls the ad placement. Personally, I prefer fewer ads on this site, but they serve a purpose. I love blogging here on iPads and Me, but blogging does not pay the bills (yet). So, I allow Google to place ads on the site in an attempt to earn a few shekels. And believe me, that’s exactly what I’ve earned.

How to Avoid Seeing Ads

If you, like me, don’t like seeing ads, you can avoid them altogether by viewing this site or any other site using the Firefox Focus browser. The Focus browser stops all ads, pop-ups, and tracking. I would use it exclusively, but it’s missing a few key features that I need to make my blogging life easier.

More about Firefox Focus

Most of you are already familiar with the Mozilla Firefox browser. Its logo is the cute orange fox. Well, the Focus browser has a purple fox (still cute). For a short down and dirty difference analysis between the two Mozilla browsers, the screen clip explains the difference in a nutshell.

However, if you want a more detailed version of the differences, click on over to Avoidthehack.com and read this comparison.

Why I’m Using Focus

Before I publish my blog posts, I print a copy of them to read away from the computer. The Google ads not only take up screen real estate, but it wastes my printer paper and ink. I’d much prefer a text-only printout.

I happen to use Safari in this instance, but I also use Chrome. Both Safari and Chrome display large Google ads while the Focus browser prevents the ads from showing.  As a result, I get a much cleaner and more efficient printout.

A Browser for Minimalists

Focus has a small footprint so I’m not concerned about it taking up too much space on my hard drive. Since it's a minimalist browser, it does not have the tab feature as other browsers have. But that’s okay. All I want is a clean and noiseless interface to print my post.

The added benefit of using Mozilla’s Focus browser is I can read the news without the onslaught of ads popping up. I can’t tell you how many websites with quality information I’ve clicked away from just because of the ads. Now I can visit them again.

Last Modified: 5 September 2023