Ads be gone (Yahoo & MSN)
Within the last week or two Yahoo pushed out a new update to Yahoo! Messenger. Now I didn't mind the old version, (it had a much better color scheme) but it would swallow tons of memory to display ads etc. To get around that I had used the reg-hack and xml hack to remove the ads (which make the messenger take up far less memory and I didn't have to see ads). So Version 9 comes out in all of it's shiny, candy-coated metro-bletch theme-age, and boom, none of my ad removal fixes work. Then I stumbled upon a true gem on the interweb, how to remove the ads by using your hosts file.
After I tried it and found that it worked like a champ for my Yahoo! Messenger, one of my MSN-using friends wondered if the MSN messenger could be hacked the same way... and wouldn't you know it? it can. So crack open your hosts file (/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts) in notepad++ (or equivalent text editor) and add the entries below to get rid of the ads in your messenger (of course here's where I make a plug for pidgin and how awesome it is, it doesn't have ads, it works with msn, yahoo, aim, google, etc, blah blah. But of course our work proxy hates pidgin and denies us it's awesomeness, and so we are reduced to fixing the programs that will make it through the proxy).
To stop ads in Msn Messenger add the following to your HOSTS file:
127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com 127.0.0.1 global.msads.net 127.0.0.1 rss.video.msn.com 127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com 127.0.0.1 rad.live.com 127.0.0.1 specials.uk.msn.com |
To stop the ads in Yahoo Messenger add the following to your HOSTS file:
127.0.0.1 insider.msg.yahoo.com |
Note: the MSN fix is not completely tested, it may cause unexpected errors. The yahoo fix will disable your IMvironments (which no one used anyway...), and something else that no one uses.
I've been using the yahoo fix since the update was forced onto my compy (ok, it wasn't really forced, but I like to pretend I didn't have a say in the matter), and I haven't noticed any adverse effects. So have at it! You can throw questions in the comments.
Please note (small disclaimer): If you don't know what a hosts file is, DO NOT follow this example, if you get scared while editing the hosts file STOP editing it and quit without saving your changes. Always make a back up (and then back that up too), always be prepared for adverse effects, and don't blame me for what you do to your system.
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