If you use the free internet browser, Firefox, you can download an extension called *******. Once running, you can make adverts disappear completely. It will stop any images or flash animations you ask it to. You can use wildcards - e.g. using *ad* will block most adverts you'll come across.

Especially for those sites I go back to every day, this is great: no ads whatsoever!

This led on to a thought experiment: what if we could have an ******* extension for our eyeballs? If you could block out all adverts - on TV, walking about town, on cereal packets, wherever - would you do it? If you could walk through a city centre and just disappear all those billboards and bus-stop ads, would you do it?

Which leads to another question - how many people like adverts? Do you think its the best way to find out about new fangled things to blow your hard-earned sponduliks on? If not ads, how would you prefer to find out about, say, what food to buy? Do you think ads should be restricted to stores, so we can walk around cities with our eyeballs unmolested? Or do you like seeing the ever-changing new imagery about town?

Anyway, here's the Firefox links, if you have the urge to block ads from your life:

Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

*******: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/10/

or

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/

See ya

Dan

I hate surfing without ******* Plus, the web is infested with advertising.

If you use the free internet browser, Firefox, you can download an extension called *******. Once running, you can make adverts disappear completely. It will stop any images or flash animations you ask it to. You can use wildcards - e.g. using *ad* will block most adverts you'll come across.

Especially for those sites I go back to every day, this is great: no ads whatsoever!
******* was discussed on here a while ago, and I seem to remember Geoff and Admin weren't very happy about it because the adverts on SF are what pay for it.

Apart from the huge advert at the top of every page (which can be hidden just by scrolling the down the page a bit), the adverts on SF are pretty unobtrusive, and you don't notice them after a while.

******* was discussed on here a while ago, and I seem to remember Geoff and Admin weren't very happy about it because the adverts on SF are what pay for it.

Apart from the huge advert at the top of every page (which can be hidden just by scrolling the down the page a bit), the adverts on SF are pretty unobtrusive, and you don't notice them after a while.

The ads on this site are fine. It's just some other sits have ad's everywhere and it gets annoying.

i even mute the TV when the adverts come on. meks me livid!! especially those stupid perfume one that always come up at xmas. :rant: :rant: :rant: hehe

The ram up the volume on adverts, and so I end up muting them as well.

As for blocking ads on the web, too right I do. There are so many annoying ones. On this forum they have remained unobtrusive enough for me not to bother with the right-click->******* image. I have even clicked on a few of the ads when something interesting has come up.

Channel 5 used to be the worst, adverts were so much louder than the programs. I always switch channels and read BBC i or the like for two mins.

I use ******* plus (or whatever the latest one is called) at home and have ******* at work. Best extension ever....you don't just have to block ads, you can block all the annoying hitbox code or equivalent too :) Googlesyndication is gone, top stuff :)

As for TV adverts yes, very annoying...and as xircon says they're always way louder than the program especially on C5. When we move over to a model of being able to watch what we want when we want then maybe they can all go away ;) But I doubt it.

Without adverts there would be no ITV, C4 or C5.
You be stuck with BBC TV and with them having a monopoly you'd be paying more for your TV licence too.

Similarly with the net, you can't have everything for free.
I agree pop ups are seriously annoying on website but without adverts on main sites such as google and what not they wouldn't exist, then what would you do? Use Yahoo? Same again, no ads no Yahoo.

For the fraction of a second you notice them does it make that much difference to you... really?
Without adverts (whether you like it or not) you wouldn't know where to go for your everyday products and those big things which are once in a blue moon.

How would you use kelkoo to find the lowest price without adverts?
There would be no ebay without adverts as this place is just one big mass of adverts disguised as "auctions".

I personally don't mind ads and cleverly done ones which are well thought out will normally make me retain the information for a later date.

Adverts are evil.

If getting rid of adverts, means getting rid of TV, great. Of course it's a personal choice, and if I was living alone, the TV would go anyway.

They plant the seed in to your subconcious that you're not good enough just being your natural self, that you need to augment yourself with their product to be truely beautiful, loved or whatever other basic human need they can use to manipulate *YOU*.

**** em, I'm very happy being not-perfect, and I'd hate to be any other way.

I don't mind ads that aren't too intrusive, but the ones that are animated or pop over the text you are trying to read are a pain in the a*se

I get rid of most ads by putting the name of the ad server in my hosts file with an address of 127.0.0.1 which is the loopback address of the PC

currently my hosts file contains

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 clk.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 spe.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 mir.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 bnmgr.adinjector.net
127.0.0.1 adserver.adtech.de

if I hit a site with ads that intrude and arent on the list I do a quick view source, hunt down the adserver add it to hosts and refresh the page

the downside is I occasionally get a "completed with errors message" on the status bar when I load a page and it also means I can't visit these sites even if I want to, though why I should I've got no idea

cheaper than purchasing software and should work for every browser

and for TV I have a PVR and skip through the ads on fast forward, I rarely watch anything 'live' and timeshift it all so I can watch what I want when I want

esme, I used to do that but lots of adservers have so many variations and you also find sites install adserver software which you can't block that way...hence ******* :)

any ad site installing software on my PC without my explicit permission had better have damn good lawyers

and I do check periodically just in case one of them decides to make me rich by ignoring my wishes

the hosts file does need maintenance and you need to be careful but it is effective

but if ******* is easier then go for it, no problem there

I hate adds that take the p*ss.

IMO sf has very good advertising, its there but not bigger than the forum its self.

I use ******* but only use it when i see a site that is being greedy (ie they dont need THAT much advertising to pay for it) or when there is 1000,000,00 adverts.

With regards adverts, i like adverts that inform me, thats cool, but an example of one that winds me up is the new Kellogg's one i believe. That older famous guy says that eating this cereal will lower your colestrial (spelling ? arg lol) but he wont make the decision for you, thats just playing on stupid gullible people.

One of my fav sites is gizmodo.com, they inform, they don't scream in your face, they don't sell you a life style, they inform. That is advertising for products i will/do visit every day !!