Blocking Ads on Free Sites

[vee_ess]

We all use ad-supported sites, do we have a "duty" to support ads? Most of the sites we visit are free to use because of ads; it is undisputable that the web would be completely different if we had to pay for each site that we used.

But the question is, with popups and mousetrapping getting more intrusive daily, is it right to use ad-blocking software?
Yes
No
Depends on the situation

[GUEST]

[jinx]

Well, there is another catagory that helps make lots of programs free and that is 'adware' which you did not address. Morpheus and like programs give you free advertising in the windows while you are using their programs, so does your browsers, yahoo and such.

But when pop-ups and pop-unders totally block the site/page I am trying to visit, then I have no problems what-so-ever in blocking them totally- enter crazybrowser to do it for me.

[aoC_PRoZaK]

i personally think this is a protection not only against nasty kill one open 20 popups, but also against unwanted advertisements. i mean, when we browse a hardware site, we see lotsa banner stuff from sponsers (me doesn't see ;D). but wouldn't it be enuff to see it on the end uv reviews? this is not my decision so why would i HAVE to see them? do the sites get their domains paid by peeps WHO DONT KLICK on the banner, but just watch it? i don'T know anybody who pais sites for users just having downloaded the files. most of them pay for clicks. if i want to click or not, i decide not after the look of the banner. and btw, my download volumina is limited. if i load more then i may, i gotta pay. shall i pay several bucks for downloading of banners?
see, i like virtual-hideout(for example) very much. i SPAMrefresh the site bout 10 to 20 times a day, and i know that the guys got a shitload uv banners. i don't get why i should pay MY ISP for THEIR banners, that don'T earn them anything if I don't klick? (see, if ya frequently visit a page with banners and ya don't keep ya temp internet files longer than one week, ya get a big amount of senseless data transfer.

[Keefe]

It is a fact that sites cannot survive without any income. SPAMThe most popular way to raise some income on a site is from ads, and unfortunetly the latest craze is pop-ups. SPAMI agree with most advertising, some of the most useful sites on the net would not be around if they were not making money from ads. SPAMI do, however, believe that pop-ups are a big pain in my rear-end. SPAMSome are small and quiet, while others are huge and intrusive. SPAMI say, if you can block em--Go ahead, its your right. SPAMJust like its your right to change the channel when a commerical comes on.

[aoC_PRoZaK]

ya, what i say, nobody can force us to watch them, but without any good reason we sometimes do

[TheRogue]

where did you get the adblocking bit from?... i have firewall and antivirus on my mobo CD... but no ad blocking

[wizbones]

There's all sorts of ad-blocking software out there. The one shown above is a part of Nortons Internet Security. There's also the crazybroswer and many others.

I hate pop-ups but am guilty of using one or two in the past. Like others above have said, without clicks there's little revenue from a site.

I personally don't mind small single pop-ups, but I definately cannot stand the four, ten, 50 pop-ups that spawn other pop ups until you want to run out and hurt somebody SPAM:o

Ok enough about pop-ups, my blood pressure is popping up.

[vee_ess]

Here are links to Download.com's Online privacy tools (http://download.com.com/3150-2144-0.html?tag=stbc.gp) and the same ones except excluding trial ones. (http://download.com.com/3150-2144-0-1-0.html?li=49)

One that I know is pretty good, and very customizable, is AnalogX Pow 1.57 (http://download.com.com/3000-2381-8156476.html)

-=aoC|PRoZaK=- brought up a very good point; these ads absorb our bandwidth. According to PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/features/article/0,aid,86929,pg,5,00.asp), removing popups and ads can boost your speed from about 1.3 to 2 times original speeds. Check out PCWorld's pop-up stoppers (http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/0,collid,1064,00.asp)

[TheRogue]

i was just interested in the norton one as i already have the other 2 utils ;)

the best way to get rid of popups is run your own DNS and blockout the usual suspects ;)

[MIK3]

yeah i just went to download.com as well about 5 months ago and downloaded a ad stopper that had the best reviews and sounded overal good to me! And i found the Panicware Pop-Up Stopper...virtually blocks every pop-up i come across and tells me when it blocks...all i have to do is click the icon to let the popups come in and loading time is very quick as well!

[aoC_PRoZaK]

ya, and peeps who pay for the amount of time they are online these ads are pure loss of money

[MIK3]

very true -=aoC|PRoZaK=-, good point SPAM;)

[vee_ess]

Sites that use popups for legit use don't come up with the popup stoppers that I have used except for AnalogX Pow, which tends to be more of a pain than the popups. Does anyone know of a popup stopper that worx silently but doesn't close the ones for legit use?

[MIK3]

yes i would recommend Panicware's Pop-Up Stopper...that is what im using right now

[Uranium-235]

I'm not using anything. If popups get out of hand, I have ctrl+alt+i binded to a Process Viewer script which will kill IE and all it's sub processes

[vee_ess]

I often just don't use popup stoppers as the often tend to more of a pain than the popup's (yes I did say that earlier), but now I tried the one soccer_stud mentioned, Panicware's Pop-Up Stopper (http://download.com.com/3000-2366-10113565.html), and I really like it, and I will probably always keep that on this machine.

[MIK3]

sweet! i actually provided usefull in for that somebody used!!! I feel proud...anywho...yes i agree with vee_ess that Panicware's Pop-Up Stopper is a very good download if u want to get rid of those pop ups once and for all...and the two best things about it other than that it works good is that the download is very fast and the whole program is one of the easiest that ive used in a long time!

[vee_ess]

sweet! i actually provided usefull in for that somebody used!!! I feel proud...

Yeah, thx, I really like he prog, except for the fact that if I want to open a new window I have to double click it...