Quick Tip: Disable Those “Sign In With Google” Pop Ups
Fed up with those "Sign in with Google" pop-ups?
We can use UBlock Origin to eliminate them when we do NOT want to sign into a website with Google.
IMPORTANT: UBlock Origin will no longer work in Google Chrome in the near future, so this tip will not work in Chrome at that point (but that can be delayed - see below. It'll still work in Firefox, too.
Go to this page for a sample annoyance: https://stackoverflow.com
According to Steve on what is now the most recent episode of the Security Now podcast, he has learned of an easier and more effective solution to this problem than the origin solution he found a week ago. You can still find his original solution in a "Bonus Tip" below.
Some listeners pointed out to him that the ability to block these annoying "Sign In With Google" pop-ups already exists within uBlock Origin, it's just that few people know it exists, or how to turn that on. So, let's solve that right now.
- Click the uBlock Origin icon.
- Click the “gears” icon to open uBO's preferences.
Click Image To View Larger Version
- Go to the "Filter Lists" tab.
- Scroll down to the aptly titled "Annoyances" section. Click the down arrow to expand that.
- You'll see several checkboxes next to each "EasyList" and "AdGuard" list. Click the checkboxes at the top of those lists to select them all
- Click "Apply Now" at the top to turn them on.
Now, breathe a sigh of relief that you should never have to deal with that garbage again.
It's worth noting here that Chrome will disable the ability to auto-update these frequently and diligently volunteer-updated lists, so at some point you'll need to click the "Update Now" button at the top as well, then "Apply Now".
To be clear: you can do this in ANY browser that supports the uBlock Origin browser extension. The screenshot above is from Firefox.
Bonus Tip
Click Image To View Larger Version
- Switch to the “My filters” tab
- Click in the empty black space to the right of the vertical numbers "1, 2, 3, 4"
- Add these two lines:
! Block "Sign in with Google" iframe in top right corner of websites
||accounts.google.com/gsi/iframe
Click “Apply changes” ... and you'll never see them again (hopefully).
If you refresh that StackOverflow page you'll see that the pop-up is gone. Reddit.com is another good example, along with countless others.
If you should ever wish to “Sign in with Google”, you can simply disable uBlock Origin for any given website, and refresh the page to obtain that pop-up again.
A huge shoutout to Steve Gibson from GRC.com for sending out a bonus newsletter with just this tip, because he clearly feels very strongly about this!
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