Darrell Norton's Blog [MVP]

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Blocking 99%+ ads in Firefox

I’ve seen some things about blocking ads from web pages, such as the AdBlock extension. AdBlock is good, but I can only block ads after I’ve seen them.

The best method I’ve seen so far was developed by Neil Jenkins. Just add some code to your userContent.css file, and you’ll get almost no ads. Neil also updates the page every now and then, so if you haven’t checked it recently, go download it again.

Published Oct 19 2004, 03:01 PM by darrell

Comments

stefandemetz said:

in IE you just block third party cookies

# October 19, 2004 11:10 AM

Scott Galloway said:

I used to be all for Ad Blocking but on reflection I decided that for all the harm it did me (practically none) and the benefit it had for many of the sites I visit (in many cases their survival) - it really isn't worth it.

# October 19, 2004 11:18 AM

Darrell said:

Stefan - I don't think that blocking 3rd party cookies necessarily blocks the ad. It just blocks their tracking of you in regard to the ad.

# October 19, 2004 12:09 PM

Darrell said:

Scott - to me, it depends on the ad. Google ads I don't mind, but everywhere else there are flash animations, animated gifs, blinking ad text, etc.

The gratuitous use of annoyances to get me to notice an ad is what I don't like. Maybe there's a way to block ads only from certain sites, I'm not sure. Food for thought, though!

# October 19, 2004 12:13 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

look up supertrick on Google. Between that and the "click to play flash" firefox extension, you'll avoid most of the ad annoyances.

# October 19, 2004 2:25 PM

Darrell Norton's Blog said:

FlashBlock: prevent autoloading of Flash content

# October 21, 2004 6:40 AM

Mike F said:

Scott - after trying this, using userContent.css code seems to allow ads to load, and then hides them. In Adblock, you can choose between hiding ads and actually blocking them from loading in the first place. If I'm wrong or if I'm missing a step, please let me know.

Also, I found another code source that expands on Neil's and appears more current: http://www.gozer.org/mozilla/ad_blocking/
(See the userContent.css file under Basic Setup.)

# November 30, 2004 3:52 AM

Darrell said:

Mike - I looked at Neil's stuff on Gozer, but never messed around with it. The ad-blocking CSS worked 99% of the time, which was plenty enough for me. Thanks for the research though!

# November 30, 2004 5:11 AM