What is the easiest way to get rid of the banners that are at the top of the screen of the “Free” ISP’s?
I use Altavista, and when I try to play a game over the net, it sits there at the top of my screen, wreaking havoc on my ability to play…
Thanks, oh wise and benevolent dopers…
The easiest way is to sign up with a real ISP . . .
Yeah, other than that… I plan on doing that when my wife finishes school and starts working, but until then, every dime helps.
Other than that, I really don’t have any problems… good connection, I don’t get kicked off, and they are supposed to be getting newsgroup access any day now…
I just want to get rid of the stupid banner…
I think there is a “spy” program that will tell you the real password that the login program sends to the ISP. then you can enter that info into DUN. I have never seen the program though.
Just a WAG, but would a program like InterMute do the trick?
There is a simple way to block your computer from accessing certain sites. Many ads come from specific sites, and by killing a well-chosen few, you can be annoyed with many fewer ads. I don’t know whether the ads on your computer would qualify, but this works well for ads in web pages.
There is a file in your Windows folder called “hosts” (no file extension). This file is the first place that the network software looks in order to translate a computer name to an IP address. Most the time, it’s empty, so your computer will always go to the backup plan and check with your ISP’s DNS server.
But if there’s an entry in this table corresponding to the computer name it’s looking for, it will not go check anywhere else. The trick is to tell it that your local machine is called “ad.doubleclick.net” and whatever else you want to disable. You just assign that name to the address 127.0.0.1, which is the universal IP address for “this here computer”. Your browser will try to load something from your own computer, but i will give up because the picture it wants isn’t there.
My hosts file contains these:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 admaximize.com
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ads.track-star.com
127.0.0.1 media.preferences.com
127.0.0.1 adfarm.mediaplex.com
127.0.0.1 view.avenuea.com
127.0.0.1 ads.uniquemedia.net
127.0.0.1 ads.newcity.com
127.0.0.1 ad.linksynergy.com
This all sounds good, and I’m going to look into it… however, the banner in question is part of the program that AltaVista installs to let you log-in and browse free.
It’s always on top, all the time. On top of everything. It has ads running on it, and it has a series of buttons that are supposed to make navigating easier, but I don’t use them at all…
Ah well… TANSTAAFL I suppose.
Try downloading webhack from http://www.shareware.com. It works but is buggy and doesn’t have any help manuals.
HUGS!
Sqrl
CurtC:
Don’t forget these other adservers.
ad.preferences.com - the OTHER big MatchLogic server
adforce.ads.imgis.com - AdForce server
focalink.com - AdKnowledge server
Tristan,
TANSTAAFL is right-on.
I have heard, though, that you can run two monitors from one PC and toss the banner onto the second one.
Hope this helps!
sdimbert, you do that with those new geforce 3d cards, but that wont help because you will still be running it from the processor, and it will slow it down just as much. (plus if you dont have a geforce card its just a little expensive just for that) Tristan, what you need is that program that blocks all ad banner messages and just shows the site itself - designed to speed your connection up. I cant remember what it is called or anything, maybe someone else knows? (or you could try looking it up on AV)
Simple. They are out there…
Not that I condone any of this, but…
With my free proivder, I’ve just set up my IE browser to dial directly in to my provider (as if it was dialing in to MSN). Since I don’t log in through their usual channel, the ads never show up. Of course, they just filed for chapter 11…I wonder if it’s my fault.
Good call…the only on ethat I know of is http://www.freeatlast.com
Another one: http://www.winfire.com. The banner is tiny and can actually be docked in your taskbar so that it doesn’t interfere with your display.
Happy surfing!
Freeatlast does have ads. They’re just not ever-present. They’ll pop up fairly often (or sometimes not at all. Haven’t quite figured that one out yet, but I’m not complaining) and you have to keep closing them. Sometimes they’re at the top of the screen, sometimes at the bottom. I’d imagine that this would be more of a distraction than the banner on top while playing a video game. Imagine getting ready to blast an enemy and suddenly there’s a pop-up window covering him up.
Granted, I have no clue how long they’ll be in business. 
http://www.urbanlink.com/
I’d suggest searching for free ISPs that support multiple OS, say Mac or Linux or somesuch. Usually those tend to be more flexible in what they expect from you. Some things I’ve seen are:
Requiring your front page to be a given URL (loosely enforced, but I do it anyway cause I’m a nice guy)
Requiring filling out of surveys
Using your free CPU cycles to help in distributed projects
Paying a one-time “donation”
Signing up other people for the program, combined with any of the above.
I have no comment on how good their business plans are, but TAANSTAFL isn’t always true online. Sometimes it’s the other guy who loses out…
CurtC: I really like your idea of using the “hosts” file to save the time of fetching a banner. What happens when a web page attempts to get a banner, then? Do you see one of those banners (meaning, “Not found”)?
Are there any drawbacks to this method of yours?
Also, does this method do anything about those ad-servers that keep track of your visiting patterns? I really hate those.
Finally, do you know of some site on the net where I can read more about the “hosts” file and what it’s for? I’d like to go into this with both eyes open.
Timothy : I really like CurtC’s idea, too. Pretty damn clever, I have to say.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m almost positive that you’ll get a file not found. I’d imagine it wouldn’t work that great for the free ISPs, since the frame for the banner would still be there; it just wouldn’t have anything in it. It would be an excellent tool to get rid of web page banners, though.
And if your computer can’t contact any ad servers, they obviously can’t follow you.
I don’t have a URL for an online text handy at the moment. If you know anybody with a test prep book for the MCSE Network Essentials test, that would be perfect. I’m pretty sure I have a link to an online resource at home, though. Unfortunately, I’m at school right now. If nobody posts a good link before I get home, I’ll post it. Email me if I forget.
But at home I use JunkBuster.
It’s a tad more sophisticated.
http://www.junkbuster.com
Ah, here we go. An explanation of the hosts file from Networking with Microsoft TCP/IP, Second Edition. Scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page. It’s a pretty simple concept, really.