I understand why Web ads are necessary.
What drives me bonkers, though, are the floating, talking, flashing, and otherwise obnoxious and deceptive ads that interfere with my getting to the content. (Give me content related ads, like those on Google, and I'll happily consider clicking.)
So over the years I've tried dozens of tools to make my browsing more enjoyable.
I started with long-gone AdSubtract and it served me well. I abandoned it when it couldn't keep up with all the new pop-ups and other ads. WebWasher was too confusing for me, and Google's pop-up blocker came up short, as did the one built into Zone Alarm Pro.
When I switched to Ad Muncher in 2004 (read about it in my column and download the trial), I knew I had a long relationship in store. It's a sophisticated product that gets the job done and is easy enough to use. There's a trial version, but if you keep it, you'll have to shell out $25. I feel that paying for products I rely on to get my job done is one of the costs of running a business.
Ad Muncher Re-Discovered
I made a discovery today about Ad Muncher that increased its value substantially.
I was having some trouble on LaLa.com -- the page wasn't loading correctly and I saw a "script error" message on my browser's info bar.
Ordinarily, I'd right click on the page and add a filter to Ad Muncher in order to block everything on the page. Ad Muncher gives me the option of blocking only certain things, say, to remove just images, or allow just scripting. But being pressed for time (okay, make that lazy), I always choose to block everything; that works, but the downside is other things, like maybe a pop-up window I really do want, might also find itself blocked.
Right mouse click does the magic
Today I decided to poke around Ad Muncher's options to see if I could figure anything out. I found the Contact tab and thought I'd send them an e-mail, asking for tech support.
I discovered a live chat box and Shannow, the guy who programs Ad Muncher, was online, ready to answer questions. He apparently spends lots of time online. Like who would ever have thought that for $25, I'd have a one-on-one with the guy-who-has-the-answers.
Set Ad Muncher's updates to Daily
He told me that he sends out an almost daily filter update that deals with issues most users encounter. Shannow said an update would be available this evening that fixed my LaLa issue. (Set "Check for advert list updates and" to "Load Automatically" on the Options*Updates tab.)
Bottom line: I couldn't imagine visiting any site without Ad Muncher keeping the page free of ads and pop-ups.
Are you using a blocker? For a fun experience (or maybe not), try it out on this pop-up testing page.
I'm just using Firefox with adblock. Both are free and the combination offer better ad/popup blocking than your $25 Ad-Muncher.
-Jeremy
Gotta agree with Jeremy. I use FF with Adblock as well and have virtually no problems.
And I was a diehard Maxthon user at one time. ;)
Adblock in Firefox rules!
A free extension, you can define your own filters... Just rightclick an ad and zap it!
Steve, my hero, please don't tell us you still use Microsoft as a web browser. Of course Firefox, with the wonderful add-ons of Noscript, Adblock Plus, CookieSafe .... ow could you suggest anything else.
I'm confused with this blog of yours. Is there money involved ?
**** Sorry to disappoint you, but your hero is still using Maxthon. And yes, there's money involved -- my monthly paycheck from PC World. --Steve
Adblock is firefox only!!!! Admuncher works with all browsers and in fact all web enabled applications. Yes you can block those ads in p2p applications as well for example!!!
Linux support is coming soon as well!!
@ John56477
It'll cost you $25 to keep using Ad Muncher after the trial period. And Steve uses Maxthon, or did not too long ago. :)
*** Yep, I still use Maxthon. But with all this pressure, I'll give Firefox another chance. --Steve
The Quero Toolbar for IE7 works great for all but a Floating Popup.
http://www.quero.at/
Combined with a good HOSTS file like
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
and SpywareBlaster makes IE7 my browser of choice.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Everything proxied trough proxomitron and/or privoxy+tor
Adblock , RIP and NoScript in Firefox
Site preferences and block content in Opera
AdHunter in Maxthon
Not much adblocking necessary on many sites with proxomitron (or Maxthon) redirecting (as in http redirect) to a printable page.
It is far too bad that ad muncher does not support windows vista and it is not planned for at least 2 months because they still have to get their bug fix release of 4.71 out. Ad muncher is useless to me if they cannot update it to support newer os's (especially ones that have been out for 8 months now) in a timely fashion. Looks like its back to ad block for me :-/
I am using IE7 and adblock pro, just an addon for IE , which is small and smart. I need my computer run more faster, so I do not need a huge software always staying in my memories.
the following 100% free solution that is maintained by more than two people, unlike ad muncher, which also LACKS many features
Adblock Plus
Adblock element hiding helper
RIP
platypus
greasemonkey
stylish
NoScript
Controle de Scripts
CookieCuller
with easylist.adblockplus.org + antiporn list
And its prefiltered by proxomitron
.
.
.
Ad Muncher is weak on CSS, lacks an in browser element selection, suffers from next to zero documentation, adds LOADS of junk to pages, its whitelists cannot be overridden, page specific filtering is downright lame, and on and on... and no integrated- or online tool to convert/import from other popular adblocking list formats
winsock hooks? or pure blackmagic. Its doesn't play well with certain classes of software and exclusions are no help
Until they sort out most of my gripes its not suitable for power users
Web masters, wanna high bids, payment at the right time, detailed statistics, pay per clicks or pay per actions? visit https://valary.com
i am glad to work with them!