A study by PageFair revealed that ad blocker usage surged by 30% in 2016 alone, reflecting a growing public concern for privacy and uninterrupted browsing.
Fast-forward to today, and the numbers are even more dramatic. According to Forbes, Americans are bombarded with over 5K ads per day. That’s a stark increase, which ramps up the urgent need for comprehensive tools that shield against digital clutter.
And Surfshark’s CleanWeb is the tool to do it. It’s an advanced feature designed to keep your browsing experience clean.
CleanWeb isn’t just about blocking ads. It’s about reclaiming control. By eliminating intrusive ads, trackers, and cookie notifications, CleanWeb ensures a smoother, faster, and more enjoyable browsing experience that no longer comes at the cost of personal privacy.
CleanWeb is part of Surfshark VPN
CleanWeb is one of many additional features you get with Surfshark VPN. It comes with a VPN subscription at no extra cost and can be accessed via a browser extension or the app.
While Surfshark VPN encrypts your internet connection and keeps your online identity private, CleanWeb takes it further, shielding you from intrusive ads.
Why should you use CleanWeb?
CleanWeb offers 4 functionalities: ad blocker, pop-up blocker, data breach alert, and malware alert.
Besides blocking browser ads and banners, the ad blocker can block video ads. Yes, you read that right. You can enjoy smoother and safer entertainment.
Moving on, CleanWeb has an integrated cookie pop-up blocker. It will refuse (or accept the mandatory) annoying cookie consent requests before they appear on your screen, so you won’t have to deal with space-taking cookie pop-ups.
Last but not least, the feature offers data breach & malware alert functionalities, so you can see which websites were leaked or infected with malware in the past.
It’s worth mentioning that all four functionalities are available only via the Surfshark browser extension and work only on a browser level. If you use CleanWeb within the Surfshark app, you’ll only get the ad blocker functionality.
Step-by-step: getting started with CleanWeb
Installation
First, you need an active Surfshark subscription.
Then, you have to install your Surfshark app or browser extension (or use both). Keep in mind that browser extensions offer more functions for the same price. Surfshark offers Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge browser extensions — all boosted with CleanWeb.
How to turn on ad & cookie pop-up blockers on browser extension
Once you have your subscription and an installed Surfshark browser extension, open it on your preferred browser and click on the CleanWeb icon.
After that, the CleanWeb menu will appear. Here, press Turn on CleanWeb to activate it.
Once on, you can see what website it is currently working on and can turn it off for this specific website — it will be added to a list of websites unaffected by CleanWeb.
To access the ad blocker and pop-up blocker features, click CleanWeb settings. Here, you can toggle the Ad blocker to remove ads on the web pages you visit or the Pop-up blocker to block cookie pop-ups that you need to agree to in order to visit the websites.
How to turn on data breach & malware alerts on browser extension
Data breach & malware alerts are called website safety warnings within the Surfshark browser extension. To access it, open the browser extension and click the Settings tab.
Here, you’ll see the Website safety settings tab. Click on it.
Here you can toggle:
- Data breach alert — this tool will show whether the website you are visiting has had any breaches in the past. If it has, you will see a warning at the top of the page.
- Malware alert — this tool monitors downloads and malicious activities happening on the website that you are visiting.
How to turn on CleanWeb on the Surfshark app
If you decide to use CleanWeb within the Surfshark app, here’s how to do it:
1. Open your Surfshark app.
2. Click on the Settings icon.
3. Go to VPN settings.
4.Press on the CleanWeb toggle.
CleanWeb is more than an ad blocker
Ads and various pop-ups have become an unavoidable part of our daily browsing. With the number of ads seen per day rising, it’s crucial to take action. That’s where CleanWeb steps in, shielding you from ads, cookie pop-ups, and even malware & data breaches.
Try CleanWeb yourself. Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can test Surfshark’s CleanWeb for a month and experience the web like it was before marketing happened.