The Web can be a dangerous place for the spoiler-averse. You can’t so much as look at Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or news sites without learning what happened to Walter White, who bought it on “Game of Thrones,” and so on.
That’s fine if you’re all caught up, but if you’re trying to avoid headlines, comments, and other revealing info about a particular show or episode, you practically need to impose a Web blackout.
Or not, if you’re a Chrome user and you install Unspoiler. This clever extension filters out all online mentions of specified TV shows, meaning you can continue your browsing and social-media activities without worrying about spoilage.
Once installed, you’ll see an Unspoiler icon on your Chrome toolbar (to the right of the address bar). Click it, then type the name of a show you want to “unspoil.” You can also right-click the icon and choose Options for more detailed settings.
And that’s really all there is to it. If you want to test-drive the filter, head to a site like Entertainment Weekly and look for mentions of your show. Where you’d normally see a headline for, say, “The Walking Dead,” Unspoiler will instead display a red banner.
If you want to go ahead and read what’s behind it, click show spoiler. Alternately, you can click save spoiler; the extension will collect them for you (for future reading) at Unspoiler.tv.
For anyone who wants to steer clear of spoilers without having to steer clear of the Web, this is must-have addition to Chrome.
Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about technology and is author of the new book, “The Cheapskate Rules.” Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com. Sign up to have the Hassle-Free PC newsletter (which is included in the Power Tips newsletter) e-mailed to you each week.