Microsoft Edges Ad Blocker Phaseout Leaves Users in a Bind

Microsoft Edge users are facing changes in their browsing experience as the browser phases out older ad blockers. Microsoft is transitioning to the Manifest V3 extensions platform, which will disable MV2 add-ons by default over the next few months. This change affects older extensions like uBlock Origin, which may no longer work on Edge.

Microsoft notes that 95% of MV2 extensions have already moved to MV3, leaving fewer than 60 in the Edge Add-on store still on MV2. However, some popular ad blockers like uBlock Origin do not yet have a suitable replacement in MV3 format. Users who rely on older ad blockers may need to consider alternatives.

One option is to switch to a browser that is not Chromium-based, such as Firefox, which runs on its own Gecko engine and still allows older ad-block extensions. Alternatively, users can try out Opera, which has said it will continue MV2 support for now, but this may end eventually. DuckDuckGo and Brave also offer built-in ad-blocking capabilities.