Ad-blockers.

[Workingman]

If I am being perfectly honest I do not mind some adverts on some websites so long as they are not too intrusive. On the other hand ad-blockers are a good all-in-one on/off solution for many of us, not that there are not other ways of dealing with ads. Unfortunately those other ways are a bit fiddly, time-consuming, and can prevent justifiable things from working.

However, I am finding that sites are becoming more wise to ad-blockers and taking steps to get around them depending upon how aggressive your settings are. Some are quite polite and only ask you to turn your ad-block off, but others are employing more restrictive measures. The Daily Mail, for example, lets you read for a few seconds before rolling up the page - that's it, no explanation! Sky sends an "Oops" message saying that you browser does not support this or that content. Others gradually fade out the content to a blank page. Some throw a pop-up cover to block some page content, these often come with a close button, but some do not and you have to leave the page.

The thing about these happenings is that they can look like browser problems or even that you have been hacked when you have not.

So this is my tip - Chrome, Firefox, Opera etc: If you have ad-blocking software and some sites start behaving in strange ways try turning it off for that page or site via the ad-block button on the toolbar. AdBlock, Adguard and AdBlock Plus extensions all have this option. Then do a refresh - Ctrl F5 on most browsers or the refresh button.

For IE users the problem is somewhat different. There is an app but it crashes IE too many times and it has not been regularly updated. Another way is to make sure IE is your default browser then go to Settings>>>Manage add-ons>>>Tracking Protection>>>Get a Tracking Protection List online...choose to add Easy List Standard, Easy Privacy and Privacy Choice then enable them. When you now go browsing you will find that many ads have disappeared, but what happens when sites wont work? You go to settings>>>Safety and click the Turn off Tracking Protection option then refresh the page (Ctrl F5). It is a global setting so needs to be turned back on and refreshed when you leave the site.

[Suff]

I must admit I've given up blocking ad's. As you say sites are becoming aggressive about it. Hardly surprising given that ad hits are a large proportion of what pays for the site.

Norton cleans anything malicious and everything else I just ignore. I don't even read them even when I'm closing them. It's a matter of principle. If they want to push it at me and someone is willing to pay them to push it at me then they can do so. But even if I really, really, want the product and the price is amazing I will not click on the ad and will never buy from it.

It's my web survival guide...