AdShield

[spy1]

Just started using this program a few minutes ago, but so far I'm pretty impressed with it.

This program runs as a BHO, which normally I wouldn't care for - but it's simplicity and effectiveness make it worth trying out!

http://www.adshield.org/

Pete

[spy1]

This thing is putting a very big :) on my face. Killed all the ads on VDr., PC911 and removed several little gifs and avatars, gremlins and 'user pics' that have always irritated the living daylights out of me but that I've never bothered with before - one click, and they%2`Tšu4>:uà¼aš¤Î@3F¼ãaþ?ÁWQ®ZA
Unless there's some hidden drawback I haven't had a chance to see yet, this program may be the greatest thing since sliced bread, as far as controlling what you see everytime you click a link.

Can we all jump on this one and wring it out to see if it squeaks? Pete

[UNICRON]

I have installed it, but have yet to reboot so it is not active yet.

I fully intend to participate in the testing of this product.

I can't wait to weed out all of checkout's pictures, the guy is a walking carnival! LOL! jk, checkout, I let you keep the spinning skull (i like that) but that big@ss signature is gondy! hehe.

[javacool]

I would greatly appreciate opinions on this product from all of those that have tried it - it seems to be a good idea, but any information on how well it co-exists with other programs (and various version of Windows, including Windows XP) would be appreciaited.

[MickeyTheMan]

Sure is easy to kill any .gifs or picture you don't like
Javacool, no offense, bit yours is gone ! LOL

[spy1]

"Requirements

The only requirement for using AdShield is version 5 or higher of Microsoft® Internet Explorer running on the Microsoft Windows® operating system. Note that AdShield will not interfere with the use of other browsers you may have installed, but it won't block ads in them either."

Here's hoping that they get with the program and make it work with Opera, too! Pete

[WE Sim]

Hi! ;D

I have been using AdShield for some time now and with the availability of a pre-written block list from :

http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/main.htm

makes the usage a smooth one.

AdShield doesn't work in OPERA neither does it work if you're using myIE instead of IE as a browser.

Also, if you're posting in dslreports.com, turn off the cache feature otherwise you would not be able to log in.

Thats all I have so far. Hope that somebody else can contribute.

Thanks

[spy1]

WE Sim - I can't get either of those two links to load - you are talking about these, correct?
http://members.home.net/winhelp98/hosts.htm
http://members.home.net/winhelp98/block.txt Pete

[javacool]

{QUOTE-> Sure is easy to kill any .gifs or picture you don't like
Javacool, no offense, bit yours is gone ! LOL <-QUOTE}

Lol...no offense taken...

I'm still looking for something better...

[UNICRON]

I am loving this program.

I nuked that java avatar too! hehe, too bad that big ugly text from Checkout isn't a picture but text instead!

Paul, you should rake in the loot by selling a million ad spaces on your site, then we can block em all with this great program, and you'll be rich! Not even an empty space is held for the ad! Best program I have tested in a while. I feel all giddy inside when I eliminate a picture that has annoyed me for some time. I might even take a stroll though the grc site again, now that I can get rid of the worlds biggest banners.

[javacool]

{QUOTE-> I nuked that java avatar too! hehe, too bad that big ugly text from Checkout isn't a picture but text instead! <-QUOTE}

Well I'm certainly glad you all like the avatar - lol.

Its gone now - removed for everyone who DOESN'T have AdShield...

[UNICRON]

lol, being a walking billboard doesn't look good on you freind. Neither would a big microsoft logo. Pick something that is more personal to you and I promise I won't block it!

I went to grc.com and blocked every oversized pic on the site. Now, the site is tolerable! See ya later spinright5 monster ad, adios leaktest behemoth banner...

[FanJ]

{QUOTE-> I went to grc.com and blocked every oversized pic on the site. Now, the site is tolerable! See ya later spinright5 monster ad, adios leaktest behemoth banner... <-QUOTE}

Sorry UNICRON, I don't know what you're talking about!

[javacool]

{QUOTE-> lol, being a walking billboard doesn't look good on you freind. Neither would a big microsoft logo. Pick something that is more personal to you and I promise I won't block it!
<-QUOTE}

I'm sorry if you interpreted my avatar as a "walking billboard" - java just happens to be some darn good coffee, and a pretty good programming language (in my opinion - although run-time speed does not fare well against compiled programs).

I'm still looking for a free service that will host my gifs for use as avatars... Many of the free homepage services block such use.

[UNICRON]

Email em to me, I'll send you back the urls to then so you can use them anywhere.

[UNICRON]

{QUOTE-> Sorry UNICRON, I don't know what you're talking about! <-QUOTE}



http://grc.com/sr5.gif
http://grc.com/unpnp/unpnp.jpg
http://grc.com/su/su2blackglow.gif
http://grc.com/id/idserve.gif

Just right click on each one...bang bang ..bang, like shooting ducks in a barrell!

Go ahead every one! Step up, give it a whirl, *everyone's a winner!

[javacool]

Just a quick question for all users of this program:

Not to be disrespectful to those who wrote this program, but I'd like to know a couple things:

-The website is simply text, and I could find no more information on the company that produced this software, or any ways of contacting them (besides email).
-Dealing with the first one, how do we know it does ONLY what the website says it does?
-Also, have you checked to make sure it does not send any data out by itself - i.e. tracking where you go?
-And is the ONLY thing it installs that one .dll file?

Again, no disrespect to the authors of this program, it certainly seems to be a great program.

But as I have spent a bit of time keeping my computers spyware (and scumware) free, I do not think it could hurt to ask (since it acts BETWEEN Internet Explorer and the net...)

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[UNICRON]

{QUOTE-> And is the ONLY thing it installs that one .dll file? <-QUOTE}

Use a prog like inctr5 to see what is changed during the install.

{QUOTE-> have you checked to make sure it does not send any data out by itself - i.e. tracking where you go? <-QUOTE}

well with all the security stuff we have, he'd have earned all the info he got sent ;)

[FanJ]

Without AdShield you can do such a thing too:

Just blocked diamondcs.solargiant.com using Hostess.

[UNICRON]

touche!

[WE Sim]

Hi spy1!

Yes. The 2 links posted by you are where you can get the block list. I just tried to access the sites but without success. I think the servers may have some problems. You can try again later.

;)

[spy1]

Javacool - Good questions! Maybe someone can use a sniffer on it and find out?

It would be heart-breaking if it turned out to be something flaky, wouldn't it?

I'm emailing the developer to see if he'll join in the discussion here. Pete

[javacool]

{QUOTE-> Javacool - Good questions! Maybe someone can use a sniffer on it and find out?

It would be heart-breaking if it turned out to be something flaky, wouldn't it?

I'm emailing the developer to see if he'll join in the discussion here. Pete <-QUOTE}

I would appreciate having the developer join the conversation here - I may decide to use on of my test PCs to test this program out (with InCTRL5) to make sure all it installs is that one program. Though I don't know if I will have time to use a sniffer on it.

I was asking because I DID have problems with programs in the past.

For example, w00w00 originally broke the news about what AIM vulnerability - in their bulletin, they posted a link to AIM Filter (a program that would allow you to block the crash - it ran as a proxy server), which turned out to have a secret "admin" function where the author of the program could shut down your machine and (quote from site) "screw you over if you messed with [his] friends". Luckily for me, I only used this program for a short period of time on only one computer. (What also concerned me, before I learned of the secret function in this program, was that it would allow you to crash other people's Instant Messenger programs - which certainly gave it another, more nefarious purpose...)

Obviously, you can't always trust the seemingly good nature of websites in reference to the programs they distribute. In addition, because of the way this program works...it leaves a little room for concern.

Again, no disrespect to the author(s) of this program intended.

[spy1]

(Reply to my email from Doug Lee, AdShields' creator):

"Hi Pete,

That's great, glad to hear the program's helping. *I'll try to join in
the discussion at some point and of course all users are encouraged to
address questions and coB=ZÉ…æè¶l�Ò5Ïdt@adshield.org. *Meanwhile I
took a quick look at some of the posts and would be happy to clarify a
few things. *If you would post this to the forum that would be greatly
appreciated.

AdShield itself performs no internet I/O whatsoever. *The program
transmits no data to anywhere. *Everything that isn't blocked is
downloaded by IE using its standard mechanisms. *I don't even ask for
any personal information when you download the program. *The
adshield.dll is linked to some of the Microsoft internet I/O dlls such
as wininet, ws2_32 and urlmon but that's just for things like examining
the machine's local cache. *A dependency checker such as
www.dependencywalker.com may be used to see which functions are actually
called, they're harmless. *I would welcome independent confirmation from
anyone with a sniffer.

Apart from what you see in the AdShield folder nothing else in installed
except two Microsoft runtime dlls, msvcrt.dll and mfc42.dll. *This is
not spyware, adware or hackware. *I have no ulterior motives and again
would welcome independent confirmation from anyone with an installation
monitor.

Yes the website looks low rent and no I didn't use notepad to create it.
Of course it's only there so that people can download the program and
get support. *I have to assume that users would prefer my limited
resources be devoted to creating the best ad blocker. *There are plenty
of other "sexy" sites out there with all the bells and whistles.

True there's not much information about the company, AdShield, LLC.
Well there's not much to say, it's me. *It was only formed to provide
some small protection against the threat of being of being dragging into
court by advertisers making ridiculous claims about their copyrights or
free speech being violated.

Mike Burgess has been kind enough to compile and maintain a sort of
unofficial official AdShield block list. *His site has been at
http://members.home.net/winhelp98/hosts.htm but seems to have gone
offline only in the last day or two. *It was hosted by excite@home which
has gone out of business so he may be in the process of moving it.

The technologies that make AdShield so user friendly and effective are
very specific to IE and not easily ported to Opera or Netscape. *The
best hope here might be a collaboration with one of the proxy type
blockers to leverage the program's ad identification interfaces. *I'm
planning to add export block list to plain text and hosts file format in
a future release which might be a step in this direction.

All the best,
Doug Lee"

Doug - Welcome to Wilders and thanks for the response! Pete

[javacool]

Thanks a lot for posting that response, spy1 (and thanks to Doug for checking out the posts and answering my questions - your clarification of how AdShield does its job is greatly appreciated).

I think I'll go check out AdShield now... *:)

[WE Sim]

Hi :D

My wish list (at the moment) for the next version of AdShield:

1) OPERA/NETSCAPE, myIE compatible

2) Auto-update search feature for new version of AdShield and its block list

[spy1]

Further info from Doug Lee (AdShields' developer):

"Hi Pete,

I just wanted to let you know that Mike Burgess's site is back online and has been moved to http://mywebpages.comcast.net/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. *The links to his block list are in the middle of the page.

Also forgot to mention a couple of things that may be of interest to security buffs. *The program does NOT modify the windows hosts file or IE’s security zones/settings. *In fact it doesn’t modify any IE settings but I recommend turning off the display of script messages because poorly coded ad scripts often generate errors when they try to manipulate suppressed pop ups. *Thanks again for all your help.

All the best,

Doug"

[Checkout]

{QUOTE-> too bad that big ugly text from Checkout isn't a picture but text instead! <-QUOTE}
Strange - I could have sworn Canada was skilled in the diplomatic arts... * :-[

[UNICRON]

Ah Checkout mon frere! No offense to you (well not too much any way) but your rather large signature does get a tad tiring to behold after an extended period of time. Perhaps scaling the dimensions down to something a little less 'bold' might serve to ease this unfortunate occurance.

I see this has already been done!

Mon Dieu! Vous êtes si futé Checkout vieux copain!

au revoir.

[Checkout]

{QUOTE-> Perhaps scaling the dimensions down to something a little less 'bold' might serve to ease this unfortunate occurance.

I see this has already been done! <-QUOTE}
Yesterday, nothing better to do, I trawled the Net looking for utilities, and discovered a small program called WinXp TpI - Telepathic Interface. *Thus, able to see your miserable whingeing coming in advance, I rendered my sig down to the level where it wouldn't absolutely ruin your web experience here anymore.

Unfortunately, I had to uninstall it. *It was written by a small partnership called Gibson & Greene, and in the end, the software wasn't even compatible with itself.

{QUOTE-> Mon Dieu! Vous êtes si futé Checkout vieux copain! <-QUOTE}
Hey! Less of the vieux if you don't mind!

[PepiMK]

@WE Sim:
for Opera and Netscape, I use WebWasher from http://www.webwasher.com/en/products/wwash/download.htm

It works as a local proxy, so it works with any browser. Filters adds by size, url, popups or scripts. Also removes referrers and has a cookie filter. It adds itself to the context menues of ie and netscape, where you can add an url to the filter list.

[SpyBlocker]

Adsheild is neat but offers no real security. *It's unable to block the privacy invading stuff you don't normally see like cookies and scripts. *And furthormore, it's blocking technique is questionable at best. *The program mainly relies on the user to add to the blank adshield block list. *Which means you've already downloaded the advertisement and it's already collected information from you. *I would use this product only in combination with some real security software.

Try and block this with adsheild:
www.zdnet.com/prism/7/SSEL=2000000&SSCH=1&SSNS=2000000&SSPR=&SSTP=&SSTO=&SSCN=&SSCAT=&SSSRC=

NOTE: This will go to a page not found due to it's loading outside it's parent html.

edit: url tags implied in the url mentioned above in order to make it work - Forum Admin.

[UNICRON]

still great for ditching pictures I don't want to see next time I go to a site no matter how you look at it.

[MickeyTheMan]

{QUOTE-> still great for ditching pictures I don't want to see next time I go to a site no matter how you look at it. <-QUOTE}
Yes i find AdShield is a great complement to SPYBLOCKER in that regards.

[WE Sim]

Hi! *:(

Just found out that the block list for AdShield is no longer available at UIUC. Anyone knows any reason?

If this is true, could wilders.org host it?

Thanks

[spy1]

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

From the link above. Pete

[Vampirefo]

I use and support this program, As pointed out by Spyblocker, it's not considered a security program, But for banners, I think it does a great job. I wont use the pre made list, which seems great, I like to add my own, some ads I like to read.