Ninja Cookie: This browser extension is the ultimate productivity hack
I spend so much of my day driving a web browser that I've made it a bit of a mission in life to find things that make my browser experience better and smoother. I've tested all sorts of productivity extensions, from tab managers to password managers to note-taking apps.
They really help to make my browsing experience better and smoother.
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But there's a new scourge plaguing the internet -- cookie banners and popups.
I hate these things. I doubly hate them when they force me to have to click an option rather than just ignore them. Sure, I know that they are in response to EU regulations, and that website owners had little choice but to implement something like this, but everything about "cookie banners" is terrible.
But we have to make the most of what we have.
Right now, I sort of randomly jab at the banners and popups. I'm not really all that concerned about cookies, and just want to get on with my day.
Dealing with these cookie notifications has become a tax I pay to use the internet.
Until now.
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Enter Ninja Cookie, a browser extension that that automatically removes cookie banners by rejecting non-essential cookies.
Yup, it's that simple.
I hadn't realized how much time and effort I spent dealing with these popups. It's a bit like how I felt after subscribing to YouTube Premium. I just hadn't comprehended how much effort I was putting into skipping ads (and yes, I know I could have used an ad blocker, but I'm choosing to support content creators).
I've tried a lot of productivity extensions, but I'm convinced that this is the best. It takes an annoying speed bump and removes it.
If it messes up a site in a bad way -- I've not seen that happen, but it might -- there's the ability to disable it for a tab. Alternatively, there's also the ability to create custom rules, although I've not investigated that feature yet.
In general use, it seems great. I've not seen a cookie banner or popup since installing it. However, when I tried to simulate cookie banners by seeking out examples, I noticed that it allowed some. I'm assuming that this is based on the block list. So, don't be surprised to see it allowing banners on some sites.
For me, Ninja Cookie has been one of those "fire and forget" extensions. It just works. If it reduced cookie annoyances by 50 percent, I'd be happy with that. But so far, it's been great.
The Ninja Cookie extension is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and there's even one for Safari, but that extension is still in beta.
All my testing was done in Chrome, so I can't speak for the performance on other browsers, but I'm very pleased with it.
Try it and see for yourself. If it doesn't work for you, it's no problem to uninstall it.