You don't need to put up with adverts obscuring your webmail inbox - we explain how to block ads from appearing with the simple extension, Webmail Ad Blocker.

Free webmail services such as Hotmail, Outlook.com and Gmail are great tools that let you store thousands of emails and check them from anywhere. But, there's a trade-off for your free account - you lose part of your inbox screen to adverts.

These ads help the likes of Google and Microsoft to turn a profit. But for customers, they can slow down how quickly your inbox loads and take up screen real estate.

You can pay to upgrade your webmail account to hide the adverts. But there's a simpler, zero-cost way of getting rid of these annoying ads.

Hide ads in webmail

So long as you're using the Google Chrome web browser, there's an easy way to hide adverts on a webmail account. We recommend using the free browser extension called Webmail Ad Blocker.

Extensions are simple tools you can add to a browser for additional functions. They're almost always free, and run invisibly in the background while you use your browser.

To install this extension, head to the Chrome extensions web store. Use the search box to search for Webmail Ad Blocker - the extension should be the top result (pictured above).

Click the blue ADD TO CHROME button to install it.

Webmail Ad Blocker in action

It's best to restart your web browser and sign into your chosen webmail account to make sure that the extension is working. But the results should be like night and day.

Before

Notice how the right-hand side of the page is lost to a prominent advert:

After:

The advert is now removed, giving you more space for the contents of your inbox, and speeding up the load time of your inbox, too.