OT- unwanted ads.
 

Does anyone know how to stop the video ads you get these days?. I'm not talking about a little pop up, but ^$@* small movies that now turn up. I just had to close an ad for Smallville season 2 (I don't even watch tht program), and the other week some american company. I am trying to reduce my downloads and these ^$#^#$ movies are using up my download limit without permission.

Edit: I forgot to point out that megabytes of movie (I assume- 10 second ads) are downloading and I don't know of it till it starts.

[ May 25, 2004, 07:32: Message edited by: Randallw ]

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

Complain to your ISP. Ask for blocking software.

There might even be freeware blocking software for that.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

Use Mozilla/Firefox, Opera or any other good browser instead of the IE spy- and adware.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

I'm with Roanon on this one. Use a browser that supports this and you won't get bothered anymore

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

In addition to the browser, also try:

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/nick/tempstuff/SJ's%20Junkfilter%20hosts%20file.zip

For win9x put it in c\windows
for 2k/xp i believe it goes in c\windows\drivers\etc

Blots out a good chunk of the crap, even if you don't go with a better browser.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

I'm not positive, but the video ads may be Flash ads. My solution? I have never downloaded the Shockwave plugin. Yeah, that's a little severe, I know. I miss out on a game here and there, but it's sure to be pure ads in the near future.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

First recommendation: As others have already said, dump Internet Exploder. It's one big security hole. Opera and Mozilla/Firefox are much more secure, and also standards compliant browsers. This means they handle HTML in the way it was designed instead of in the 'special' way that MS has invented for itself. The more people use browsers that follow the standards, the less control MS will have over the web. So even if a few websites don't work for you in these other browsers, you should email them and complain that they need to use standard HTML rather than switch back to Internet Exploder.

Also, since MS is planning to add a popup blocker to IE soon, you can expect the ad-pushers to start exploiting all the other security holes in IE, like active-x. It will soon be a nightmare to try to surf with IE. (On the plus side, this will drive many more people to use Opera or Mozilla/Firefox! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )

Second Recommendation: Also already said, get one of those nifty HOSTS files that turns addresses for major ad-servers into loop-backs and blocks them.

Third recommendation: Get Proxomitron! It's a 'proxy' that filters the HTML stream coming into your browser, or going out, and let's you control your Online experience. www.proxomitron.info is the site. The default config is pretty good, but it has a fairly comprehensive matching language and you can write very extensive custom filters -- or just get a set written by a third party. Not only can you block ads or snooping HTML and javascript, you can modify sites to look the way you want. I've got filters for Google, eBay, Yahoo! and various other sites that block annoying features or add useful functionality to the site (for instance, I can go directly to the image on Google Images rather than having to go through the stupid frame). I can't stand browsing without Proxomitron anymore.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

I think in tools > internet options > advanced, there are options to play sounds/animations/videos.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

Becareful some pop up adds are not what they seem. They are in fact programs that can cost you a lot of $$.

Some disconnect you and have your computer dial a nigerian phone company to get connected and then you get a huge phone bill. Don't believe me, do some checking.

Generally pop up ads should be viewed as viruses.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

WATCH THIS You might need IE as NS does not open it correctly. Let me know what you think.

[ May 25, 2004, 23:59: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

If you want to use the Proxomitron, but find all the options daunting, try this: {clicky}. Its a set of filters written for Proxomitron. I liked tinkering with Proxomitron, but this list made it such a breeze.

[ May 28, 2004, 21:53: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I think you misunderstand. These aren't little flash ads but full videos (albeit 10-15 seconds) that appear in a full screen windoe with a play, pause and rewind buttons. They look like tv ads.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmmm... I haven't seen those. I do have Quicktime and I can't remove Windows Media Player, but I told Mozilla not to run those programs, so ...

Tell me, what web sites do you go to that forces these videos? When I had Comcast, their home page ran multiple Flash ads. When I removed Shockwave from my system, it would ask me 5 times to install it again.

Also Yahoo, had Flash ads. I was at work, trying to search for a vendor, and a Gateway computer starts hopping around the screen. So I can relate to something that's real annoying. Let me see what those sites do to me.

[ May 26, 2004, 15:56: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

I can't remember where I was at the time. I think, but am not sure, that I was reading a Gamespy page. It wasn't the adds they put between pages though, where you click on the link above the ad to go to the page you wanted. I guess its always possible I clicked on an ad and didn't notice till the movie had downloaded.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

Augh! Gamespy. Eek. *Crosses all fingers and thumbs, spits to chase evil spirits*

Now I understand your problem. When I gotta got there, its always scary for me. Fun to watch all the web connections and cookies appear in the lower right hand side of the screen as gamespy loads.

Yeek. They were the source of all, and I'm not lying, all of the email spam I got to my Hotmail account. And I know this because it appeared just after I registered there, so I could download walkthrus for some arcade game rom I had.

Gamespy is evil, plain and simple. I went to patch my Blizzard games. And the only functioning link was the gamespy link. But I didn't register to get in, I just gave up and tried some other day somewhere else.

[ May 30, 2004, 04:45: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

Yes, GameSPY is a difficult site to navigate without getting spied on. I visited there a few times while MOO 3 was in the works and often had to turn off some Proxomitron filters just to be able to get around the site. I then made sure to kill the cookies & such that I had acquired. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Currently I have no reasons to visit there so I don't know how bad it might have gotten.

Re: OT- unwanted ads.
 

They don't call it game spy for nothing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif