Unclog the Net: Eliminate Web Ads

Ban the Banners

"Click here to save!" "Want SUPER prices? Click NOW!!" You see them every time you browse the Net: insidious, pervasive, pain-in-the-butt Web page ads. My response? "Get out of my face!" Good news--I've found ways to banish almost every blinking one of them.

Don't get me wrong: I can deal with the occasional banner ad (listen, the ones on PC World Online help pay my enormous salary). But some pages are covered with the things--flashing, winking, and gobbling up precious bandwidth. So it's time to tick off all those Web advertisers and banish the banners.

There are two ways to eradicate Web ads: free, and easy. Let's start with free. If the previous tip didn't turn you into a certified nerd, this one surely will. You'll need to stick the banner ad's URL into your hosts file, then tell your browser to look for the ad on your hard drive instead of on the Net. (Since the ad is not there, it won't show up on screen--sneaky, eh?)

To make this work, you need to insert your PC's local IP address (127.0.0.1 for all PCs) in front of the advertiser's URL. In other words, if the ad's Web address is ad.doubleclick.net, the first line of your hosts file would read '127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net'. For more details, check out Junkbusters, a very cool banner-free site.

If that's too complicated for you, I have an easier route: WRQ's @Guard, a great, if overpriced, utility. The $30 @Guard eliminates banner ads and script-based pop-up windows. It also selectively filters cookies and builds a firewall that lets me protect myself from data being transmitted without my permission. The program even stops those annoying, disk-thrashing animated GIFs (God, I hate them).

A side benefit to using @Guard is faster-loading, cleaner Web pages. The program's available for a 30-day free trial.

Now that you know my new location, you can put a bookmark here--the paper kind. Or maybe we can persuade PC World's printer to insert a subscription card at my column.

SUMMARY

@Guard $30 WRQ 800/872-2829 www.atguard.com