Main News Source.. Click hereAs a Windows hosts file

I use this list with a local nameserver, but you can also use this list with windows to block ads. to do this, download the list hosts format and put it in your C:\Windows folder (C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\etc under Windows 2000; C:\WinNT under Windows NT; C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc under Windows XP) as a file called "hosts" (just "hosts", no .txt or anything). if you already have a file called "hosts" there, just add this list on to the end. (See above for a more detailed explanation of how this works.) NB: after updating your hosts file, it is recommended to run the command "nbtstat -R" to ensure changes are recognized by your computer (see this news update for more details).

• As a Unix hosts file

You can of course also just put the contents of the list in hosts file format in /etc/hosts, and it'll have the same effect as running a local nameserver (as long as the machine is configured to check /etc/hosts of course).

 

• With Elsa/LANCOM Routers

You can also use this list with Elsa/LANCOM routers, as described (in German) at http://www.maceinsteiger.de/html/anleitung/elsa2.html. (Lars has also been very helpful with suggesting entries for the list; thanks Lars!)

 

• With Your Browser's Proxy Server Settings

If you're behind a proxy, and your browser allows you to specify pages that don't use the proxy, then putting the entries in the list of internal sites will effectively block traffic from those sites. If your browser supports automatic configuration of its proxy settings via an external URL, you can simple set your autoconfig script to be either of these URLs to stop seeing ads:

  https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=proxyautoconfig;showintro=0 (uses the ad server hostnames)
  https://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/iplist.php?ipformat=proxyautoconfig;showintro=0 (uses ad server IP addresses);

 

• In Mozilla's Cookie Filtering

Pinder Johal detailed in his blogzilla how to use the list to block ads with Mozilla. to do this, download the list as a cookie permission file, and put it in "C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\user\*.slt" (this is the directory for Windows 2000/XP users, so it will probably differ on other platforms). have a look at his site for more info.

 

• With Microsoft's DNS server

Wolfram Kraushaar has kindly provided instructions on how to use the list with Microsoft's internal DNS cache. You will need a null zone file (similar to the one provided for use with Bind 8) which he also provided: adservers.dns. This file should go in %SystemRoot%\system32\dns (so, C:\WinNT\system32\dns for most people). Then, follow these steps:

• modify the adservers.dns file for your needs
• stop the DNS service
• download the list of ad servers as a system registry file and save with the extension ".reg"
• double click the file and confirm the updates to your system registry to add the servers
• restart the DNS service

Wolfram also suggests: "setting up a Virtual Host on an Apache with an ErrorDocument 404 which says 'this host has been zapped'", as some browsers complain if they can't connect to hosts needed by web pages. I use Opera, which has this problem, and this is exactly what I do to get around it. If you think Apache is a bit overkill or too much effort, have a look at SimpleServer from AnalogX - as the name implies, it's easy to set up and use.

Another way to stop your browser complaining is to point the IP addresses to a live web server instead of 127.0.0.1 (although it would probably be a bit slower as the browser would try to connect to it for each ad). You can specify an alternative IP address to be used on the list ad servers when the HTML intro is included.

Thanks Wolfram!

These are just a few of the ways to use the list. I've tried to make the list viewable in various formats that are convenient for various other methods, and I'll add more as I come across them. If you'd like me to add some particular way of listing the hostnames of IP addresses, let me know and I'll add it.  

• Other Nameservers

Using the list of ad servers with a name server is one of the most efficient methods. It allows you to block entire domains, rather than just individual host by configuring your nameserver to act as master for the zone. For example, by setting your DNS server to be master for "doubleclick.net", all requests for hostnames under "doubleclick.net" will fail, instead of having to add entries for "ad1.doubleclick.net", "ad2.doubleclick.net", etc.

Another advantage is that if you use a nameserver on a LAN, setting up a machine to block ads is as easy as changing its nameserver. There's only one machine that needs to be kept up to date, and no extra software or configuration is needed on any other machine.

I've made a list of freeware software that you can use with this list. Again, if you know something that should be on the list but isn't, please let me know (but please, only if the product doesn't have to be paid for).

If you're thinking about switching to using a nameserver instead of a hosts file, you might find these scripts useful:

Please note that I've never actually tried any of these products.
Also, check out the links page for more tools & resources.

You might also want to have a look at a list of DNS servers that Microsoft recommends as working with their operating systems, or DNS Resources Directory's index of server software.

 

• With the Squid Web Proxy Cache

Squid is a proxy server commonly used in big networks to lower bandwidth usage and speed up download times. It sits between the users and the Internet so it can control network usage intelligently (unlike most browsers / OSes / anything). You can configure it to deny access to particular hostnames or IP addresses, so it's easy to set it up to block ads. I don't use it myself, but Stephen Patterson kindly sent in a script he uses with Squid to block ads. Unfortunately due to me forgetting to add the "plain text (no HTML)" option for viewing the hostnames, it's not necessary anymore, but he did give some good information on how to configure Squid. Apparently all you need to do is define an ads acl in Squid's config file that points to the file with the list of hostnames, then just set that acl to deny:

    acl ads dstdomain "/etc/squid.adservers"
    http_access deny ads

After that all you need is to keep the list of hostnames up to date. To give you an idea of how you might do that, check out Stephen's script (slightly modified by me). Cheers Stephen!

Note: This information was originally incorrect (it said "acl ads src" instead of "acl dstdomain src". Many thanks to Patrick Steiner emailing me to point this out.

Update: Another way of configuring Squid might be effective at blocking ads. Instead of using the "dst" acl type (which only blocks access to a specific hostname), the "dstdom_regex" type allows you to block access to domains and all subdomains under them. The first line from the Squid configuration above would then change to:

    acl ads dstdom_regex -i "/etc/squid.adservers"

Because of the way regular expressions work, you also have to specify the list of ad servers in a particular format to avoid potentially blocking legitimate servers as well as ad servers. To view the list in this format, just select the Squid dstdom_regex option from the select box above.

Adblock test (Why?)