A virtually perfect way to stop ads and protect from malware online. (hosts file) « Tech Talk « Forum

madtsunami

I've done a little searching, and I just happened to find this-

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

I've tried this thing out, it's awesome. Speeds up connections, blocks ads and even bad scripts.

Live every week like it’s Shark Week

zushiba

Stickied for good advice.

madtsunami

Thanks! I hope you can all benefit from using this software. :)

Live every week like it’s Shark Week

Tomato
Translator & PK h4x0r

Yeah I edit my hosts file almost on a daily basis, usually to block access to starmen.net or digg so that I'll actually get work done Laughing

I've tried doing that but my os doesn't recognise changes to the hosts or lmhosts file (maybe because of the router?). ;(

Family Guy Guy

This is very useful. It prevents those ugly AdSense ads from even appearing, making the loading time for pages a bit faster for this old dial-up connection.

EvilPuffBall

What do people have against AdSense ads? I mean, is other people making money REALLY that painful a concept?

(Granted, stupid parked pages built with the sole purpose of showing AdSense ads are retarded, but I see nothing wrong with unobtrusive inline text ads on otherwise useful pages.

Oops I meant to say "How DARE those people try to offset the costs of having a website!?" Heh, I guess some sites will just have to be a little more upfront about asking for donations I guess.)

ROFISH

It's mostly the fact that it loads something off the server, and if you're stuck with a SLLLOOOWWWW DNS server like me, it takes forever to load a page because it has to look up like 10 different domain names like ad.google.com, ad1.google.com, ad3.google.com, etc.

[img]test.jpg[/img] !test.jpg!

madtsunami

I FOUND SOMETHING BETTER THAN ZONEALARM.

Did I mention it's free?
http://www.comodogroup.com/

Live every week like it’s Shark Week

FSHOOM!!!

Another way to stop ads and such is through Firefox's Adblock extension. Combined with another extension that automagically updates the Adblock list with known advertising servers, it's awesome.

droll and boring

Angela

Angelo went and downloaded this thing, and it sucks. It's never once detected any real virus but always asks me "is firefox allowed to connect to the internet?" no matter how many times I click "remember this answer". It sucks, okay?

Laser Rhino
Not a furry

Silver Streak wrote on Sat, 10 February 2007 07:34

Another way to stop ads and such is through Firefox's Adblock extension. Combined with another extension that automagically updates the Adblock list with known advertising servers, it's awesome.

FireFox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript = Excellent, ad-free browsing.

thickfreakness: alright
thickfreakness: give me asex

AdMuncher I see almost no ads anymore.

p-hop

Lion Rocker wrote on Sat, 17 February 2007 23:42

Silver Streak wrote on Sat, 10 February 2007 07:34

Another way to stop ads and such is through Firefox's Adblock extension. Combined with another extension that automagically updates the Adblock list with known advertising servers, it's awesome.

FireFox + AdBlock Plus + NoScript = Excellent, ad-free browsing.

That's how I roll.

networkassault

I just figured out how to edit the hosts file on Mac OS X (this assumes that you use BASH). Open the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app), and type "open /private/" without the quotation marks. A Finder window will pop up. Look for a file called hosts. The /private/etc file is write protected, so you'll need to drag it out of that folder to the desktop (it'll copy the hosts file). Open it with TextEdit or something like that. Write the new entry, then save the file. Next, (this requires an admin password) type "sudo mv Desktop/hosts /private/etc/hosts" without the quotation, then enter your password when prompted. Now quit any open browser. After that, the browser will obey your new hosts file.

Wow, it’s a reflective desktop!

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