The ultimate guide to ad blocking

Everything I know about ad blockers

Plus: Bitwarden’s price hike, T-Mobile’s better family plan, and the best local weather app

Jared Newman   |   January 27, 2026

Last week, I was exchanging emails with a reader when the topic of ad blockers came up, and what I really wanted to do in that moment was was link to a definitive Advisorator article on the topic.

Too bad I hadn’t written one. While ad blockers can be a great way to make your web browsing experience cleaner and faster, somehow I’d I’ve never stopped back to address the topic holistically.

So, I’ve pulled together a guide for Advisorator members everything you need to know about using an ad blocker, including:

  • How ad blockers work and the benefits of using one (aside from just not seeing ads in your browser).
  • Which ad blockers to use.
  • The potential downsides of using an ad blocker and how to deal with them.
  • Some ways to make your ad blocking experience better.
  • Answers to some common ad blocking questions.

My guide to ad blocking is exclusively for Advisorator’s paying members. Sign up this week to get your first year for $37.50 (that’s 25% off the regular price) to access this guide and all the others I’ve ever written. I plan to publish a lot more of these for members in 2026, this is a great time to get aboard. Thanks for your support!

News in brief

Bitwarden’s price hike: Bitwarden is raising the price of its paid password manager from $10 to $20 per year. Existing subscribers will get their next year for $15 as a one-time loyalty discount. This doesn’t affect Bitwarden’s free version, which remains robust as ever.

As a happy paying customer, I can live with the price hike, but man, am I bothered by the way Bitwarden announced it. The blog post touts an “enhanced premium plan” with “major enhancements” (none of which seem all that major), and you have to scroll way down to see the passive-voice mention of “updated” pricing. Bitwarden’s email notice to customers also obscures the yearly cost, describing it as “$1.65/month, billed annually.”

Bitwarden has always seemed like an honest company providing a valuable service, so it’s disappointing that it’s burying the price hike instead of owning it. Hopefully this is just a case of marketing people dropping the ball, and not a sign of some greater company rot.

New AirTag: Apple’s releasing a second-generation AirTag, five years after the original. It has longer range and a louder speaker, and you can use an Apple Watch (Series 9 or later) to point you to its exact location. Pricing’s unchanged at $29 for one and $99 for four.

Other notable reads:

Tip of the week

The best local weather app: As more than foot of snow came down here in Cincinnati over the weekend, I was reading this 9to5Mac story about why Apple’s default Weather app is often wrong. Whereas meteorologists will draw from various models and add their own expertise, Apple Weather simply provides raw data without context. Many other weather apps have the same problems.

Toward the end of his story, 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller suggested a solution so obvious I’m kicking myself for not considering it sooner: Just download your local news channels’ apps. There you’ll find forecasts informed by local meteorologists, along with human-made videos and summaries, plus closure information in the event of a big storm.

The app experience will of course vary by broadcaster, but I was pleasantly surprised by WCPO and Fox 19 First Alert Weather from Scripps and Gray Television, respectively. Try a few from the stations nearest you to see which one sticks.

Try these apps

Single-page calendar: Neato Calendar is a full-year calendar that will fit on a single, printed page in landscape mode, and you can customize it with the URL parameters listed here. For instance, here’s a 2027 calendar, one that lists moon phases, and one with three-letter weekday abbreviations. Even cooler, you can use this version to include calendar events from an .ICS file, which is how I added the Yankees 2026 schedule as pictured above. (Via Dense Discovery.)

Minimal Windows taskbar: TranslucentTB is a free Windows app that makes the Windows taskbar transparent or translucent. It makes for a neat aesthetic if you don’t have taskbar labels enabled, but the label text can clash with your background if you do.

Spend wisely

T-Mobile’s better family plan: T-Mobile has launched a new “Better Value” plan that actually looks superior to some of its pricier plans. For $140 per month for three lines (and $30 per month for additional lines), it provides unlimited data, 250 GB of hotspot usage, and 30 GB of overseas data. It also includes Netflix (with ads), Hulu (with ads), and a $10 monthly discount on Apple TV.

By comparison, T-Mobile’s “Experience More” plan costs the the same for three or more lines, but excludes Hulu, limits hotspot use to 60 GB, and offers less overseas data. Just one big catch, per TMo Report: Existing customers can only switch if they’ve been with the carrier for at least five years.

For Advisorator members, I’ve updated my guide to picking a data plan with this info, including a plan comparison chart for all the major carriers.

Other notable deals:

Advisorator memberships are on sale!

Sign up this week to get your first year for $37.50, which is 25% off the regular price.

You’re currently reading the free version of Advisorator. As a member, you’ll get my full newsletter every week, plus helpful guides on topics like using an ad blocker, how to stop spam, how to actually use a password manager, and the right way to lock down your accounts. My goal with these guides is to provide straightforward, actionable advice that anyone can follow, and I plan to publish more in 2026.

As always, this newsletter is 100% reader supported with no ads or sponsors. Head straight to the checkout page or hit the button below for more membership details:

Thanks for reading! Catch you next week.

Until then,
Jared

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