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How to kill annoying animated ads

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Fishface

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Nov 16, 2003, 12:35:27 PM11/16/03
to
No, I'm telling, not asking. It is possible to add your own IE
context menu item (right click). I right click on an animated GIF
ad, choose "Vaporize Annoying Picture" and it goes away. This
pleases me immensely whenever I use it. We appreciate the
sponsorship these ads provide, but they overstep their bounds
when they totally get in your face. Yes, Webwasher can be
configured to block some ads, but not always. Yes, we can turn-
off animations, but why should we have to?! There is room for
improvement (for you more javascript savvy types). Instead of
completely removing the picture and possibly changing the
appearance of the page, perhaps the frame could be made to
remain.

Here's what I did.

Inspired by the ie5wa.exe (Web Accessories) which enable
zoom-in and zoom-out on pictures, I discovered this easy to
use mechanism (no COM, no .dlls!). To add a menu item,
it is only necessary to add a registry key and point it at an
.htm file. On my Win2k system, these .htm files are in the
C:\WINNT\Web folder. The easiest thing to do is create two
files in a text editor (e.g. Notepad.exe). Into the first paste the
following and save it as C:\WINNT\Web\killpicture.htm:

<HTML>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" defer>
var parentwin = external.menuArguments;

if ( parentwin.event.srcElement.tagName == "IMG" )
{
parentwin.event.srcElement.height = 0;
parentwin.event.srcElement.width = 0;
}

</SCRIPT>
</HTML>

Next, save the following anywhere as killpicture.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt\&Vaporize Annoying Picture]
@="C:\\WINNT\\WEB\\killpicture.htm"

Make sure that the bracketed line which begins [HKEY... does not wrap.
That should be all on one line (two total). You may optionally name it
something else. The ampersand (&) preceeds the character which is
underscored for keyboard menu navigation, and may be omitted. If your
OS is installed on a drive or partition other than C:, you need to modify
accordingly. After saving killpicture.reg, right click it and choose "Merge."
When prompted, agree to merge it with the registry. You may optionally
delete killpicture.reg at this point as you are done. Now try it out, you may
need to restart IE.

Hopefully, OE will not try to make links of all the slashes, rendering this
gibberish. Happy trails!


mjh404

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Nov 17, 2003, 11:10:12 AM11/17/03
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I have been using the free (they call it trial) version of AdShield for
years, it does all that and much more.
Thanx for the nice script tho, looks good.

--
marx404


HPO Jury = Malenoid

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Nov 18, 2003, 12:37:08 AM11/18/03
to

That script didn't work. I would request a script on vaporizing
annoying usenet posts, but I doubt if that would work either.

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:35:27 -0800, "Fishface" <inv...@ddress.ok?>
wrote:


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Fishface

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Nov 18, 2003, 2:44:05 AM11/18/03
to
Malenoid wrote:

> That script didn't work. I would request a script on vaporizing
> annoying usenet posts, but I doubt if that would work either.

It's just the "Zoom Out" script from the Web Accessories,
minimally changed to reduce the size to zero instead of
half. It works well here, but apparently, it is not idiot proof.


HPO Jury = Malenoid

unread,
Nov 18, 2003, 11:32:53 AM11/18/03
to
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 23:44:05 -0800, "Fishface" <inv...@ddress.ok?>
wrote:

Lol.

The .reg file I made with notepad gave me this error, "the specified
file is not a registry script."

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Fishface

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Nov 18, 2003, 12:20:45 PM11/18/03
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Malenoid wrote:
> The .reg file I made with notepad gave me this error,
> "the specified file is not a registry script."

I checked it, it still works here. Maybe your newsreader
is doing something to it? Make sure you get all three lines
(four counting the blank). Maybe try pasting it from here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=vrfdg04su270a9%40corp.supernews.com


Fishface

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Nov 18, 2003, 2:31:40 PM11/18/03
to
mjh404 wrote:
> I have been using the free (they call it trial) version of
> AdShield for years, it does all that and much more.

I think I'll try it, because this doesn't help with the Flash ads.
Does it get them before or after the prompt to run ActiveX
controls (assuming that option is set)?


HPO Jury = Malenoid

unread,
Nov 18, 2003, 3:39:16 PM11/18/03
to
On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 09:20:45 -0800, "Fishface" <inv...@ddress.ok?>
wrote:

It worked that time. I mistook your (two lines) to mean that the .reg
file only contained the last two lines.

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Fishface

unread,
Nov 18, 2003, 3:43:45 PM11/18/03
to
Malenoid wrote:
> It worked that time. I mistook your (two lines) to mean
> that the .reg file only contained the last two lines.

Yes, sorry, that was not very clear...


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