# Help: My ISP is inserting ads.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 11, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056 "2010-03-11T01:33:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/1 "2010-03-11T01:33:12Z")

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My cable company (may they burn in hell with their lack of competition) is inserting ads on my internet. They show as a frame on top of whatever it is I am browsing. You can close them but that takes a reload of the page. It doesn’t happen often, but once is once too many. My ad blocker doesn’t block them.

I know it is my cable company and not some other malware because it is all ads for their packages and pay-per-view events.

How can I stop these?

Also I have read that those types of ISP inserted ads are a big gaping hole for hackers. How at risk am I?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/2 "2010-03-11T01:42:15Z")

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When you set up the account, did you have to run an install CD or something? If so, it might have set your browser to point at their proxy server.

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/3 "2010-03-11T02:19:41Z")

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Which browser are you using? If you’re using IE8 try restoring it to default settings

Menu -\> Tools -\> Internet Options

Click on the Advanced tab

About 2/3 the way down you see “Reset”

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/4 "2010-03-11T02:21:49Z")

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Change your DNS servers to Google’s servers and see if it makes a difference:

> **[שנתחיל?
  
  |  Public DNS  |  Google for Developers](https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using?csw=1&hl=he)**

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/5 "2010-03-11T02:30:35Z")

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I am running Chrome on W7. I didn’t have to install anything. I have been using Google’s DNS servers since day one (I am a bit of a Google junkie).

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-isp-is-inserting-ads/532056/6 "2010-03-11T02:33:44Z")

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As a method of last resort, you might start using [Tor.](http://www.torproject.org/) They can’t screw with something that’s strongly encrypted.