I am using Firefox now and downloaded Adblock Plus, Question

[DemReadingDU]

I downloaded Adblock Plus 0.7.5.4
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

Do I need to also subscribe to a filter? Which filter is recommended?
http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions

Are there additional addons to block banner ads, animated and flashing ads?


Thank you, this is a great forum!

[Gore1FL]

1. The "best" ad blocker in the world is free.

there is a file under windows called Hosts. (you can do a search for it because where it is depends on what operating system you use)

Find it, and make a backup.

Then download a new one from one of these (or similar) sites.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

http://accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html

Then put it where the old one was.

This is what it does:

The Hosts file is a local DNS. When you goto a url, a DNS server translates the name into an IP address. It always checks the local Hosts file first.

The new Host file takes the known ad names and translates them to 127.0.0.1. This is your loopback address. What happens is when your browser tries to open an ad, it sees fromthe Host file that it is on your local machine, looks for it, can't find it, and fails.

Ads within windows show as 404 errors. Ad Popups don't pop up.

[DemReadingDU]

2. Thank you, I will read more about this method

Those flashing animated ads are driving me crazy!


:crazy:

[Gore1FL]

3. If any show up afterwards

you can right-click them, get the url fromthe properties and add it to the list in the file (using the same format already in the file).

The screen sometimes looks a little messy with the "401 not found errors" where the ads would be. The pages sure load faster when there are a lot of ads it doesn't load!