Daniella brings you an

Ad Free, Faster Neopia

What's an advertisement?

A notice such as a poster or paid announcement in the print, broadcast, or electronic media designed to attract public attention or patronage. Basically, something that aims to convince you to buy goods and services from corporations. There are all sorts of marketing techniques, but that's best saved for another petpage. I don't want to bore you with commerce degree dribble. The most common ads on the web are of the banner, pop up and flash variety. These are what this petpage deals with.

Advertisements are all over the internet. Websites (such as Neopets.com) allow corporations to place advertisements on their site for a fee. This is just one of the ways that Neopets, Inc. © can make an income (via revenue derived from page views and especially clicks) and help keep the site free.

As a side note, let me say I'm not against advertisements. I've studied marketing, along with accounting (and lots of business stuff ) and I understand the concept of branding and marketing very well. What I am not for however, is a gaming experience that is directly and negatively affected by the placement and vulgarity of some Neopian advertisements. I play many sponsor games, often. I usually have Premium on my main and whenever it's possible in Australia, I buy merchandise. I feel I've contributed enough to Neopets with my patronage over the past 8 years, helpful petpage guides, referral of many premium & regular account holders, premade layouts and long daily stints at the Help Chat.

Adblock simply alters how your browser displays content on a page. Yes, Neopets will suffer from not having click-revenue. But honestly - how many obscure Google ads or flashing, loud flash ads have you clicked on in your time at Neopets? None? Yeah, thought as much.

Will I get frozen for using this guide?

No, absolutely not. Feel free to change the way your browser displays content. It is your browser and displaying content differently does not interfere with the gaming experience on Neo, nor does it give you a playing advantage.

Will you get frozen for creating this guide?

This, I cannot answer for certain.

I have made several boards on the Help Chat regarding this topic. For those that aren't aware; the Help Chat (Help Board) is home to many active veteran Neopians. HCers absorb a wealth of knowledge on all things ranging from coding to graphic design, NeoBoard rules, NP making tips and much much more. They share this wealth free of charge out of the goodness of their hearts to other Neopians – sometimes for hours a day. Answers to this question have always been varied and - while supported with evidence - very, very vague. A few caring souls told me that despite the helpfulness of this content, I should consider my account first and foremost. Making petpages and HCing IS what Neopets means to me, so I'll risk it unless a member of the Neopets staff informs me that this page is in fact breaking Neopets rules. At which point, I will happily take it down.

Many elements of this page fall on that border line of what is and is not okay. It may depend on the monitor that views this page, or the weather outside; I don't know. Editorials aren't as solid in explaining the unwritten rules as they used to be. TNT seems to be falling back on their previously written word and the latest Editorial answer regarding this content is from Y7:

Editorial, Issue: 190 | 13th day of Hunting, Y7



Please, TNT simply inform me of my error in judgement before you adversely affect my account. I don't believe I deserve to be instantly suspended or frozen for creating this page.

Now, onto the guide.

Getting rid of ads on Neo and off site – permanently.

Well, you have two options. Either become a premium member (on any site that has pay to play features) and pay a monthly/yearly fee, or follow the directions on this page.

BEFORE reading any further, please just go ahead and download Firefox. If you can't download anything because you do not have admin rights on the particular PC you use, that's understandable. But if you're just plain stubborn, you're going to need to use .css files to physically change the way your browser works. This involves messing with hidden files. These files are hidden for a reason and if you're using IE, or have never heard of any browser other than IE, you probably do not know enough about how browsers work to fiddle with that. Also, you'll be effecting browsing for other sites and for other users of your PC.

If you still are so stubborn that you don't want to even try FF, then you'll need to go here or use Google to search for an off-site guide on how to change those files. I can't be bothered to repeat info that's up on hundreds of established sites. Sorry. If you don't have admin rights, you may not have access to those files at all. My humble advice is to have the owner of the computer or your parent/guardian sit down (with a tea, maybe ) and read this page. Try to sway them to allow you to download the software mentioned here. Maybe have them sit with you as you enter this information, if they're sceptical. It doesn't bite(!) and will only improve your security and enjoyment online_

Download Firefox

First, you'll have to download an internet browser called Mozilla Firefox. It's completely safe and runs faster than Internet Explorer. It also has more features, better security and reduces the risk of spyware, malware, trojans, ID theft, hacking, scamming, cracking and other nasty stuff. It is downloadable from this address:

http://www.mozilla.org

Download Adblock

Hold on! You won't be able to do this until Firefox is downloaded AND installed! Please do that first. Need help? Read down a little bit.
Download Adblock Plus. It's a program that filters advertisements. It is downloadable from this address:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

You're still not done.

Before you do anything beyond this point, there are several things you'll need to do.
1. Bookmark this page.
No, not because I want page views. Because you'll need to (eventually) exit whatever you're doing and come back to this later. Do not exit this page yet. Do the following first.
2. Install Firefox.
This may sound silly, or seem redundant. But lots of people forget this step! You've downloaded Firefox, but you still need to install it. Usually downloaded files are saved to the desktop. If you can't find the setup file, use your operating system's search feature. Still can't find it? Neomail me and I'll help you with screen captures and clear, step by step instruction.
3. Open up Firefox.
Now close it. Close every last tab, every window. Close everything you are currently working on. (Remember to Save first!) Restart your computer. Use your bookmark of this page (See? Came in handy!) to come back to me and continue. Buh-bye! No really. You need to go. I know you adore me and all, but--





--Hey! That was mean. Don't worry, I know you secretly adore me. Welcome back! If you haven't gathered already, I want you to be *using* Firefox from now on. Else this won't exactly work, heh.
4. If you haven't already, go ahead and download Adblock.
You don't need to understand it just yet, that'll be explained later. Download it *while using your new spiffy browser* - install it too - and then restart Firefox. "Restarting" Firefox means closing all tabs and all windows, then opening Firefox again by clicking on it via your Start menu or desktop. Then remember to come back to me.

Welcome back! That's all the hard work done. The rest is really easy, so don't worry. Congrats on getting this far. Take a break if you need to – maybe make me a tea? With a biscuit or two?

Now it's time to...

Block those ads!

Open up a Firefox window, go to a Neopets page, and right click on a banner ad. By banner ad I mean a static image. It should not be moving, screaming at you, flashing, screaming at you, have odd roll-over effects, be screaming at you [...] No, just a simple banner ad. Any static image will work this way.



Click 'Adblock Image' from the popup menu, then click 'OK'. If the URL (address) has lots of gibberish, you can use the wild card feature.



You can use asterisks to mean "Anything here, block it too." This saves you manually clicking on every single new ad you see to block it for next time.

For flash adverts – these are the ones that scream, move, hover-effect, flash colours and cause you to have an epileptic fit – click the small tab in the corner, then 'OK'. Can't see a tab? Well then there's a bit more work to do. Head over to Tools in the bar at the top of your browser. From there click Adblock, then "Overlay Flash (for left click)" then left click the flash ad and press 'OK'.



There's also a nifty little keyboard short cut that will overlay any and all flash applets on your page: Ctrl+Shift+F

Keep doing this with each new ad you see. After a few days of surfing Neo, you'll be practically ad free. Once you block an ad, you won't see it again. Evah. Awesome, eh?

An alternative way:

Open up a Firefox window. Go to Tools – Adblock – Preferences. Make sure there's a check on 'Site Blocking' or 'Enable Adblock'.



In the window showing which addresses are blocked, look at the list. See the start of the URLs? Some are ad companies that place ads on Neo. Now in the text area, type only the start of one of the addresses. Example: tribalfusion.com then click Add to the right, then click Done.

By blocking anything with tribalfusion in the address, you stop having to block each and every ad by itself.

How do you block all the different sites if your list has nothing on it? Go to View, then Page Source. Look for a code starting: "function write banner (site)" or a code containing the word "i .frame" (the top banner). Look at which URL is there. Copy the beginning of the URL. Paste that into the Adblock New Filter, and click add. The most common adverts in Neo and off-site pages are:


Neo does have some ads on their own servers. The URLs are:

Add all of those to get you started. Don't worry, you'll find plenty more.

Whew. Are we done yet?

Yup! Stick around for the credits, though. And yes, I AM eleven types of awesome for letting you in on this little trick. Want to go on and stoke my ego a little more? (Like I need it! Yikes. ) Then feel free to Neomail me. See a spelling, grammatical or otherwise error? Have some feedback, suggestions or criticism? Please feel free to drop me a line.

One quick note, this pet is located on a side of mine. If anyone is claiming this content as their own and is NOT posting under the name dani3girl, please let me know. Thanks so much!

Link to me. You know you want to.

<a href="~AdBlock"><img src="http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/482/linkid9.png" border="0"></a>



<a href="~AdBlock"><img src="http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/1246/link1cb1.png" border="0"></a>



<a href="~AdBlock"><img src="http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/7581/link2pf8.png" border="0"></a>

Special thanks & lots of hugs go to:

Dustin
Resident Ranga Code Monkey is the nickname I dubbed him. I'm sure he hates it, but he's too sweet to say otherwise, so I abuse his politeness. We go quite a bit back – if you're a true HC reg, you know us. If you remember NeoLuff, you have this amazing guy to thank. He codes layouts for me when I'm too lazy to do them myself. He fixes mine when I make errors; he helps me with Neopets filters and is all around amazing. I am so so glad i came back to Neo and met him all over again. If you see him around, give him bananas.

helper47
For her help over the years. You've probably used a guide that's been influenced by her without ever knowing. This little lass is quite the HCer! You can see her helpful footprint everywhere. On a lot of Neopets help sites and petpages she's the little "thanks to" at the end. If you happen to come across her, pelt her with praise. She deserves so much.

Oustanding Neopian Award

This award is given to Neopians whom go above and beyond to help others. Be it hanging around on a thread to ensure the OP has no trouble, to digging through code to find errors, to maintaining a truly awe-inspiring petpage. Not many have been given this award. I'm very, very hard to please.

Do not put this image up if I haven't neomailed you personally to award it to you.


<a href="~AdBlock#Award"><img src="http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8176/awardwp8.gif" border="0" /></a>

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