Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[Iguleder]

This is the easiest and most efficient method to block all ads for all browsers. Your browser won't even download the ads, so you save time, nerves and bandwidth.

The trick is simple, it redirects the addresses of ad services to your own computer's address.

1) Go to http://pgl.yoyo.org/as
2) Select “host --in hosts file format” and click “go”.



3) Select all the lines that begin with 127.0.0.1.



4) Open /etc/hosts with a text editor and paste them after the file’s current content.



5) Reboot.

Two notes:
- If you find any other site with ads, add it to the list.
- Update the ad sites list once in a while. Just delete all the lines you pasted last time and put the new ones.

Cheers

[chrome307]

Thanks for sharing this tip

[don922]

I have made the addition to /ect/hosts that you described above. It seems to be working -- Thank You.

How did you make the first post in this thread, ie., where the graphics are part of the original post; not part of an attachment.

This makes a much nicer and more understandable presentation.

[CatDude]

Hello don922

[sc0ttman]

Could I take the lists of addresses in PeerBlock and add them (in the correct format of course) to the host file?

That would be lovely, don't know why it never occured to me before..
But maybe someone else does, so thought I'd just ask..

[chrismt]

@ Iguleder

These hosts are updated frequently and there are a lot of hosts which not only block ads but also malware

Like

Cameleon

* Site: http://sysctl.org/cameleon/
* Source: http://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts


hpHosts

* Site: http://www.hosts-file.net/
* Source: http://support.it-mate.co.uk/downloads/hphosts.zip
* Mirror: http://hphosts.gt500.org/hosts.zip


hpHosts (Ad and tracking servers only)

* Source: http://www.hosts-file.net/ad_servers.asp
* Mirror: http://updates.it-mate.co.uk/hphosts/ad_servers.asp


hpHosts (Partial)

* Source: http://www.hosts-file.net/hphosts-partial.asp
* Updated: Frequently
* Mirror: http://updates.it-mate.co.uk/updates.asp


MVPS Hosts

* Site: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
* Source: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.zip


I wish someone create a small tool which does this automatically and checks for updates every time I launch that app

It would be time consuming to update these hosts by hand

[Shel]

Absolutely the best way to do this sort of blocking is to run your own DNS server and have the updates applied automatically to the appropriate zone files by a script run by a cron job. As far as machines on your LAN are concerned, you become the "authoritative" DNS server for all those advertisingh/malware domains, and you can redirect all attempts to contact them to 127.0.0.1 or 0.0.0.0 or even your own webserver.

This has the additional advantage of making the updated information available automatically and transparently to any machine on your network.

-Shel

[Ibidem]

I advise you to make sure that the file saves as text:

[don922]

I have used this method of blocking ads in Puppy 4.0, Puppy 4.12, Puppy 214X and have not had a problem. Seems to work great.

However, I have tried to use it in Wary 5.0 and it doesn't seem to work.

I have used it with firefox browsers either FirePup (firefox 1.5.0.12) or FireFox 3.5.9.

What can I do to make the host file blocking work in Wary?

[shadower_sc]

I use the Firefox Add-On Flashblock. It blocks all Flash content from playing and gives you a nice little Flash icon to click on, if you need to play the item. This way I skip all the Flash Ads. You can also add a site to the Flashblock Whitelist, if you do not want it to block Flash on that site. I think you have to restart Firefox for the changes to the Whitelist to take effect.

[Bernie_by_the_Sea]

Mostly I use SeaMonkey with the Firefox/SeaMonkey addon called Prefbar. With a mouse click you can individually disable flash, animation, JavaScript and/or images. It also has a easy UserAgent changer for those sites that insist on IE. I also use AdBlock Plus that works quite well.

I use a DNS service that “censors” malware and other harmful sites. Right now I'm using the free version of OpenDNS, but there are dozens of others. To use OpenDNS just change your DNS to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. This works with all browsers.

[nooby]

Crazy question. (Edit: Ooops forgot to thank Iguleder for excellent presentation)

Would not the ad firms know if we do such things?

Them getting ravingly mad at us and getting back on us using persistent cookies somethign and sneaking in the backdoor. I mean these people do pay for total access to our buying habits

Sure I tease a bit but I am dead serious too. If they are so nasty that they produce persistent cookies on some 8 to 11 places hard to find on the HDD then they would collect instances of such tricks we do here and them come up with even more nasty circumvention to win the war we escalate on them.

[technosaurus]

[Bernie_by_the_Sea]

[Luluc]

I always handled that problem with Privoxy. Is there a Puppy package for Privoxy? But anyway, the hosts file tweak is a good option too.