Guide to Userscripts

You are likely here after getting into the privacy of your devices, or you are looking to enhance your computer experience. Regardless of what the case is, you've probably went on sites like openuserjs.org or greasyfork.org and were not too sure what every single script did, overwhelmed by the sheer number of scripts, or you simply did not care to look into everything. Luckily for you, I've compiled a guide to help you find the scripts that you actually need.

Ensuring you have a Userscript Manager

Before we begin, ensure you have installed an userscript manager so these scripts can be installed. Tampermonkey is the easiest to use, but there are other options. If you are a FOSS person, then Violentmonkey is highly recommended as Tampermonkey is closed source. Overall, I would recommend Violentmonkey as it is open source and privacy respecting. It is also better maintained than other open source options right now. Install the extension of your choice, and make sure that any installation of scripts do not occur in Incognito Mode, otherwise the scripts don't save. Here's a list of other legitimate userscript managers in case you want to do your own research.

Other Userscript Managers

Types of Userscripts

This section will go over common userscripts available, and give advice and/or suggestions for each category of userscripts with a succinct explanation. It may help you in your search moving forward if you want other userscripts than the ones mentioned below.

These ad-removal/link shortener scripts always make the front page of GreasyFork or OpenUserJS and they seemingly sound useful. Often, they promise to rid you of popups that even your trusty adblocker cannot seem to do. These scripts usually include AdsBypasser, adfly-skipper, Anti-Adblock Killer, AntiAdware, Assassinate Ad Block Blockers, Link Sanitizer, Linkvertise Bypass, or any scripts that aim to block ads specific to a website like Auto Close YouTube Ads. The one time you will likely ever need anything to block ads specific to a website is for twitch.tv, as Twitch has embedded ads and has lowered the quality of streams for users found to be using adblockers. However, rather than using an userscript to remedy this issue, it is recommended that you use TTV LOL if you have a Chromium based browser (Chrome, Brave, Microsoft Edge, etc.), as the only confirmed legitimate userscript for Twitch adblocking does lower video quality. If you're using Firefox, it is recommended that you use Purple Adblocker. Besides this exception, you should not be fooled━these scripts are usually unnecessary for most people, so long as you tweak your adblocker properly (guide recommended below). Additionally, if you use these userscripts in conjunction with an adblocker, you make certain processes redundant which slows down the browser. In general, it is not recommended to use most of these kinds of scripts.

Recommended guide for tweaking your adblocker. It is recommended to follow this guide with UBlock Origin. Follow all tweaks except the "My filters" recommendation for removing every instance of Google URL (only do this if you don't use Google in any shape or form). Following the guide will result in a content blocker that sanitizes links (clear URLs), improves your adblocker's ability to remove overlays (bypassing paywalls or annoyances such as interest in an email subscription), improve your adblocker's ability to remove ads as a whole, remove the possibility for adware, detect suspicious links and close them in the instance they are clicked to prevent any harm to your browser, kill anti-AdBlock messages, and removes common web annoyances. It does far more than most userscripts can do and it is highly suggested over ad-blocking related scripts. In conjunction with FastForward, it improves URL shortening capabilities, and does far more (and is maintained much more) than individual userscripts could.

Hcaptcha Solvers/Recaptcha Solvers

Simply put, they do not work and are not worth the install. Check the in-site feedback on Greasyfork for commonly used Hcaptcha solvers if you need proof of this.

Added features to commonly used torrent sites

Yes, this is recommended. These scripts add very commonly wanted features for users such as adding torrent and magnet links in the search columns, adding a thumbnail of the content you are viewing, adding subtitle download links for every torrent on a site, removes low quality uploads from your view, among other things. Speaking from experience, they highly enhance your user experience on these websites and your safety from bad uploaders (although this doesn't mean you shouldn't stop taking precautions to protect yourself from malware).

Recommended userscripts include:

In general, do not bother trying to use TPB fixes as the site has a high malware risk regardless of any filtering. It's best to avoid that site entirely and use trusted uploaders from 1337x and RARBG. Anything missing from these two sites can be found in the FMHY subreddit.

Improving the YouTube experience

These scripts are highly recommended. They aim to enhance the YouTube experience in many ways including returning the YouTube dislikes, bypassing age-restricted content (as that requires logging in to view), and taming CPU usage of YouTube videos and YouTube livestreams. Here are my suggestions:

Recommended userscripts include:

  • Return YouTube Dislike - Returns the YouTube dislike count but you can also use the extension if you prefer
  • Simple YouTube Age Restriction Bypass - Bypasses age restriction requirements (only exists if you're not logged in), so you can continue using YouTube signed out
  • YouTube Live CPU Tamer - Tames CPU usage on YouTube live videos
  • YouTube CPU Tamer - Tames CPU usage on YouTube videos
  • Maximize Video - Pic-in-pic is great if you want to watch the video on different tabs within your browser, not just the tab YouTube is playing on

    Do not use Maximize Video if you have Firefox as the feature is built in! It's redundant for Firefox users, only recommended for Chromium users!

  • HTML5 video player enhanced script - In case you didn't know, HTML5 players refers to most modern website video players. This script adds hotkeys that do far more than most HTML5 players do like speeding or slowing videos to the exact tenths of a decimal, zoom in video, picture-in-picture, increases saturation/brightness/blur/hue, etc. It also saves your video progress even if your browser suddenly closes, your computer suddenly shuts down, or you mistakenly click on another YouTube video while browsing. I would recommend taking a screenshot of the hotkeys listed on the Greasyfork page and familiarizing yourself with it, especially if you've never used hotkeys before

Web annoyances/improving your overall Internet experience

Although the already mentioned adblock filtering guide removes most annoyances, there are a few honorable mentions that most users would benefit from that those filters do not cover. These scripts either add certain features (such as ability to manipulate photos on the web), prevents you from being restricted to certain features (such as copy/paste on certain sites or bypassing import limit), and removes annoying features (such as "You are leaving our site" redirects).

  • Website Helper, English translation - Prevents server redirection, has a "return to top" button if the height of the page is very large, and you can use Ctrl + Click to quickly copy the domain name and link of the current web page you're browsing
  • Direct Links Out - Removes all "You are leaving our site" and redirection stuff from links
  • Removed web limits(modified and English translated) which receives updates that the Remove web limits(modified) script gets or the original Remove web limits - You can lift the restrictions prohibited to copy, cut, select the text, right-click menu that are restricted on select sites.
  • anti-anti-copy - Better lifts restrictions to copy text from any site than the above script.
  • Mega.nz Ultimately Import - Bypass import limit on Mega Web client & remove warning about the space usage, but DOES NOT give you more space on your Mega account
  • Picviewer CE+ - Using pictures on your web browser, this userscript enhances your picture viewing experience on the web by allowing you enlarge, rotate, scale, batch download images, among other things.
  • Greasyfork Helper - Adds overall feedback score to search results, more filters, option to easily add to blacklist, install, remove, see the code, see the history, see the specific feedback, and see the author's other script once you hover over the userscript in the search results
  • Greasyfork Bull Filter - Removes scripts that some people can find annoying such as browser game scripts (the .io website games hacks like Krunker.io), social media scripts, Non-ASCII scripts (scripts from non-Latin languages), and more. You can choose what filters you want to enable and disable. These filters are available at the bottom of the Greasyfork's right sidebar.
  • Webcomic Reader - Can work on almost any webcomic/manga page, preloads 5 or more pages ahead (or behind), navigates via ajax for instant-page-change, lets you use the keyboard, remembers your progress, and it's relatively easy to add new sites
  • Google Hit Hider by Domain - Block unwanted sites from your Google, DuckDuckGo, Startpage.com, Searx, Bing and Yahoo search results. You can filter out sites yourself with the click of one button, the "Block button".
  • Anlist.co Improvements - Adds a whole bunch of features to Anilist.co to enhance user experience. Notable features that this script adds include a new and improved notification system, more stats (including full lists instead of just 30 items), addition of scores to completion activities in the feed, custom tags, various pieces of optional page styling, themes (including high contrast dark), custom profile backgrounds and CSS, MAL score, recs and serialization info among other things.
  • 9-anime Bingewatcher - This script adds auto-fullscreen, automatically force highest quality, ability to skip intros via hotkeys, jump to next episode via hotkey, 9anime on Vidstream and MyCloud videos (Auto-1080p in configuration panel). It's only compatible with Chromium browsers as of 4/20/2022. The script also works on movies7.to.
  • better Photopea - This Photopea script━Photopea being the web browser equivalent to Photoshop━removes the huge sidebar on the right designated solely for ads, and expands the workspace.
  • Cross Linking DuckDuckGo >> Google - If you can't find something on DuckDuckGo, there will be a hyperlink that says Google that will auto input whatever you are searching into Google search. To add this script, you must click the "Plus" button on Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey, click "New", then copy and paste the code above. Lastly, just click "Save" or "Save and close". If you aren't attached to DuckDuckGo or want a privacy-made alternative, then consider Searx.
  • Sitewide Base64 Decoder - This is a userscript that decodes base64 code on all sites to save you the hassle of manually decoding them on sites like base64decode. To add this script, you must click the "Plus" button on Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey, click "New", then copy and paste the code above. Lastly, just click "Save" or "Save and close". To check if it works, you can test it out on this site: FMHY. It's a safe site for acquiring most digital things you could imagine, so the decoded links are safe to click. If you're looking for something less automatic (as in you don't always want a script to check for base64 every couple seconds), then here are other options that decode base64 (through right clicking, using extensions, etc).
  • Always Remember Me - Always Ticks "Remember Me" or "Keep me logged in" options when available.
  • Anti-Cookies Consent - This removes the (often forceably placed) "Agree to send cookies to us when using this site" that most sites require you to agree to in order to get the best site experience. Recommended for the privacy concerned.
  • Altsearch Links - Another variant of Cross Linking DuckDuckGo to Google except it cross links to all major search engines/sites one is likely to search on which include, but are not limited to, the following: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Swagbucks. DuckDuckGo, WolframAlpha, Twitter, Google Scholar, MS Academic.
  • Endless Google - Google search results are no longer confined to many spread out pages, but will load to however long you feel like scrolling down to.
  • Google Cleaner - Hide (toggle) top bar (All, Videos, News...) and adds quick filtering to the left sidebar, creating for a minimalist Google experience.
  • Highlight text within a link/disable link dragging script - Only recommended for Chromium users as of 5/31/2022. This is a script that allows you to highlight the text within a search result link and bypasses the dragging of hyperlinked text that commonly occurs on search engines.
  • Google Search Extra Buttons - Adds extra buttons designed to filter results of a Google search result page.
  • Mouseover Popup Image Viewer - Only modern Chromium browsers are supported as of 5/31/2022. This script shows and allows one to manipulate (via zooming, rotating, flipping/mirroring, etc) images and videos (via freezing for a certain scene/capture for example) behind links and thumbnails.
  • Disable AMP Links - Disable Google AMP Links. AMP refers to Google's built-in tools that help load and reformat websites better for mobile devices. The reason why one would seek for its removal is because it obfuscates a website, takes a website's content without any sort of indication of it (no URL or branding is shown in AMP links), among other things.

If you insist on using new Reddit, I would suggest the Redditmod2, which is a mod that allows for themes, inline posts/comments, endless scrolling, subreddit filters, and other improvements. Additionally, I would recommend Unedit and Undelete for Reddit, which creates a link next to edited and deleted Reddit comments and posts to show the original post from before it was edited. This works on old Reddit too. If you aren't particularly too attached to old or new Reddit, I would ditch these scripts for libreddit. Find the instance that is located in your country for the fastest experience; I would recommend against the primary libredd.it instance. In my opinion, this site takes what people like about old and new reddit (UI wise) and merges it together, and ensures privacy for all. It has no ads and has a nice theme.

Notice

If this goes down for whatever reason, I've archived this link and the base64 userscript options link as well.

Edit
Pub: 19 Apr 2022 13:51 UTC
Edit: 08 Jun 2022 14:00 UTC
Views: 10341