Adblock Settings

Adblock Settings is distributed in the Public Domain.

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• Latest Version : Adblock Settings - April 19, 2006
• Previous Version : Adblock Settings - January 7, 2006

Although Adblock Plus is not my project, I do keep my own settings file for it. It has been, so far, extremely effective in keeping most advertisements from displaying on my browser whatsoever.

The idea behind my settings file is to block certain content in an objective manner, with only a few specific images, ads, and urls; in other words, focusing on common types of urls. The filters themselves are not complicated Regular Expressions, which are generally difficult to craft and tend to block good and bad content with no good way to fix it. Instead, I use simple expressions, with asterix (the wildcard characted) used in some cases and entire sites in others.

This results in less good content from being blocked. Occasionally though, some legitimate content does get blocked – this is almost unavoidable. Luckily you can toggle Adblock on and off by using Control-Shift-B if you need to temporarily do so.

So what type of content do I strive to block? Three particular types- advertisement, huge downloads (BMP files used instead of logical image formats, giant signature images on forums, huge animated or flashy images, and the like), and last, my personal preferences on what I don't want to see while browsing websites- for instance disturbing images on otherwise ok sites.

However, with that all said, install at your own risk, because there's no guarantees it won't block some important script, image, or iFrame accidentally- here is a step by step on how install it:

• Make sure you're running Mozilla FireFox
• Download my Adblock settings file above
• Install the FireFox Adblock Plus Extension using FireFox
• Restart FireFox
• Go to Tools→Adblock→Prefernces
• Click Adblock Options and choose Import filters..
• Select the adblock settings file, and when the dialog box comes up, select OK.
• Hit the “Done” button and you're all set.

Trust me, it is very effective.