Do you block webpage ads?

[FG Lurker]

Do you block web ads?

I do. I wouldn't if they weren't so damn annoying. The flash based ones that never stop (and can't be stopped) are particularly bad, and the ones that move around on the screen and/or block the site content are even worse. Those two types drove me to install Adblock Plus on Firefox. Aaah, peace at last.

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]

Do you block web ads?

I gave up actively blocking ads---Too much work. One thing is for sure, I'll never buy any product/service after I see a floating ad with sound and animation no matter who or what is responsible for the ad.

Floating ad
....a floating ad generates a clickthrough rate of about 30 clicks per thousand impressions, similar to the rates for pop-up ads and much higher than the cited 2-5 clicks per thousand impressions for a banner ad. Although the floating ads don't necessarily generate more clicks than pop-ups, they are thought to be more memorable and have a greater branding effect as a result....

What really I hate are those javascript ads with a bogus system message, a Spyware Warning, offering to "clean" my Windows Registry (when I'm running Mac OS X).

[FG Lurker]

That's the beauty of Adblock Plus... It has automatically updated block lists. If you're running Firefox you can get it here:

http://adblockplus.org/en/

I took care of your wonderful flashing gif boxes with a quick ESC. I don't mind when I can kill animation by doing that... If that was the worst advertisers did I wouldn't block. It's because they insist on creating more and more annoying ads that I block. (And as you said, I will never buy from a company that uses floating ads or ads that do insane flashing/animation routines that I can't stop with a simple ESC.)

[FG Lurker]

I think the higher click-through rate for floating ads is because people are trying to close the damn things but instead end up clicking on them.

[Sensei]

I use Safari on OS X and none of this is really a problem, using Pith Helmet. It does a great job and preferences can be customized site by site. It's shareware and costs $10, but there is an "I Paid" button in the preferences that make it very easy not to pay. In 100% honesty, however, I did pay, as this thing is great and I would have felt bad not shelling out so little for something that relieved me so much. I detest all the spinning, blinking crap on so many web pages, and Safari didn't have the controls I wanted. Firefox with Adblock worked reasonably well, but not as good, at least not for me.

[Taro Toporific]

That's the beauty of Adblock Plus... It has automatically updated block lists. If you're running Firefox you can get it here:

http://adblockplus.org/en/

Hey, that adblockplus ain't bad! It killed the nasty Flash crap that the built-in blocker of FireFox didn't. The worst site for me has been the java and Flash shit on ImageShack which it has killed nicely. Thanks.

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/144/barnone350x245ue2.jpg

[FG Lurker]

Hey, that adblockplus ain't bad! It killed the nasty Flash crap that the built-in blocker of FireFox didn't. The worst site for me has been the java and Flash shit on ImageShack which it has killed nicely. Thanks.

Glad it worked out.

I subscribed to two blocklists, the standard one and the tech-site oriented one. I have yet to find one oriented towards Japanese sites but there must be one out there somewhere...

[t3hWIT]

The US verson of Myspace is absolutely horrible.

I followed someones suggestion in a thread in Off Topic at nasioc.com which blocks quite a few different ad companies. I'm not completely sure how it worked, but I think it involved typing "dxdiag" into Run and copying and pasting text.

The newest company I'm blocking is Intellitext, which highlights key words and pops up an advertisement when you scroll anywhere remotely close to the word. There previously was an option to disable it, but that option doesn't appear to be available anymore.

I misunderstood the OP this morning, and voted for No for some reason. I demand a recount.

[ichigo partygirl]

Thanks for the link FG Lurker.
My pet hates are those Drive Cleaner ads that you have to close the whole window of the browser to get rid of them. Hopefully this will help!
Cheers

[Hanakuso]

Anyone know of similar software that runs with Opera?

[FG Lurker]

Anyone know of similar software that runs with Opera?

Does Opera still have users? (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Seriously though, no, I don't know of any. I think in the end Opera will end up being only on closed devices such as phones. It's a cool browser but since Firefox came on the scene Opera has lost a lot of brainshare.

[Hanakuso]

I used to use both when I was still deciding on my preference. I just ended up using Opera more...

Firefox has become too common...*I assume that makes it more prone to attack* I noticed the other day that it has bundled itself with realplayer...nasty program...

I used to get spyware all the time when using firefox as a browser but now I get almost none. Im no loyal Opera freak however, I just happen to think its the best browser out there at the moment.

[American Oyaji]

I used to get spyware all the time when using firefox as a browser but now I get almost none. Im no loyal Opera freak however, I just happen to think its the best browser out there at the moment.

Realplayer with Firefox? Don't think so. It probably was realplayer on your SYSTEM that decided to somehow attach itself to your Firefox.

FG Lurker. This is EXCELLENT sir. I'm a firefox user because I cant use the latest Safari and DAMN this is a Godsend dude. Thank you!

[Charles]

The Web was designed so that users are in control of the presentation of any content delivered to their web browser. Users are entitled to screen out any annoyances and idiocy that disrupts their web browsing experience. So I filter ads, and FG Lurker.

[Hanakuso]

Realplayer with Firefox? Don't think so. It probably was realplayer on your SYSTEM that decided to somehow attach itself to your Firefox.

You dont think so. I know so. I didnt have realplayer and downloaded it last week. At the end of the installation it asks you to install firefox...

[FG Lurker]

Users are entitled to screen out any annoyances and idiocy that disrupts their web browsing experience. So I filter ads, and FG Lurker.

I love you too Chuck,

[FG Lurker]

You dont think so. I know so. I didnt have realplayer and downloaded it last week. At the end of the installation it asks you to install firefox...

Anyone who downloads realplayer deserves whatever they get. That thing is the worst piece of shit media player ever. If something is only available in real format then I don't bother with it.

Addition:
RealPlayer asking you to install Firefox is not such a horrible thing... You'd be downloading a bug-invested POS and getting something that actually works in the bargain. If Firefox forced RealPlayer upon you though........that would be reason to complain and complain loudly.

[FG Lurker]

I used to use both when I was still deciding on my preference. I just ended up using Opera more...

I don't have any problems with Opera, I just don't use it. It's small and lightweight. They used to charge for it which sucked, and their free version had ads. That's probably what kept me away more than anything else. Earlier versions crashed a lot.

Now Firefox has so much support and so many great extensions (like Adblock Plus and BugMeNot) it would be hard to switch away.

Firefox has become too common...*I assume that makes it more prone to attack* I noticed the other day that it has bundled itself with realplayer...nasty program...

Beats me, but what I really don't understand is why ANYONE would voluntarily install that horrible piece of shit that is called realplayer. Shudder.

I used to get spyware all the time when using firefox as a browser but now I get almost none. Im no loyal Opera freak however, I just happen to think its the best browser out there at the moment.

I've not had spyware problems with Firefox, nor had to exterminate spyware installed by Firefox on others' machines. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I don't think it's quite as common as "getting it all the time". Opera has a minuscule userbase though so it is fair to say that it isn't likely to be targeted -- same reason it isn't likely to get much support from developers.

[Hanakuso]

which is why it didnt do much in the way of raising my already waning impression of firefox..

[FG Lurker]

which is why it didnt do much in the way of raising my already waning impression of firefox..

To each their own. I hope you find a good adblocker for Opera. There must be one out there, but I don't think it will have automatically updated block lists unfortunately.

[dimwit]

[floatl][/floatl]

I'm a big fan of those free epilespy test ads too.

[IkemenTommy]

Realplayer with Firefox? Don't think so. It probably was realplayer on your SYSTEM that decided to somehow attach itself to your Firefox.

FG Lurker. This is EXCELLENT sir. I'm a firefox user because I cant use the latest Safari and DAMN this is a Godsend dude. Thank you!

Yeah I curse at my computer every time RealPlayuh tries to install itself.

[etto_neh]

adblocking extensions are OK, but easiest, least memory intensive way to block nasty URLs, not just ad servers, is through using a reliable HOSTS file. I strongly suggest it to all...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file

[FG Lurker]

adblocking extensions are OK, but easiest, least memory intensive way to block nasty URLs, not just ad servers, is through using a reliable HOSTS file. I strongly suggest it to all...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file

That's a rather brute-force solution to the problem and to be honest there are better/easier solutions for stand-alone computers.

Under Windows SpywareBlaster is amazing for blocking malicious sites. It uses IE's built-in Zone Security settings and works in a similar way under Firefox. The updates are not totally automatic in the free version, but they are available at the press of a button. No fuss, no muss. It blocks (and removes) tracking cookies as well, something that a hosts file solution is unable to do.

Adblock Plus can't be beaten for ad blocking... It's totally automatic! Just install it and all the ads disappear. You don't need to touch anything for 99+% of sites.

The other great thing about the above two solutions is that anyone can use them. No technical understanding is required, no hunting for text files or using notepad.

On a network DNS server a hosts-file solution can be great though. The tech who takes care of the server keeps the hosts up to date (probably via a script) and everyone on the network benefits.

[Addition:]
There's actually something else I forgot about too. Windows doesn't like huge hosts files and some peoples' Windows installations will slow to a crawl every 5/10/25 minutes with the huge adblocking hosts files loaded. The solution to this is to disable the DNS Server under Windows, but that is a very poor solution. Disabling DNS also disables DNS caching and this will considerably slow down DNS lookups and thus browsing as well.

[etto_neh]

That's a rather brute-force solution to the problem and to be honest there are better/easier solutions for stand-alone computers.

Under Windows SpywareBlaster is amazing for blocking malicious sites. It uses IE's built-in Zone Security settings and works in a similar way under Firefox. The updates are not totally automatic in the free version, but they are available at the press of a button. No fuss, no muss. It blocks (and removes) tracking cookies as well, something that a hosts file solution is unable to do.

Adblock Plus can't be beaten for ad blocking... It's totally automatic! Just install it and all the ads disappear. You don't need to touch anything for 99+% of sites.

The other great thing about the above two solutions is that anyone can use them. No technical understanding is required, no hunting for text files or using notepad.

On a network DNS server a hosts-file solution can be great though. The tech who takes care of the server keeps the hosts up to date (probably via a script) and everyone on the network benefits.

[Addition:]
There's actually something else I forgot about too. Windows doesn't like huge hosts files and some peoples' Windows installations will slow to a crawl every 5/10/25 minutes with the huge adblocking hosts files loaded. The solution to this is to disable the DNS Server under Windows, but that is a very poor solution. Disabling DNS also disables DNS caching and this will considerably slow down DNS lookups and thus browsing as well.

Tracking cookies.. hmm. Well, with adblock software vs. a Hosts file; the HOSTS stuff works at a lower level than adblock does. Adblock is at the application level and requires more cpu, basically, your application/browser is doing the filtering work... it's getting every packet then deciding what to do. A hosts file won't let the data to be useful in the first place.

I don't think that replacing a HOSTS file should be considered too difficult for most people..

Like you mentioned, the network tech who maintains a good hosts file can save lots of people a lot of grief within a company... but it's also true for one person on his home PC who has to switch browsers from time to time.

As far as a huge HOSTS slowing down a machine... My main machine at home is a 256MB IBM Thinkpad t20 (over 5 years old running win2k), and I've had no problems, and I didn't disable anything. I very much pay attention to my equipment, and it is running like a champ... and i do torrents and everything else.

If I ever get freaked about some sites, I'll use a proxy like vtunnel, and every so often I use housecall to scan stuff just in case.

[FG Lurker]

We could debate back and forth all day...

Hosts will work, but it is more technical than most general users are comfortable with and it requires more work than something like Adblock Plus.

The huge hosts file slowdown is a known Windows bug that has existed since Win9x. Not all machines do it, but it is not uncommon.

I used to be a tinkerer and my background is in IT (including networks and network security). These days though the bottom line is that I've lost interest...I don't care. I just want everything to work smoothly with as little requirement for hands-on maintenance as possible.

[FG Lurker]

[quote="etto_neh"]Tracking cookies.. hmm. Well, with adblock software vs. a Hosts file]
Actually, you're wrong on this point. AdblockPlus (and similar utils) filter URLs at the HTML level before the computer even gets to the point of asking for a DNS resolution (and then trying to download the data.)

This not only filters ads (and other unwanted items) before the computer begins to request the data, it lets the utility fix the page so you don't end up with a bunch of "picture not found" marks spread throughout.

[spyder]

If something is only available in real format then I don't bother with it.

Windows Media Player Classic has a plug-in available to let you play almost any type of media, including Real formats.

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm

[FG Lurker]

Windows Media Player Classic has a plug-in available to let you play almost any type of media, including Real formats.

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm

Not interested. Real sucks and refusing to use anything Real-related is the best way to send Real the message that they need to clean things up.

[MrUltimateGaijin]

Not interested. Real sucks and refusing to use anything Real-related is the best way to send Real the message that they need to clean things up.

but u r not supporting Real, as u dont dl their stuff