GUIDE: Adblocker for IE8 (from adblock plus) (list updated regularly)

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Update: This filter is fully compatible with IE9 beta

Not many people know this but IE8 has very powerful built-in Adblocking capability. It is called InPrivate Filtering. It can detect and block ads by itself but you can also add a list of items to block.

I have created such a list from the fanboy adblock list (http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock) that firefox uses and would like to share it with everyone and also a guide on how to use it for those who don't know. The list will also be updated regularly.
If you already know what to do and just want the latest filter list, the link is in my second post :http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=16784084

There are 2 steps to setting it up:

1. Enable InPrivate filtering

2. Import the filter list


Step 1:

InPrivate filtering isn't enabled by default so It needs to be enabled first.

1. Open Internet explorer 8

2. Under the safety tab, tick 'Inprivate Filtering'. If its the first time, there will be a popup message click 'block for me'

3. Download and extract one of the following files:

-For IE8: http://cid-83edeb637d37824c.office....ers for IE8/InPrivate Filtering Always on.zip
-For IE9: http://cid-83edeb637d37824c.office....for IE8/InPrivate Filtering Always on IE9.zip

It contains a file enables InPrivate filtering automatically. It cannot harm your computer in any way.

4. Double click the extracted file and select yes/ok when prompted to do so. And its done.

Step 2:

1. Download and extract the latest filter list from: http://cid-83edeb637d37824c.office....Adblock filters for IE8/filter 2011-01-09.zip

2. Open IE8, Click the safety tab again, and click Inprivate Filtering settings. This time click Advanced settings

3. Under Advanced settings, click Import and browse to the location where you stored the extracted files. And select the one that begins with 'filter...' and open it.

4. You should now see the filter list loaded. Thats all. I update the filter once a week on usually on saturday

Note: if you have more than one user account, you need to do this for each user account

If you find things that should be blocked and aren't or things that shouldn't be blocked that are blocked, please let me know.

 

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I would like to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to SiriusB for saving me from having to copy 10000+ entries each time I updated the filter

This filter has been tested and is fully compatible with IE9 beta

Please remember to delete the old filter before importing the new one

Latest filter - updated 2011-01-09: http://cid-83edeb637d37824c.office....Adblock filters for IE8/filter 2011-01-09.zip

To enable inprivate filtering by default in IE9, please extract and run this: http://cid-83edeb637d37824c.office....for IE8/InPrivate Filtering Always on IE9.zip

 

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So you have to update the filter manually?

That's a chore, and people will inevitably forget. I'm not sure I see the point when Firefox and Chrome have adblockers which automatically update.

I dont update it myself, all I do is take the adblock plus one and convert it to xml format which can be used by IE8. and that only takes 30 secs.

I can use firefox or chrome but i prefer IE8

 

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Very nice.
...What script to execute into PowerShell ?

Thank you.

Sorry, missed your post. Theres was something missing in the original one (highlighted in red). It should be:

Get-Content input.txt | foreach { $_ = $_.trim(); $_ } | foreach { 
$_ = @"
<item>
    <description>$_</description>
    <wf:blockRegex>
        <![CDATA[$_]]>
    </wf:blockRegex>
<[COLOR="Red"]/[/COLOR]item>
"@; $_ } | foreach { Add-Content output.txt $_ }

Found out the hard way 1st time I ran it
I've been reading all the powershell tutorials on technet, its quite a very useful tool

Thanks again for this, I've been telling some associates.

You're welcome

 

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It's amazing!

And I never make mistakes! You just made that up!





Actually looking at it again the first foreach block could probably be shortened to

foreach { $_.trim() }

If the result of a method isn't assigned to anything, it gets dumped out to the pipeline anyway - no need to assign it to $_ just to dump it again.

I modified it and it works, thx

I don't suppose this has been updated to take care of the hotmail adds since the face lift that happened today?

I just checked it, even with the facelift, the ads are still blocked

 

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Updated to work with IE9 as well

 

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I checked the links and they still work. Are you sure its just not blocked where you are?

 

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Heres the one you can use for opera: https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/opera/urlfilter.ini

 

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That rule isnt included in the filter. I think its caused by IE trying to be "intelligent". I try increasing the limit of what is automatically blocked to 30 to see it it helps

 

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not sure, will have a look

 

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You were right, I've updated the filter and google maps now operates smoothly

 

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Really sorry for the late responce osm0sis, been really busy lately. The filter list I used was the srware iron one and I didnt alter it in any way. I haven't had a detailed look but it seems your method is much more efficient

EDIT: I get errors when i run the powershell script