Stop All the Ads in Hotmail
Do you find all those animated ads very distracting when you are trying to read your mail? It is very easy to block them within Windows XP or Vista.
Contents
Steps
Windows
- Find this file: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
- Edit it with any text editor, for example, Notepad.
- Add these lines to the end of the file:
- 127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com
- 127.0.0.1 live.rads.msn.com
- 127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
- 127.0.0.1 static.2mdn.net
- 127.0.0.1 g.msn.com
- 127.0.0.1 a.ads2.msads.net
- 127.0.0.1 b.ads2.msads.net
- 127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
- 127.0.0.1 ac3.msn.com
- 127.0.0.1 ec.atdmt.com
- Save.
This method will work for all browsers since Windows is blocking the site. Tested with Windows XP SP3 and Internet Explorer 8.
Internet Explorer
- In Internet Explorer, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Security
- Select security zone "Restricted Sites".
- Click on "Sites" to bring up a window to add the following sites one at a time
- rad.msn.com
- live.rads.msn.com
- ads1.msn.com
- static.2mdn.net
- g.msn.com
- a.ads2.msads.net
- b.ads2.msads.net
- ad.doubleclick.net
- ac3.msn.com
- ec.atdmt.com
- When finished adding the above, click on Close.
- Click on OK to apply the changes.
- This was tested with Windows XP SP3 and Internet Explorer 8.
Firefox - Webmail Ad Blocker
- Use Webmail Ad Blocker to both hide and remove the space used by the ads. Click here to get it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7560.
Firefox - AdBlock Plus
- Another Firefox addon is AdBlock Plus which blocks ads on all sites. Click here to get it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865.
Tips
- This works by redirecting all requests made by your computer from MSN's ad server back to your own computer. 127.0.0.1 is the computer's way of referring to itself on a network.
- This technique can be used anytime that you want to prevent your computer going somewhere you don't want.
Warnings
- MSN may change the ad sites in the future causing this patch not to work.
