Decent ad blocking software for PCs - does it exist?

[Schnitger]

Is there any decent ad blocking software for Windows based systems? As of late, when I use You Tube, ads pop up all the time, and the same is true when visiting various websites.

I could be wrong, but is it the case that since UK Google users terms and conditions have come under the USA legal system system (rather than the EU), ads etc have become more intrusive?

 

[stairpost]

Adblock add on always worked for me.

There's an adblock browser for android that eliminates all ads from YouTube, might be worth checking if there is a windows version.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I don't think the proposed change to the US-based servers and Ts & Cs has happened yet (and AIUI it's Facebook, not aware of anything similar from Google).

 

[hc25036]

Note that @Tony L has said in the past that he loses revenue if you access pinkfish with an adblocker turned on….

 

[Bananahead]

Youtube ads are quite embedded. When I used to try blocking them they used to lock up the browser tab.

 

[matt j]

I use adblock on the desktop and have no problems, with YouTube or anything else. I disable it for PFM to help Tony.

 

[flutteringwow]

Adblock works great, some websites have gotten savvy to them, like 4OD etc, but on a whole I never turn it off.

 

[Tony L]

Why not just not use sites you don’t want to pay for? Stealing peoples wages is never a good look! Ad blockers are just Napster, software piracy etc. I don’t run one on any computer, if the advertising is overly intrusive or unpleasant I just won’t visit the site again.

 

[robs]

Adblock Plus here on the PC's and laptops, but also using pihole for the main PC and Mrs robs' laptop (she really hates ads).

 

[hc25036]

Tony is too polite to say this - if you use ad blockers when you visit pfm, then at least make an annual donation to keep Tony in business.

 

[robs]

Tony is too polite to say this - if you use ad blockers when you visit pfm, then at least make an annual donation to keep Tony in business.

Indeed, or just disable them for this site (as I do!).

p.s. strangely, I am now looking at an ad for self contained shower cubicles, having spent half the morning in our shower cleaning grout and gunge out of various corners. Sometimes I wonder just how close this tracking stuff is getting...

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

Why not just not use sites you don’t want to pay for? Stealing peoples wages is never a good look! Ad blockers are just Napster, software piracy etc. I don’t run one on any computer, if the advertising is overly intrusive or unpleasant I just won’t visit the site again.

I'm often searching pages to find some useful info on a topic. This tends to mean looking at many pages that don't tell me anything useful. So I'd not want to pay for them. They may have been offerred in a search because they use tricks to get offerred before more useful examples. (FWIW I've also lost count of all the UCEs I get offerring to 'improve' my sites so I can cash in. However I don't produce them for income. They are simply in case anyone finds the content of interest.(1))

(1) Oddly, the UCEs often say things like "I see you use XYZ ..." when, nope, I don't. So they clearly haven't read the pages, just found the email address to spam on one of the pages.

 

[stairpost]

Tony is too polite to say this - if you use ad blockers when you visit pfm, then at least make an annual donation to keep Tony in business.

I don't use adblock on my phone, which is used to do about 99% of my PFM visiting.

 

[gintonic]

Why not just not use sites you don’t want to pay for? Stealing peoples wages is never a good look! Ad blockers are just Napster, software piracy etc. I don’t run one on any computer, if the advertising is overly intrusive or unpleasant I just won’t visit the site again.

I agree. I see absolutely no need to run one. The ad's I get are rarely intrusive

 

[JimR]

I’ve set up a PiHole DNS sinkhole and told all devices on my home network to use it for their DNS. Requires a Raspberry Pi and a bit of networking understanding. But it works well.

Jim

 

[zekezebra]

The adds I find most annoying is when I have actually bought something online and then the product constantly advertised to me for weeks after.

 

[flutteringwow]

I agree. I see absolutely no need to run one. The ad's I get are rarely intrusive

It's the ads you don't notice consciously that are the most powerful. The data mining that goes on is pretty immense and the manipulation of ones mind through online adverts is pretty astronomical.

The internet has become far too reliant on advertisements to function, and it needs to change, until then, Ad blocks are the way forth, if a website wants to offer another way to view the content, then I'd be more than interested if it was of value enough to me.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

On a related note does anybody, apart from me, always adjust the cookie settings when they first visit a website and get the banner? I tend to accept the functional and (anonymised) performance ones, and reject all the tracking ones. If the site doesn't offer those options, or makes it too complicated, I don't proceed.

 

[Tony L]

I just don’t care about it in the slightest. Every couple of months I just delete all cookies and start again. I do anything ‘serious’ from dedicated apps; bank, eBay, Amazon etc. I’m not hiding anything and I far prefer targeted advertising as there is an albeit slim chance it may lead to something I want to buy. I far prefer to be fielded music, music technology, cycling etc than countless things I’ve never bought in my life. It has worked, e.g. I mainly use Facebook to keep me in touch with new music releases etc and I've bought a couple of albums that were sponsored.

PS One recommendation is to use two browsers, one for known decent credible stuff where you are registered etc, the other for potentially toxic sites/random browsing. That keeps your cookies a known quantity.

 

[gintonic]

The data mining that goes on is pretty immense and the manipulation of ones mind through online adverts is pretty astronomical.

i know - some of my colleagues are paid to do that!!!

and it needs to change

it won't - i have no doubt it will get worse

It's the ads you don't notice consciously that are the most powerful.

i genuinely do not care, they dont enter my conscious - in fact when i do look they are on the whole irrelevant. I buy what i want to buy and seek out solutions for my needs.