WQYU – Blog

Some websites state that advertising is necessary to remain operational. While this may be true, there is no clear justification for displaying an excessive number of advertisements—especially video advertisements that automatically play, whether they include sound or not. These types of ads often consume large amounts of data and negatively impact the user experience.

Reasonable advertising is generally acceptable. Issues arise when websites display an excessive number of ads or automatically play video advertisements without user interaction.

Adblock Plus (ABP)

Chances are you already have Mozilla Firefox installed on your computer. If so, you can install an add-on called Adblock Plus. It is free to install and takes only a few seconds to set up.

Pros

• Free and easy to install
• Blocks most advertisements
• Allows users to whitelist websites they wish to support
• Allows users to enable advertisements considered “acceptable”

Cons

• Some websites (such as Forbes and the Daily Mail) block access unless ad blockers are disabled or the site is whitelisted
• The ad blocker may not function correctly if filter lists are not updated
• Some websites attempt to bypass Adblock Plus until updates are released

Brave (Web Browser)

Brave is a web browser available for Windows and macOS computers, as well as Apple devices such as iPads and iPhones.

Pros

• Built-in ad blocker enabled by default
• Ad blocker can be disabled if desired (instructions here )
• Allows “acceptable ads” if enabled by the user

Cons

• On some devices, such as iPads, Brave may slightly alter how websites are displayed

Built-In Ad Blocking Using the Windows Hosts File

Your computer may already include a basic method for blocking ads that you may not be aware of.

If your computer is running Windows 10, follow the steps below:

1. In the Windows search bar on the taskbar, type Notepad
2. Right-click Notepad and select Run as administrator
3. Click Yes when prompted
4. Press Ctrl + O
5. Navigate to:

   C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

6. Change the file type to All Files
7. Open the file named hosts

Locate the line containing blocked.tld and replace it with the domain name of the website you want to block:

127.0.0.1 blocked.tld

After entering the domain name, press Ctrl + S to save the file. The specified website should now be blocked.

If the site is not blocked immediately, you may need to clear your browser’s cookies, history, cache, and DNS cache for the changes to take effect.

Sample Hosts File (Excerpt)

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains mappings of IP addresses to host names.
# Each entry should be kept on an individual line.
#
# Comments may be inserted using the '#' symbol.
#
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1       localhost
# ::1             localhost
127.0.0.1       blocked.tld

Additional Resources

You can find lists of advertising, tracking, and malware-related domains that can be copied and pasted into the hosts file at the following link:

https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/block-websites-using-hosts-file

Scroll down to “What Else Can I Do With The Hosts File?” to find a link to a text file containing known advertising, tracking, and malware domains.

Hosts File Method: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Websites such as Forbes and the Daily Mail typically do not display messages requiring ad blockers to be disabled
• Websites are not blocked from loading due to ad-block detection

Cons

• This method does not block video advertisements on YouTube
• Websites must be manually added or removed by editing the hosts file
• You may need to clear cookies, history, cache, and DNS cache for changes to take effect