Time moves on, the advertisers find new ways of annoying us. So, it's time to take a refreshed look at the best sites and methods to get the most out of the web without being tempted to spend on your credit card...
Let's make one thing clear - there are two aspects to protecting yourself from adverts. Turning off the ads is one thing, but some like to be sold everything connected to where they've been. So, the second aspect is managing cookies. Ads very rarely appear when you are browsing these days without a knowledge of what else you have been doing on the web. This information they get from cookies stored silently on your browser hardware (phone, pad or PC etc).
In what follows I will take you through blocking ads. But turning off various cookies is a more powerful way of browsing and for that you need to review my earlier post - which I have summarised in the dark box at the bottom..
1. AD BLOCKING
GOOGLE CHROME
Ad blocking is free if you know where to go and what browser settings to look for.. I mainly use Google Chrome for every day web browsing. It has a third party extension called AdBlock Plus - when loaded you can make it as complicated as you want with subscriptions to 'ad blocking lists' that others have put together.. The link for that library of useful content is here. If you go to the Spanner / Tools / Extensions menu in Chrome you will see AdBlock Plus there once installed. Click Options and you can set which AdBlock list to use - the default will be English ads and some basic setup blocks. If you browse Italian, French or other language sites regularly that's where to use the drop down list and add the regional filter for your language.
AdBlock is also available to install for Firefox and Safari (for you Mac and iPhone users).
The best feature of AdBlock is that if it ever misses an Ad and it creeps onto your browser, you can right-click on the ad and select "AdBlock Plus: Block image"; this will allow you to create a custom filter blocking that ad and ads similar to it.
FIREFOX
Firefox is the easiest browser to block ads in because of its massive support for add-ons. The only setting up you need to do with AdBlock Plus is select the adblocking filter you want to use - these are pre-defined lists according to where the browser is being used - or technically where it's being pointed at. English ad blocking won't block Chinese ads for example.
You need to select one of the filters to use. Unless you know what you are doing, just leave it at "EasyList" and click "Add subscription". You do this by following the menu list: "Tools" -> "AdBlock Plus Preferences..." -> "Filters" -> "Add Filter Subscription..." It should install with EasyList and English subscriptions. Leave it like that unless you really do browse a lot of other language sites.
Right clicking is available in Firefox as already covered in the Chrome section above.
Some Firefox users install a plug in called NoScript. This is not really the correct way to block ads - it blocks all java and scripts running in the browser window. That's not good as a lot of websites still use javascript code to make your experience better. I use it on some sites I've done to generate fading images for example. If you switch it off, you'll only ever see the first one! Lot's of sites use it to generate games boards, user feedback and things to play with whilst on site. You will only be getting a half of what they thought you might like by blocking their scripts..
INTERNET EXPLORER
If you have Internet Explorer then blocking ads is a bit more complicated as Explorer has no AdBlock Plus-like plugin.Plug-ins do exist for IE but the free ones are nowhere near as good as in other browser technologies.
Internet Explorer's InPrivate Browsing - the mode that makes sure no browsing data is stored on your computer - has a feature that allows users to filter content. This filter can be used to block ads. A user on DSLReports forum created an XML file out of AdBlock Plus's list of ads to block and this XML file can be imported into InPrivate Browsing's content filter.
This filter uses AdBlock Plus's filter list so you will be blocking the same ads as people using other browsers with AdBlock Plusd installed. Neither do you have to be in InPrivate Browsing mode for the ads to be blocked. Ads will be blocked like normal as long as you have "InPrivate Filtering" enabled ("Safety" -> "InPrivate Filtering").
The biggest hassle is that you must turn on "InPrivate Filtering" every time you run Internet Explorer. For me, it's just too much hassle and you are likely to forget. If you insist on this route there is a registry hack to enable InPrivate every time IE is run - google it and you'll find, it's much too complicated for this blog and the sapace I have here..
OPERA
Opera is a bit like IE. Blocking ads has up to now been quite complicated.
Before Opera 11 the best way to block ads was to use the browser's built in content blocker (similar to IE's InPrivate Filter) and an add-on to block Flash ads specifically. However, ever since Opera introduced extensions (Opera 11 onwards) third party developers have started making add-ons available. Opera Adblock is one of the most popular.
Opera Adblock makes it extremely easy to block ads. Similar to Adblock Plus for Firefox and Adblock for Chrome, Opera Adblock uses ad filter lists to block the ads. In fact, it uses Fanboy and EasyList which are the same as AdBlock Plus. The best part is it is extremely easy to setup and use - just install Opera Adblock from Opera's extensions website and you are automatically covered.
That's about it. Hope you find this guide useful.
2. COOKIE CUTTING
The DART cookie used by Google is the widest used cookie you'll probably want to switch off - so check the link in the dark section below (towards the bottom).
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Here's the original anti advertising links if you can't find them:
Ads on the web are served to your browser based on a number of settings and your location, history of other websites you've visited etc. Basically, tailoring ads to your preference.
Or that's how the advertisers like to market their tracking tactics, always watching where you've been and which sites you use.
Now I'm not paranoid and I'm happy to share my recent web history with everyone (on most days at least!) but the use of tracking cookies to tailor ads - or make more money for the advertisers - sits a little uneasy with me.
There is a light at the end of the ad tunnel. You can frustrate their efforts!
Most (reputable) ad serving businesses allow you to opt out of the tracking cookie and therefore of targeted ads that are much more likely to lure you in. No matter how web experienced you are, and how many browser add-ons you install ads will still get through and you will click on one at some point. It's just the way of the web.
So, here's where the main ad-tracking opt out sites are for (mainly my) info..
this is the one owned by Google and therefore the most widely used on the web.
Go there, have a read, click the bottom link if you want to cookie-block.
A large network, useful to opt out of this one.
One of the larger opt out networks, a network of networks really.
From here you can opt out of many many different ad networks.
After Google, the most useful opt out page on the web.
Problem with all this activity though is that you need to re-do all the opting out if you clear your browser's cookie/history files.. bah!
If you use Firefox (and if you don't see an earlier post!) or IE (why?) then life is easier to block the DART cookie at least - go to the Google Permanent Opt Out download.
Unfortunately, Google Chrome users cannot use this opt-out for obvious reasons that Google don't want you ruining their commercial value.
Unfortunately, Google Chrome users cannot use this opt-out for obvious reasons that Google don't want you ruining their commercial value.
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