I have as much sympathy for the failing dot-coms of the world as the next guy. It is a dreadful shame that so many companies (with such brilliant and clever business plans as "build it and they will come, it's free" and "we will make it up on volume") are closing down, firing option-obsessed gamblers (I mean "internet professionals"), and burning up greedy venture capitalists' billions. I sure do sympathise, and I want them all to succeed (make billions).

Unfortunately, so many of these companies were created with no plan beyond making the founders and the VCs rich by going public (the greater fool theory- find someone dumb enough to buy your shares for more than you paid). It worked for a time, enriching many, but now that the bubble has burst many more are hurting.

One of the few ways that many online companies had to earn income was by selling ads, for some it was the only way. I never used to mind that. However, with the self-destruction (self-mutilation?) has come more creative and intrusive advertising. In order to attract scarce advertising dollars dot-coms have experimented with animation and larger ads, ads interspersed throughout content, and using insidious tracking cookies. The most annoying trick though is the "pop-up" window, an innovation pioneered by the online porn industry.

There is a big difference between tolerating a small banner ad at the top of the page, and pop-ups that make it difficult for you to close them, sometimes crashing your browser, or ads that track your movements on the web, a clear invasion of privacy. So I decided- enough!

Now what?

There are a few programs out there that deal with ads, there are some that deal with cookies, and others that deal with pop-ups. AdSubtract has a free version that blocks ads (and some cookies), a cheap version that also has cookie managing, and then AdSubtract Pro, which does it all. I have not found another program that does all 3 tasks in one package, as well as managing Java applications. It also will clear your browser's cache and history folders to help protect your privacy on a shared computer!

How does it work?

AdSubtract Pro functions as a proxy server on your PC. It then handles all traffic between your browser and the internet, actually removing any HTML and Java links within a page that instruct your browser to download other content (ads, images, background music) per your desired settings. It resides in your System Tray, and works in the background until you need to customize settings. Double clicking on the icon opens a control panel where you set your browsing rules (a single click temporarily disables filtering). You select what type of activities are allowed (cookies, animations, java etc) to enhance your experience on trusted sites, while letting AdSubtract deal with everything else. I have set my defaults to block all ads, cookies, referrers, animations, pop-ups and background music, while allowing Java and Javascript. Then for sites that I visit that do not function correctly, I can set up permissions to enable it to work on a case by case basis.

For dealing with ads Absubtract compares the HTML coding with a database of known ad formats, blocking them on that basis. Occasionally it removes images from pages that by coincidence are formatted exactly the same as known ad types, but this is supposed to be rare, and I have not seen it yet.

Is it foolproof?

Obviously as ad formats change, and new types are introduced, this technique loses its effectiveness. AdSubtract modifies the database as new formats are adopted, and the program can check for updates each time it is started (default) or you can do it manually.

After you install the program you do have to do a fair amount of tinkering with settings to allow various sites to work properly, not all pop-ups are ads just as not all cookies are tracking marketing information about you.

When you see ads slip through there is an option on the control panel which links you to a form on the AdSubtract website for reporting the offending URL. By having this type of direct feedback from their own customers the company can quickly incorporate new ad types in the database.

I heard the program is actually a Trojan Horse. Well?

I have seen rumors to this effect. It is true that the program does in fact "phone home" occasionally, but for very innocent reasons. First, it checks for updated filtering databases, and as pointed out above, you can turn this feature off. Second, something called "Counter Club" is included in the program, which reports stats back to AdSubtract on how many ads are being blocked at 30 popular websites. This information (on a collective basis) is supposed to be viewable on on their website, but the stats page is not up yet. It has obviously not been a priority for AdSubtract. Participation is voluntary and anonymous, but the default setting is enabled. You have to go into the control panel and manually disable both settings if you object to allowing programs to contact "the mothership".

Any other advantages?

Without all that superfluous content, pages load faster, and are less cluttered. Where once there were large, intrusive eye-catching ads, there is now blank backgrounds, which does make reading pages more enjoyable. Even with a DSL line I have noticed faster loading times, with a dial-up account this single reason would be all you need to buy this program.

This sounds like the Holy Grail! What's the catch?

I honestly don't know. It works with everything already installed (McAfee VirusScan and Zone Alarm both running in the background), I have not discovered any incompatibility problems. It has made my web surfing faster and far more pleasant. I feel more in control of what kind of information is being shared with advertisers (none) and content providers (some), and that I have reclaimed my browser from the marketing crowd.

I realize that some of my favorite websites depend on advertising to stay in business, and I have enabled ads on some of them (Epinions for example!). This is a dilemma, on the one hand, I am usually getting valuable content for free, and ads help keep that content coming. On the other, they shouldn't have started ruining the experience with those horrid pop-ups. If you feel guilty about "gaming" the revenue model for content websites, just remind yourself that these are probably the same guys that sold your registration information to spammers!

The current generation of cookie enabled ads can track your browsing habits, information that is valuable to marketers. If you think the uproar about Doubleclick's data gathering activities has ended it, then you are sadly naive. How intrusive do you think the next generation will be? Get AdSubtract Pro now. You will not regret it.


Recommended: Yes