Nerd Alert - using the Hosts file to kill internet adverts

[mikesbytes]

Came upon this method to reduce the amount of adverts you get when you open web pages. Anyone tried something like this ?

http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

Wikipedia has a bit of info on this

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

[jimmy]

Mike

I've used it in the past, however, I much prefer Adblock Plus for Firefox

http://adblockplus.org/en/

I haven't seen an add in who knows how long. A must install for anyone using Firefox.

James

[weiyun]

There are good ad blockers for most browsers. Much easier to use than playing with Host File etc. There's also a blocking technique using Style Sheet.

On Mac Safari, SafariBlock has been working well for me.

[mikesbytes]

Mike

I've used it in the past, however, I much prefer Adblock Plus for Firefox

http://adblockplus.org/en/

I haven't seen an add in who knows how long. A must install for anyone using Firefox.

James

Cool, I've installed it, its not just about the adverts, there's the data cost involved, I'd say that the majority of my bandwith usage was for the advertising and I'm paying per Gb.

Probably works on Flock and Chrome too, as they are using the firefox engine.

[T-Bone]

Hmm, works well, but all the good ads are gone too!!! Guess i can cope!

[weiyun]

Chrome doesn't use Mozilla's backend. It uses WebKit, which is the backend used by Safari.

The other thing to check is that some ad blockers only block the display of ads while allowing their download in the background. A very data efficient alternative (from dial-up days) is to stop the display of all images. You can then individually click on image placemarkers to download them, as needed.

[simon.sharwood]

Speaking as a journo who basically gets paid by advertisers (albeit in a roundabout way) by all means ignore or block ads. But give the odd one a sympathy click to keep a roof over my head!

[mikesbytes]

Chrome doesn't use Mozilla's backend. It uses WebKit, which is the backend used by Safari.

The other thing to check is that some ad blockers only block the display of ads while allowing their download in the background. A very data efficient alternative (from dial-up days) is to stop the display of all images. You can then individually click on image placemarkers to download them, as needed.

Doesn't prevent them being downloaded.... That's an issue, how do I get around that one?

[weiyun]

Doesn't prevent them being downloaded.... That's an issue, how do I get around that one?

The "good" ones do. It has to do where in the path they intercept the request.

[mikesbytes]

I'll leave the hosts file in place until I know which Ad blocker to get.

So which Ad blocker ?

[Stuart]

Speaking as a journo who basically gets paid by advertisers (albeit in a roundabout way) by all means ignore or block ads. But give the odd one a sympathy click to keep a roof over my head!

I for one already do this on sites that I want to see continue. Basically that means the SMH, selected IT & cycling sites along with motorcycling stuff. I don't actually then read any of the stuff that comes up in the new tab, I just try to give the site some revenue, however small from my one click.

[weiyun]

I'll leave the hosts file in place until I know which Ad blocker to get.
So which Ad blocker ?

Depends on which browser you use.

AdBlocker Plus looked to have the desirable block function. It both "block" and "hides".
http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_internal#policies

[simon.sharwood]

I for one already do this on sites that I want to see continue. Basically that means the SMH, selected IT & cycling sites along with motorcycling stuff. I don't actually then read any of the stuff that comes up in the new tab, I just try to give the site some revenue, however small from my one click.

Hooray! Now my children have shoes

[timyone]

Speaking as a journo who basically gets paid by advertisers (albeit in a roundabout way) by all means ignore or block ads. But give the odd one a sympathy click to keep a roof over my head!

yeah i hardly notice adds, and click on them every so often either by accident, or to help companies think they are working

[timyone]

I for one already do this on sites that I want to see continue. Basically that means the SMH, selected IT & cycling sites along with motorcycling stuff. I don't actually then read any of the stuff that comes up in the new tab, I just try to give the site some revenue, however small from my one click.

yeah i make sure i read all the cycling articles on smh.com.au, as i totally cant be bothered tryning to work out what i want to read on those complicated cycling sites :S though i know i should. Im hoping that if every one reads them on smh, they will put more in

[mikesbytes]

I for one already do this on sites that I want to see continue. Basically that means the SMH, selected IT & cycling sites along with motorcycling stuff. I don't actually then read any of the stuff that comes up in the new tab, I just try to give the site some revenue, however small from my one click.

I don't mind the google ad's they are low bandwidth and not in your face.

As I never click on ad's, I don't see any benefit from paying for them to download on my 3G network connection.