Extensions and custom buttons for UXP browsers - Corrections, modifications, adjustments, and special recommendations

[nicolaasjan]

29 minutes ago, Amigafever said:

Ok, for some unknown reason my Pale Moon cannot reach void.gr. Already tried flushing DNS and clearing history/cookies.

I'll just use the githubusercontent.com URL as a custom list for now.

edit: my Android device cannot reach it either. But desktop Firefox can. Perhaps they are using some over-zealous security configuration.

Maybe it's blocked at the DNS level?

Try changing to another primary DNS at the router or in your OS.

I use Quad9 (9.9.9.9). It's fast and blocks malware domains as well. 

[AstroSkipper]

9 minutes ago, AstroSkipper said:

The Greek filter list is reachable here from Germany, too.

[Adblock Plus 1.1]
! Title: Greek AdBlock Filter
! Version: 2023112600
! Expires: 2 days
! Homepage: https://github.com/kargig/greek-adblockplus-filter
! License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

But this list doesn't seem to be maintained on a regular base. I would suggest to look for a suitable replacement. When you find a good one, you can post its link here. I will then update my mod.
 

BTW, the same filter list is used in the most recent webextension uBock Origin 1.57.2 as in the legacy versions: https://www.void.gr/kargig/void-gr-filters.txt

[nicolaasjan]

17 minutes ago, AstroSkipper said:

I would suggest to look for a suitable replacement. When you find a good one, you can post its link here.

Adguard has some well maintained language specific filter lists, but not for Greece...

They do have one for Dutch (and German)

https://adguard.com/kb/general/ad-filtering/adguard-filters/

Quote

 

• Russian filter removes ads from websites in Russian. View rules

• German filter removes ads from websites in German. Originally based on the EasyList Germany filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• French filter removes ads from websites in French. Originally based on the Liste FR filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Japanese filter removes ads from websites in Japanese. Originally based on the Fanboy’s Japanese filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Dutch filter removes ads from websites in Dutch. Originally based on the EasyList Dutch filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Spanish/Portuguese filter removes ads from websites in Spanish and Portuguese. Originally based on the Fanboy’s Spanish/Portuguese filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Turkish filter removes ads from websites in Turkish. Created by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Chinese filter removes ads from websites in Chinese. Originally based on the EasyList China filter and subsequently modified by us according to the complaints from users. View rules

• Ukrainian filter removes ads from websites in Ukrainian. Learn more about this filter on this page. View rules

 

[Amigafever]

Thanks, I tried other DNS servers: didn't work. I then enabled the VPN: it worked. Turned off VPN: still works. Weird glitch. Still unreachable in Android device. I'll also try a router restart.

I don't think there's another local filterlist. I will post if I find something.

For languages/countries not having separate AdGuard filterlists, the AdGuard main filterlist does include several neatly separated entries. Search for "NOTE: " (no quotes) and you will see them.

Edited May 6 by Amigafever

[Amigafever]

Update: I think I've found the culprit. Turns out that after disabling the VPN, I was still unable to connect to void.gr which hosts this filterlist.

So, I went into the Network Connection properties and disabled IPv6. This solves it. Can't understand though why this issue suddenly emerged. I didn't change anything recently and IPv6 was always enabled there. Perhaps something is going on with the router.

[VistaLover]

3 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

But this list doesn't seem to be maintained on a regular base. I would suggest to look for a suitable replacement.

... Not quite  ; the list is actually being updated quasi-frequently, you can see so for yourself by visiting: 

https://github.com/kargig/greek-adblockplus-filter/commits/master/void-gr-filters.txt

(most recent modification was just one week ago), however its maintainer is being remiss  in also updating its version string, which appears to have been stuck at v2023112600 (Nov 26th 2023?) ; if one feels uncomfortable/vexed about this fact, the list's GH issue tracker is 

https://github.com/kargig/greek-adblockplus-filter/issues

FWIW, with just an IPv4 VDSL+ connection inside Greece, the host "void.gr" can be successfully accessed here  ...

[VistaLover]

1 hour ago, Amigafever said:

I went into the Network Connection properties and disabled IPv6. This solves it. Can't understand though why this issue suddenly emerged. I didn't change anything recently and IPv6 was always enabled there. Perhaps something is going on with the router.

... Leave your router alone ; it's NOT the root cause of this issue; a simple test on Qualys SSL Labs will reveal that the host is currently inaccessible via IPv6: 

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=www.void.gr

Edited May 6 by VistaLover

[Amigafever]

Thanks for the extra info, VistaLover! Firefox seems to somehow circumvent this bad server configuration issue.

[nicolaasjan]

What happens in New Moon if you revert your change in Network Connection properties and put the IPv4 address in your HOSTS file:

83.212.168.30 www.void.gr

For starters, see:

https://www.howtogeek.com/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

 

On a non-rooted Android phone it is not possible to modify system files.

That is, not easily; see here.

Quote

Unless I missed something, that is not possible. Without root access only the mechanism of flashing an update (via recovery or OTA) can modify /system. To be accepted, such an update archive must be signed with the same key as the ROM – which is something only the developer of the ROM (here: the LOS team) can do.

There might be a way via a custom recovery which lets you edit all file systems directly (see e.g. twrp). But without knowing what device it is, it cannot be said if a matching recovery exists (you can check that in the Devices section of their website for official images, and search XDA for unofficial ones). Apart from that, it's either rooting the device or not editing any file within /system.

 

 

[Amigafever]

That workaround works nicolaasjan, thanks (Pale Moon). Is it meant to enforce an IPv4 connection?

As for Android, there's really no need to mess with those hacks. The GitHub mirrors are perfectly fine.

If that website doesn't fix its web config, perhaps it's worth considering changing the main filterlist URL?

Edited May 7 by Amigafever

[nicolaasjan]

1 hour ago, Amigafever said:

Is it meant to enforce an IPv4 connection?

Yes, it forces the connection to that specific IPv4 IP address.

Just the same as forcing a block of a connection to a site by:

0.0.0.0 evilsite.com

For example, I have www.facebook.com like that in my hosts file and when I try to get DNS info about it with the `dig` command in Linux, this is the answer:

dig www.facebook.com

; <<>> DiG 9.16.48-Ubuntu <<>> www.facebook.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 23139
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 65494
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.facebook.com.		IN	A

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.53#53(127.0.0.53)
;; WHEN: Tue May 07 16:21:57 CEST 2024
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 45

ANSWER: 0 ; Query time: 0 msec

 

You're only in trouble when the IP address  of void.gr changes.

Quote

If that website doesn't fix its web config, perhaps it's worth considering changing the main filterlist URL?

 

That's up to the maintainer of uBO Legacy.

What you could also do, is tell the maintainer of the list (@kargig) about his website issue on GitHub.

Edited May 7 by nicolaasjan

[Amigafever]

Reported and fixed.

[AstroSkipper]

My German language pack for New Moon 28 - Fixed - Part 4

My last German language pack 28.10.0rc5 from this post had to be fixed again. As reported here by @nicolaasjan, there is a new issue under the menu item Hilfe -> Informationen zur Fehlerbehebung in the most recent release 28.10.7a1 (32-bit) with build ID 20240509133920. Here is a screenshot to demonstrate this issue:



I have fixed this issue and assigned the number 28.10.0rc6 to the new, corrected version. Here is a screenshot taken from the fixed version:



And here is the download link of the updated, German language package in version 28.10.0rc6 for the more recent versions of New Moon 28 starting from build ID 20240509133920: https://www.mediafire.com/file/3ffij6q50yi2wjb/de-28.10.0_RC6.xpi/file

Greetings from Germany, AstroSkipper

Edited May 14 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

There is a lot that can be done to improve New Moon 28 on computers low on resources.

7 hours ago, Kmuland said:

Really appreciated the info!!! I conserve cleanmem as best memory manager but I have to learn how to config it properly. Currently Im testing with old FF memory extensions and really dows not help a lot. Ill install Lull The Tabs  now... and test it. My best memory save trick for NM28 is to open a new window instead of a new tab and close the old window to really free up the memory.

The extension Custom Buttons is very low in consuming resources. Once installed, you are able to use some custom buttons to improve the performance of New Moon 28. Read here: Toggle GIF Animation, Pref Toggler and Restart & Purge.  One idea is to disable all animations and autoplay functions. Set the pref image.animation_mode from value normal to none! And then use the custom button Toggle GIF Animation to temporarily enable such animations when needed. And I would recommend one of the PM extensions to control media autoplay. There are three candidates. Try them and decide yourself! Furthermore, you should consider to use the script manager Greasemonkey 3.31.4. By using scripts you can improve web compatibility, solve problems or annoyances and much more. 

Edited May 13 by AstroSkipper
Correction

[AstroSkipper]

@Kmuland Another great extension to easily adjust rather hidden settings of your New Moon 28 browser is Pale Moon Commander in version 3.0.1. This extensions also offers  performance settings. An interesting and also effective measure in reducing RAM usage is rebasing the file xul.dll from New Moon's programme folder. Personally, I do that each time a new version is released. The tool I use for rebasing is libase. And finally, I'll post here soon another nice custom button which also helps a bit (especially after the starting the browser) to minimize RAM usage of legacy browsers.

Greetings from Germany, AstroSkipper

Edited May 13 by AstroSkipper
Correction