I’ve tried a bunch of ad blockers over the years, and some of them ended up doing weird stuff — like redirecting my searches or slowing down my browser. One even made my YouTube homepage glitch out. Now I’m more cautious, but there are so many options out there that it’s hard to tell which ones are actually safe. What do you usually check before installing an ad blocker? Is there a clear way to spot a trustworthy one?

Yeah, I’ve been through the same mess. A lot of shady ad blockers copy popular names and sneak in extra tracking or ads of their own. Now I only download from official websites and check if the program asks for unnecessary permissions. I remember reading that Adblock360 is not malware — they explain how to verify that you’re getting the real version and not a fake. That kind of transparency always makes me feel more confident.

Before installing anything new, I always look at the community feedback — like reviews on tech forums or Reddit threads. It’s usually easy to spot patterns in real users’ experiences. I also scan the installer with VirusTotal, just in case. It doesn’t take long and gives some peace of mind. Most of the time, if a program is clean and legit, other users will confirm it quickly.