Stopping popups uisngf the HOSTS file

  • Thread starter Thread starter FACE
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F

FACE

Activated HOSTS and it does not seem to work too well?

I just reinforces mine in Win 98 SE by changing network options. It did
appear to partially work before that. Now it appears to be pretty ironclad.

I just pulled up the Drudge Report in IE -- no popups came with it which
must be a first.

(Yea, he says he has no popups and it must be your problem -- check out his
page source code and make your own decision. )

For full activation:

http://www.uraniannights.com/www/deadsetfreestuff/security/hosts.html

and

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/98/all/reskit/en-us/part7/wrkappg.mspx


For me, it was necessary to change the system network options.


FACE
 
FACE said:
Activated HOSTS and it does not seem to work too well?
Click to expand...

If you'd like to go one further from a hosts file, try Privoxy:
http://www.privoxy.org

It's a fantastic advert/popup/web annoyance blocker and if you wish can be
*very* customisable.

I've been using it for years on many machines.

It is free software (GPL), fast, does not install any files or registry
settings it does not need and in my current Windows 2000 session of 7 hours
it has used 33 seconds of CPU usage and is using around 10MB RAM.

aD

p.s. if anyone else out there has Privoxy, fancy swapping user.actions and
filters?
 
If you'd like to go one further from a hosts file, try Privoxy:
http://www.privoxy.org

It's a fantastic advert/popup/web annoyance blocker and if you wish can be
*very* customisable.

I've been using it for years on many machines.

It is free software (GPL), fast, does not install any files or registry
settings it does not need and in my current Windows 2000 session of 7 hours
it has used 33 seconds of CPU usage and is using around 10MB RAM.

aD

p.s. if anyone else out there has Privoxy, fancy swapping user.actions and
filters?
Click to expand...

I am sure that Privoxy works very well and it looks like is a real Lotus
compared to the HOSTS one-trick-pony. The Privoxy user manual looks quite
comprehensive. In particular, in the Actions file, Ad-blocking by URL, look
strangely similar to HOSTS. But then there are numerous other possibilities
in the Actions file also.

I think my attraction to the HOSTS file is it's utter simplicity. Making a
pop-up blocker a hands-on do-it-yourself project was something i could
hardly pass up. I have a built-in popup blocker in Netscape, but not in IE.

Since HOSTS is really just a first line DNS, it can be circumvented by a
numeric IP <yeah i know that was redundant> which requires no DNS. Had one
of those this morning. But after forcing it to cough up it's address I knew
*why* it had popped up.

I see that Privoxy has several other functions besides just blockings based
on several parameters so don't think that I am putting it down in any way,
we get fancy software because it does fancy stuff....usually. :-)

FACE
 
FACE said:
I am sure that Privoxy works very well and it looks like is a real Lotus
compared to the HOSTS one-trick-pony. The Privoxy user manual looks quite
comprehensive. In particular, in the Actions file, Ad-blocking by URL, look
strangely similar to HOSTS. But then there are numerous other possibilities
in the Actions file also.

I think my attraction to the HOSTS file is it's utter simplicity.
Click to expand...

I quite agree - no extra software or anything. Simple is good :-)

Since HOSTS is really just a first line DNS, it can be circumvented by a
numeric IP <yeah i know that was redundant> which requires no DNS. Had one
of those this morning. But after forcing it to cough up it's address I knew
*why* it had popped up.
Click to expand...

Yeah - whereas Privoxy can see 192.168.0.1/ads/annoyingadvert.jpg
I see that Privoxy has several other functions besides just blockings based
on several parameters so don't think that I am putting it down in any way,
we get fancy software because it does fancy stuff....usually. :-)
Click to expand...

Well you have to look at how /much/ of a problem something is and apply a
similar method to help solve it. As obnoxious web site content really narks
me, I took the time to use Privoxy (and regular expressions a bit).
If they only annoyed me a bit I would be tempted by the hosts file.

If you or anyone else is even slightly tempted give Privoxy a go just to
tell me how much you hate it ;-)


aD
 
I quite agree - no extra software or anything. Simple is good :-)
Click to expand...
I use firefox as my browser - turn the relevant option on, no extra
software or knowledge needed for a non techie. Even simpler
 
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