# I've downloaded adblock but I still see ads. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167 "2007-11-29T12:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/1 "2007-11-29T12:47:04Z")
What am I doing wrong? Computer idiot here. “One syllable word style”, please. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/2 "2007-11-29T13:22:54Z")
Well, you need a list of items to block. Plain old \*\*Adblock \*\*you have to configure this yourself. **Adblock Plus** has a pretty good list built in. > **[Adblock Plus – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/)** > > Download Adblock Plus for Firefox. One of the most popular free ad blockers for Firefox. Block annoying ads on sites like Facebook, YouTube and all other websites. > > Adblock Plus blocks all annoying ads, and supports websites by not blocking... Even so, an ad gets through the filters sometimes. no problem. Just right-click on the ad, and you get a menu that allows you to add that ad to the block list. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/3 "2007-11-29T13:23:04Z")
The base install of Adblock requires you to manually block ads you don’t want to see. However, if you also download the [Filterset.G Updater](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1136) then the filters will be periodically updated to block most ads. The combination makes for a much less cluttered browsing experience. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/4 "2007-11-29T13:42:04Z")
From what I’ve been reading you also need to clear your browsers cache and restart your browser. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to restart your computer too. CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/5 "2007-11-29T14:13:54Z")
I downloaded Adblock Plus. The browser restarted itself after install and then it asked me to subscribe to a list (all I had to do was check a button) it will update the ads to block by itself and voila no more ads. At first there was a blank space where the ads had been but now there is no indication that there’s even an ad there. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/6 "2007-11-29T14:20:49Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Even so, an ad gets through the filters sometimes. no problem. Just right-click on the ad, and you get a menu that allows you to add that ad to the block list. [/QUOTE] Remember to use wildcards, though: if the URL of the ad is something like: http: [//ads.annoyingcompany.com/shit/thisisanannoyingad.swf](https://ads.annoyingcompany.com/shit/thisisanannoyingad.swf) then add it to the list as: http: [//ads.annoyingcompany.com/\*](https://ads.annoyingcompany.com/*) ---
**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:** [November 29, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/7 "2007-11-29T14:25:08Z")
I’ve just added http://\* to mine, maybe now I can get some work done. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/8 "2007-11-29T21:51:05Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Even so, an ad gets through the filters sometimes. no problem. Just right-click on the ad, and you get a menu that allows you to add that ad to the block list. [/QUOTE] The Google ads reappear each time. And the Ford banner ads won’t let me right click. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/9 "2007-11-29T22:01:37Z")
[QUOTE=Number] The base install of Adblock requires you to manually block ads you don’t want to see. However, if you also download the [Filterset.G Updater](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1136) then the filters will be periodically updated to block most ads. The combination makes for a much less cluttered browsing experience. [/QUOTE] That helps a lot. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/10 "2007-11-29T22:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > The Google ads reappear each time. couple questions. Are you still using old \*\*Adblock \*\* or did you upgrade to **Adblock Plus**. They are separate extensions, and \*\*Plus \*\*has more features. did you try using wildcards in your blocks? It helps. One Google ad might be: _[www.googleads.com/a/b/c/d/e/123456789](http://www.googleads.com/a/b/c/d/e/123456789)_ and when you refresh it’s replaced by _[www.googleads.com/yada/yada/yada/987654321](http://www.googleads.com/yada/yada/yada/987654321)_ and so on. If you put _www.googleads_\* in your filter it will block them all. (NB- that’s just an example, to show the sort of thing you add. I’m not sure offhand of the exact filter to block googleads.) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/11 "2007-11-29T22:38:15Z")
Don’t forget another google ad address: [http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/](http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/)\* ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/12 "2007-11-29T22:52:06Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] couple questions. Are you still using old \*\*Adblock \*\* or did you upgrade to **Adblock Plus**. They are separate extensions, and \*\*Plus \*\*has more features. [/QUOTE] Adblock Plus. > [@](#): > > If you put > _www.googleads_\* > in your filter it will block them all. Thanks. I’ll try that. (Thanks **jjimm** as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/13 "2007-11-30T18:18:28Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] What am I doing wrong? Computer idiot here. “One syllable word style”, please. [/QUOTE] HEEEEEEEEEEEEY Contra !as long as you’re here could I interest you in herbal viagra ? Hows about a good deal on cess pits? Or maybe I could interest you in a "Pop up"Blocker. Just say the word ! ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/14 "2007-11-30T20:34:55Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] HEEEEEEEEEEEEY Contra !as long as you’re here could I interest you in herbal viagra ? Hows about a good deal on cess pits. [/QUOTE] No, but if you want to be as helpful as the other posters in this thread, solve this for me. I zapped a couple of ads on ESPN and now I have lost a lot of content. I tried uninstalling AdBlocker and Filterset and then reinstalling them, but all the filters remained. How do I do a complete uninstall? Or what else can I try? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/15 "2007-12-03T12:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] No, but if you want to be as helpful as the other posters in this thread, solve this for me. I zapped a couple of ads on ESPN and now I have lost a lot of content. I tried uninstalling AdBlocker and Filterset and then reinstalling them, but all the filters remained. How do I do a complete uninstall? Or what else can I try? [/QUOTE] Anybody? **jjim**? **Peter**? **Mangetout**? Beuller? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/16 "2007-12-03T13:43:46Z")
In Adblock Plus you can go to the settings through **Tools|Add-ons|Options** , then go to the **File** menu and select **Remove All Filters**. I don’t remember where the equivalent setting is located in vanilla Adblock but it should be there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-downloaded-adblock-but-i-still-see-ads/428167/17 "2007-12-03T14:53:01Z")
[QUOTE=Number] In Adblock Plus you can go to the settings through **Tools|Add-ons|Options** , then go to the **File** menu and select **Remove All Filters**. I don’t remember where the equivalent setting is located in vanilla Adblock but it should be there somewhere. [/QUOTE] That did it!