Runaway Ad Servers and Crashing Internet Explorer

For more than 6 months I have been experencing problems with this message board randomly crashing Internet explorer and having ad servers running away and constantly refreshing the page on 4 different computers, 2 personal and 2 work machines and the work machines belong to one of the largest IT manuactures in the world and are secured to the higest level by profesionals. The problem has gotten bad enough that after being a member for over 14 years I am just about to the point of just walking away from the dope. Are the problems going to be fixed?
LIONsob

Yes I am I new member, but I have constant problems too with IE crashing and all sorts of weird issues with my computer after visiting … but I love the people and discussions here so I keep coming , hoping it will be fixed… ? Some one out there know?

Try switching browsers. Or you could pay for membership and not get ads in the first place.

[ul]
[li]The problem most often resides with Internet Explorer. Don’t use Internet Explorer. Use Firefox or Chrome. When you switch, use the Adblocker addon to kill the ads.[/li][li]Become a member.[/li][li]Do both. I use Firefox with ad blocking software and am a member. I don’t experience any problems.[/li][/ul]

How exactly would you like them to fix it? It costs money to run the SDMB. Currently that money comes from membership fees for members and charter members, and advertising for guests. If you simply remove the advertising, then the SDMB won’t generate enough income to sustain itself.

You can become a paying member. Members don’t see ads and also are able to post in the marketplace forum.

You can install an ad blocker and a script blocker. IE is a bit behind the times compared to Firefox and Chrome, but there are ways to block ads and scripts using IE. However, if you do use the SDMB as a guest with an ad blocker you are depriving the SDMB of the income that pays for your access here.

If you have any suggestions on how they can get rid of the ads and still generate enough revenue to operate this site, I’m sure a lot of folks would be very interested in hearing it.

I’ve posted this before, but I’ll throw it out there again.

Using IE, the easiest way to fix this problem, IMHO, is to toggle on Active X Filtering, either from the Tools section of the Menu bar or from the Safety section of the Command bar. Might be other ways to toggle it as well for all I know.

This works 100% for me - no more problems with this web site and most ads still come through so you’re not depriving SD of any revenue AFAIK.

The only issue is that some web sites need it toggled back off to work - for example some videos won’t play and the street view of google maps won’t work.

I don’t consider that a problem for me - I just toggle it on when I come here and toggle it off when I leave.

Four mouse clicks total (each time you come and go) to not have to deal with this problem anymore, it’s free, you don’t have to switch browsers, you don’t have to install anything, and it’s extremely easy to try.

Well, something like 25% of the potential members or ad viewers that land here are going to think this website is a piece of shit and many of them are unlikely to put up with it and stay around long enough to find that they like the SDMB.

Something in the ads is causing IE to crash that wasn’t happening before.

You make an excellent point.

No other site does to me what this one does. You’d think that they would want to fix it, at least for the reason you give. And you’d think that they would have done so by now.

This isn’t a sporadic problem - it’s constant. And it doesn’t seem to be limited to a narrow range of users. Failure to address this problem is odd and doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of the board as far as attracting new members and keeping the existing ones.

This. And not just for the SDMB; I understand ads like that are a common source of virus/malware infection.

It is a very bad idea to use Internet Explorer, except for very, very few trusted sites that require it.

Consider Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. Through Internet Explorer, this site can send updates to your operating system.

Think about what this means.

The same web browser you’re probably using to surf the dodgiest porn and warez sites, has the ability to download and install operating system updates. It has the ability to alter the very operating system on which it runs, and on which everything else on your computer runs.

As easily as it can download and install a legitimate update from Microsoft, it can download and install whatever “updates” any other web site might offer up.

This is how so much malware gets into Windows-based computers.

As far as I am concerned, there are two, and only two situations in which any normal user ought to ever use Internet Explorer:

[ol][li]To download and install updates from Microsoft’s web site.[/li][*]Once, to download another browser, any other browser, to use for all other web surfing.[/ol]

My IE browser no longer crashes when I visit the Dope now that I am using AdBlockPlus for Internet Explorer.

I think the first question to ask when trying to figure out how to solve the problem (if that is the goal):
Are there sites that have ads that do not have the same problems?
If they do exist, then maybe there is something about their systems/procedures that is effective and can be replicated.