I&#x27;m a freelance writer. What little money I make is usually connected to advertising in some way. So, I&#x27;ve generally been against ad blockers.<p>But lately, I&#x27;ve been considering it.<p>More and more I&#x27;m coming across web sites that are just supposed to display a text article that are unusable, either loading painfully slowly on my aging PC that isn&#x27;t getting upgraded any time soon, or completely freezing my browser.<p>While I couldn&#x27;t say for certain the exact cause, the problem almost always exists on a site with an auto-playing video ad in the sidebar.<p>Heck, I have no problem watching an HD stream on Twitch.tv while having 40 browser tabs and other apps open but as soon as there&#x27;s an ad break, my whole computer grinds to a halt.<p>I don&#x27;t want to deprive anyone of money but in the last few months, online ads have started affecting my ability to use my computer. And that&#x27;s on top of the privacy issues and the occasional malware dumps through ads.