The Wonderous host file:
A 'hosts' file is essentially your computer's short term memory. Each time you go to a web address (IP address) your computer first looks into your hosts file to see if it already knows the IP of that web page. If the domain (Example: www.mydomain.com) is listed then your computer uses the corresponding IP. If the domain isn't in your 'hosts' file then your computer contacts a DNS server and asks for the corresponding IP. www.mydomain.com, for example, has the following IP '216.34.94.184'.Now, if you knew www.mydomain.com was used for hosting ads you could force your computer to never connect to that server. Perhaps you feel ads aren't that bad and you don't mind closing those "cute little pop-under windows". If that is your philosophy let me ask you this. Is your internet connection too fast? ... Of course not, well each time you visit a page with ads your bandwidth is being consumed with those "cute little pop-under windows" when you could be downloading one more Eminem or Enya CD!
OK, now that I have your attention here is how you can preserve all that bandwidth for which you are being overcharged. In the following (3 easy steps[...ok four actually]):
[1]: Locate your OS' host file.
(Windows 95/98 usually 'C:\WINDOWS')
(Windows NT/2000/XP usually 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc')
(Linux, etc. usually in '/etc')
(Mac OS9 [email me if you know here])
(Mac OSX usually in '/etc')
[2]: Download my 'hosts' file and either copy it onto the end of your own our replace yours with mine.
[3]: Restart your computer. (some people seem to be able to just restart their browsers but I've run into problems just doing that.)
You now have wiped from the face of the net each server that you put into you hosts file [atleast as far as your computer is concerned]. Therefore, take care at what you add! Putting www.google.com would be a bad idea, unless you dislike finding anything.
If you have any questions/suggestions/etc. feel free to drop me an email and I'll try to help.