The following set of instructions will display how to get through a site’s paywall. With just one download this Chrome extension will navigate through any obstacles blocking you from viewing a given article. If you have ever been frustrated by not being able to access information due to presence of a paywall, this set of instructions should prove helpful in navigating past them. I do not own the rights to this software, but this chrome extension has proved immensely helpful for me. This article should not serve as a moral endorsement of Hover, but rather just as a jumping off point for someone who just wants quick and easy access to a blocked article. Obviously, if you are using a site everyday it is in your best interest to subscribe to them so as they stay in business. Installation instructions such as these are available elsewhere, however I think awareness about this software should be made more widely available.
(Disclaimer: I am not sure this works with every paywall, but it has worked with every paywall I have interacted with)
1. Navigate to GitHub Link
The first thing you are going to want to do is navigate to this hyperlink: https://github.com/nathan-149/hover-paywalls-browser-extension. You should see the image shown below on your browser.
2. Scroll Down to Installation > Download Locally > Google Chrome
When you scroll down, you should see under Google Chrome a hyperlink that reads “ZIP file from GitHub”. Click on this and the repository should begin to download as a zipped file on your computer.
3. Extract the Zipped File
Navigate toyour computers file folder, on Windows this is titled “File Explorer” and on MacOS it should be titled something like “Finder”. Once you are in your file folder, locate the newly downloaded ZIP file from the GitHub repo, right click on the file, and there should be an option labeled “Extract All…”. Click this and it should unzip your file and make it ready for upload as a Chrome extension. Click on your newly downloaded and unzipped folder and there should be a “dist” folder. This will be the folder that is going to be used in the next steps to actually get Hover onto your Google Chrome as an extension.
4. Navigate to chrome://extensions, and Turn on Developer Mode at the Top Right Corner
Navigate in your Chrome window to chrome://extensions, and on the top right there should be an option to turn on Developer Mode. Only once this is on will the folder be able to be dragged onto your Chrome and added as an extension.
5. Drag Your “dist” File From Your File Folder to The Chrome Screen
Just click on hold on the file entitled “dist” and you should be able to drop it anywhere on the screen of the chrome://extensions page once developer mode is enabled on your screen. The newly dragged file should display as a full rectangular icon if it has been installed successfully on Chrome. Nothing will happen if you try to drag the “dist” file before the folder has been extracted (what was discussed in Part 3 of these instructions).
6. Enjoy!
When you click on the puzzle piece at the top right of your Chrome window next to your icon, you should now see a tab that shows Hover. Just make sure the ‘Bypass Paywalls’ setting is swiped to on (which it should be by default), and now you can navigate any site without being annoyed and restricted because of certain features that are only available “once you subscribe”
Why This Is Important
As stated previously, it is not in your best interest to not subscribe to services you utilize everyday because those services are not gaining the necessary revenue from your usage to be able to stay in business. However, increasingly subscription fees to some outlets of information have become so high that it just makes no sense to subscribe to them if all you really want to read is one or two interesting articles. As Yuval Noah Harari states in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, it is increasingly important to get information from reputable sources, and oftentimes these sources will charge a price. The problem is that no access is given to these paid news sources so if you subscribe you know it is questionable whether your money will be going to waste. With Hover, you can basically use the software as a free trial for any paid site with paywalls on the Internet so as you can actually determine which sites are gonna be useful to you in the long run.
Credits
All credit here is to the developers of Hover, as I am only relaying information on how to download it. The developers of the extension can be seen on the right hand side of the GitHub repository that was referenced in part 1 of the above instructions. Next time you get past a paywall using Hover, you have them to thank.
