Anti-banner Adblock (and IE) filters (KILL ADS HERE :K)

[Twisted Sanity]

Okay, now I've blocked most of the ads from Neo, so it goes fairly smoothly, but there are a couple that have eluded me time and time again. I thought I should compile a list of all the ads that appear on Neo for people to add to their Adblock preferences. I'll update this top post with all the ads people post. I'll start by putting in some of the filters I've got in my Adblock:

http://a.as-us.falkag.net/*
http://a.tribalfusion.com/*
http://ad.doubleclick.net/*
http://ad.sensismediasmart.com.au/*
http://adlog.com.com/*
http://ads.acventures.biz/*
http://ads.partner-source.com/*
http://ads.pointroll.com/*
http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/*
http://axill.com/*
http://burstnet.com/*
http://c4.zedo.com/*
http://c5.zedo.com/*
http://c7.zedo.com/*
http://cdn1.tribalfusion.com/*
http://cdn2.adsdk.com/*
http://cdn.fastclick.net*
http://clickagents.com/*
http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com/ads/*
http://imp.partner2profit.com/*
http://media.fastclick.net/*
http://mirror.pointroll.com/*
http://network.realmedia.com/*
http://oz.valueclick.com/*
http://partner-source.com/*
http://rightmedia.net/*
http://spe.atdmt.com/*
http://servedby.advertising.com/*
http://valueclick.com/*
http://view.atdmt.com/*
http://z1.adserver.com/*

These might not all be for Neo, since I randomly put in a new filter if I see an ad on another site that annoys me. But if anyone can find any more filters, just post them here, I'll add them to the top post.

Also, if you wish to block Neopets ads, add the following filters:

http://images.neopets.com/728ads/*
http://images.neopets.com/buttons/*
http://images.neopets.com/ads/*
http://www.neopets.com/sponsors/*
http://images.neopets.com/sponsors/*

And for the heck of it, you can block those annoying google ads by adding these filters here:

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/*

Credit goes to Magica for pointing out the list on this webpage. Check it out... it should have a fair few filters you can add in.

http://www.geocities.com/queenmagica/adblock.txt

What you do is save the txt file into whatever directory (Just in case save it in the Firefox folder in you might need to reload it). Right click on the link and select "Save As." If you want you can edit out or ad content.

Then in your Firefox window go to Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences -> Adblock Options -> Import Filters. Find the directory that you save the TXT file in then open it. It'll overwrite what you have saved right now but will have an extended list of adblocks.

Credit to ShadowRage (He's anti-Neopets, which is why he gave me the adblock list in the first place)

If Geocities says that it's unavailable, then my bandwith has been maxed, so I'd wait a while if you need to.

To get Adblock, simply follow the following insturctions.

1. Download Firefox if you haven't already got it (http://www.getfirefox.com)
2. Configure Firefox to make it right for you
3. Download Adblock (http://adblock.mozdev.org/dev.html)

Then if you want to use Adblock, go to

Tools > Adblock > Preferences

This will show you all the images you've blocked. To block another one, simply add the URL of the image to the filter. That should stop it from ever appearing again. But to make sure it never appears, add a * wildcard after the main URL (eg. http://www.website.com/*). That will stop all images from that website.

Or if you want an official documentation, all the info on how to use Adblock can be found on http://adblock.mozdev.org/

I'm also guessing that non-firefoxers can put these filters into their banner blockers as well

Blocking the Ads with IE (thanks to notanderson_neo)
How to do it:

1: css formatting. If you don't know how to do it, open notepad and paste the following:

.adbox { display: none !important; }

div.ban,div#ban {
display: none !important;
}

When you've done that, click "Save As" and save it as some file with the extension ".css" (for example: myfile.css) It doesn't matter if the "Save as type" box says "Text Documents (*.txt), as long as you put .css on the end of the filename, it will work.

When you've done that, open a browser, and click on "Tools," then "Internet Options," then make sure you have the "General" tab, then "Accessibility." You'll see an area "User Style Sheet," with a box that you can check that says "Format Documents Using My Style Sheet," check that. Now, click on "Browse..." and find your .css file. Open it, and it's address should appear in the box next to "Browse..." Click "Okay" and then "Apply" if it's clickable. If not, simply click "Okay" again.


That's the first step.

2: In notepad, click "Open". Change the "Files of Type" box to "All Files." Then, in the "Look In" box, click on "My Computer" (if C: is not immediately visible), then "C:," then "WINNT," then "system32," then "drivers," then "etc." You should see a file, "hosts" with no file extension. Double click to open it. You should see this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

If you see that, congratulations, you're in the right place. Now, go here . Scroll down, and you'll see

These are the entries to add to your computer's host file: (Macintosh users use the Mac version, not this one!)

With a bunch of addresses below it. Select that entire list, and hit Ctrl + C to copy all of it. Now, go back to the hosts file, and click right below "127.0.0.1 localhost". Hit Ctrl + V to paste the addresses. Add "127.0.0.1 a.tribalfusion.com" to the list. Once you're done, hit "Save."

That's the second step.
[Advanced Step: if you see an ad on the page, View the Source of the page, find the address of the ad, and add that to the hosts file]

Third Step:
Set your country to Antarctica. Because it's cool in Antarctica [pun intended], and doing so used to remove the ads, not sure if it still does.

After that, you should no longer have any ads.

EDITING THE HOSTS FILE (Credit goes to Hunter Lupe, bgryph, notanderson_neo, Yoshi)
Most of the info on Hosts Files can be found in notanderson_neo's very helpful advice in the above quote. But I'm gonna throw in a few more helpful tips from other users.

PROBLEM
I get an error message:

hosts
This file exists with Read Only Attributes.
Please use a different file name.

SOLUTION
You need to go into c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\, select the hosts file, open it's properties, and uncheck the read-only box.

Thanks to everyone who posts helpful information here. This thread is leading everyone one step closer to having an ad-free Neo (the way it should be).

PROBLEM
Using the hosts file seems to slow down Neo.

SOLUTION
You may be able to help this problem with the program here. It acts as a server to your own computer and serves your browser a tiny gif image so it thinks it got the ad it was looking for and doesn't waste time waiting around before it realizes it's not going to get the ad.

Useful Links:
§hark has a very good petpage
regarding Firefox, ad-blocking and other... stuff. It's a great page, and if you have any problems with Firefox, it's worth a look at.


TO MODS:
Before moving this to the Computers Board or locking it, please note that thread is really relevant to Neopets, since everyone is always posting how to use Adblock all over the GC. So I thought I'd be useful in this one thread, on the GC where all the Neoplayers can read it. And a lot of people don't like to search for info on adblock or might not get all the info they want. So I made this thread to put all relevant info on blocking ads here.

Last edited by Twisted Sanity on Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:14 am, edited 11 times in total.

[Chakra_]

Wow. Nice work i must say.

Less ads i guess... TNT are really going too far this time. Guess we have to do it ourselves.

However, is it counted as cheating? Will we get frozen for this ?

[Twisted Sanity]

Wow. Nice work i must say.

Less ads i guess... TNT are really going too far this time. Guess we have to do it ourselves.

However, is it counted as cheating? Will we get frozen for this ?

Thanks

And no, this is definately not considered cheating. TNT have no way of finding out that you are blocking the ads. If I were you though, I wouldn't tell the Neoboards that you block the ads, or mention it on the site at all, since TNT are giving warnings to users that tell others how to block the ads. But otherwise, they have no way of konwing that you block the ads.

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

[Qanda]

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

Good job, but where did Adam say that? I'm 90% sure he did not.

[OmniIcyshelf]

Mozilla = Secret Neopets Sponsor O_O

[ScottNak]

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

Good job, but where did Adam say that? I'm 90% sure he did not.

Actually I do recall him "unofficially" saying that... or something to that effect

[Qanda]

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

Good job, but where did Adam say that? I'm 90% sure he did not.

Actually I do recall him "unofficially" saying that... or something to that effect

All I remember is him quoting someone's post about blocking the ads in firefox with adblock, putting a smilie emoticon under it.

EDIT: All I remember is limited...

Last edited by Qanda on Sat Feb 19, 2005 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Twisted Sanity]

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

Good job, but where did Adam say that? I'm 90% sure he did not.

Actually I do recall him "unofficially" saying that... or something to that effect

All I remember is him quoting someone's post about blocking the ads in firefox with adblock, putting a smilie emoticon under it.

Therefore you should keep your facts accurate and cannot claim that "Adam said it". Don't get him into trouble.

Ahhh, okay. Chill out man. But you can tell what he meant. And what I meant. I'm just assuring Chakra_ that people can't be frozen for using Adblock, and that some higher authorities (unoffically) support it.

[Kostya]

Besides, even the great Adam himself told us at PPT that we should use Firefox to not show the ads I'm serious

Good job, but where did Adam say that? I'm 90% sure he did not.

Actually I do recall him "unofficially" saying that... or something to that effect

All I remember is him quoting someone's post about blocking the ads in firefox with adblock, putting a smilie emoticon under it.

Therefore you should keep your facts accurate and cannot claim that "Adam said it". Don't get him into trouble.

*cough*

http://www.pinkpt.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=#191279

[shapu]

There's another host to worry about, that you may actually want to completely block access to through your browser setup or router setup utilities: Axill.com. For some reason, whenever neopets hangs up for me, it's almost always because it's trying to contact axill.

[Qanda]

*cough*

http://www.pinkpt.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=#191279

Thanks for showing me that, 10% of me knew I was wrong! I stand corrected.

[Angus Young]

Is there a way to block with IE?

[cpvr]

Is there a way to block with IE?

Yes, Its called Norton. Norton anti virus can block some ad servers.
Not sure which. As my friends told me.

[Angus Young]

I forgot to say thank you Thank you.

[_B4U_]

Is there a way to block with IE?

Yes, I have IE, and I have no ads. Though they do load, they never show up.

How to do it:

1: css formatting. If you don't know how to do it, open notepad and paste the following:

.adbox { display: none !important; }

div.ban,div#ban {
display: none !important;
}

When you've done that, click "Save As" and save it as some file with the extension ".css" (for example: myfile.css) It doesn't matter if the "Save as type" box says "Text Documents (*.txt), as long as you put .css on the end of the filename, it will work.

When you've done that, open a browser, and click on "Tools," then "Internet Options," then make sure you have the "General" tab, then "Accessibility." You'll see an area "User Style Sheet," with a box that you can check that says "Format Documents Using My Style Sheet," check that. Now, click on "Browse..." and find your .css file. Open it, and it's address should appear in the box next to "Browse..." Click "Okay" and then "Apply" if it's clickable. If not, simply click "Okay" again.

That's the first step.

2: In notepad, click "Open". Change the "Files of Type" box to "All Files." Then, in the "Look In" box, click on "My Computer" (if C: is not immediately visible), then "C:," then "WINNT," then "system32," then "drivers," then "etc." You should see a file, "hosts" with no file extension. Double click to open it. You should see this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

If you see that, congratulations, you're in the right place. Now, go here. Scroll down, and you'll see

These are the entries to add to your computer's host file: (Macintosh users use the Mac version, not this one!)

With a bunch of addresses below it. Select that entire list, and hit Ctrl + C to copy all of it. Now, go back to the hosts file, and click right below "127.0.0.1 localhost". Hit Ctrl + V to paste the addresses. Add "127.0.0.1 a.tribalfusion.com" to the list. Once you're done, hit "Save."

That's the second step.
[Advanced Step: if you see an ad on the page, View the Source of the page, find the address of the ad, and add that to the hosts file]

Third Step:
Set your country to Antarctica. Because it's cool in Antarctica [pun intended], and doing so used to remove the ads, not sure if it still does.

After that, you should no longer have any ads.