Do you use a ad blocker? (subject amended at Brendons suggestion)

Re: Do you use a pop-up blocker?

Currently have "pc-cillin" installed not too up on internet stuff so not sure what it does but defo got firewall thingy. Have had email in the past that has said "spam" on the title, did'nt look to see what it was or whom from is that anything to do with "anti spam" thingy and did I do right not to open ?
Ian
 
Re: Do you use a pop-up blocker?

If it's got spam in the title, it's been tagged by your ISP. Won't do any harm to open it - if it's been tagged as spam by ISP, it will undoubtably have been virus checked as well

pc-cillin is an anti-virus and firewall product. It's a good product, though you can get similar functionality free. It doesn't have an ad blocker built in, but that's no big deal really
 
One of the best ways to block ads is to safely remove all that nasty hidden spy-ware and mal-ware that definately exists on your machine. Xoft-Spy is the one I bought and it does what it says on the tin. It cost me £25 and as soon as I installed it, it identified 83 pieces of such spy-ware and when I asked it to zap the files, it did so - and hey-presto! No more ads. No need for ad blocker. And my machine runs twice as fast - no kidding.
 
We're talking about completely different things here. Ad blockers do something completely different to anti-spyware.

If going for anti-spyware, xoftspy is def NOT the one to go for. It only gets about 25% of known spyware. Go for Giant, now known as Microsoft beta antispyware. It's not only far better, it's free as well. See this thread
 
You can remove spyware for free using Ad-aware It's very good and probably the best free one on the web. You'll be suprised at how many spyware programs you have running on your machine. I recently ran it on my sons PC and it found over 500!!!
Detects and cleans..."known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components"
 
I have the Google popup blocker and I can see them no problem.

I think that a bigger reason for you not being noticed is that with a modern screen resolution you are so far off the radar that nobody sees the ad.

Cheers

Wayne
 
No reason to have spyware on the computer if you use it sensibly. I run a scan every once in a while just to make sure, but find nothing, as I've secured my computer in other ways.
 
On my PC:
Internet Explorer with Norton Ad Block activated = Cannot see ads /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Internet Explorer with Norton Ad Block deactivated = Can see the ads /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Firefox = Cannot see the ads no matter what I do /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Thanks Brendan, you are right it does work in Firefox. I turned off ad blocking in IE using the Norton web Assistant which did not turn it off in Firefox as well - which is maybe not surpising when I think about it!
 
Some relevant stuff.... I voted yes, btw.

What would benefit you most would a computer with XP SP2 on it, or a pal who can let you have a go with his. Just install a demo version of as many ad-stoppers as you like, and see what happens. Each time, you can use the System Restore as a better-than-Uninstall utility.

As far as I can figure it, your ad is not a pop-up so wont be stopped that way, and the ad-stoppers are normally s/w which eliminates the ad cookie being left behind or things which are virus-like to just record your movements or visit their site 'on-the-way'. Microsoft are beta-testing 'AntiSpyware', available free from microsoft.com An excerpt from the techy stuff is interesting, and may, in a sideways sort of way, throw some light on your questions.
------>
What is Spyware?

Spyware is software that collects personal information from you without your knowledge or permission. The information spyware collects can range from all the Web sites you visit to more sensitive information like user names and passwords. You might be the target of spyware if you download music from file-sharing programs, free games from sites you don't trust, or other software programs from unknown sources.

Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements, called adware. Some advertisers may covertly install adware on your computer, which adware generates a stream of unsolicited advertisements that can clutter your desktop and affect your productivity. The advertisements may also contain pornographic or other material that you might find inappropriate. The extra processing required to track you or to display advertisements can tax your computer and hurt your overall system performance.

This is not to say that all software that provides ads or tracks your online activities is bad. If you sign up for a free music service and in return for that free service the company offers you targeted advertisements, it might be a fair tradeoff. Likewise, tracking online activities can be useful when displaying customized search content or personalized preferences at an online retailer.

The key is whether or not you (or another user of your computer) have been properly notified of what the software will do and that you have provided consent to have that software installed on your computer. The question at hand, is the software being deceptive in what it does or how it gets onto your computer?

Spyware and unauthorized adware are two examples of "deceptive" software. Deceptive software includes programs that take over your home page or search page without first getting your permission. There are a number of ways deceptive software can get on your system. A common trick is to install covertly the software during the installation of other software you want such as a music or video file sharing program.
 
Re: Some relevant stuff.... I voted yes, btw.

I thought we'd already covered this once already in this thread, so I'll have another go. Antispyware software is not Ad-blocking software. Giant (aka as MS antispyware beta) is not an ad blocker.

What Milltech wanted to know is how many people can see his advert, not which ad blocking or antispyware software to use to stop him seeing his own advert /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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