Once and for all: How to stop the iVillage ad onslaught. First we need to understand how it's done: iVillage doesn't bother to try and buy ads directly from all the various companies that show up on the pages of GW. Instead they use large ad-service agencies like doubleclick, akamai and pointroll. You can visit some of these sites if you'd like to see who's behind the ads. http://www.akamai.com http://www.doubleclick.com/us http://pointroll.com This makes it easy to block out all or almost all of the ads very easily, just block the originating sites. Right now all the ads on GW come from: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com The Universal Solution.This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution.Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solutionThis is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest...

How sad that our fun forums have been taken over by the monster.... You are right, it is like commercial TV. I guess I don't mind having to close a box once in awhile, but the take the whole page over ads make me switch to a different website. I can only imagine how long those would take to load with a dial up connection. It would render the website unusable. Sorry for the rant- go plants!!

bronwynsmom...I am getting the pop ups also and they get in the way of my trying to change from one forum to another! Annoying YES...I even have a program that usually blocks pop-ups, but not here. I imagine it is sanctioned by GW as a form of money making advertisement. Just my guess, but I think they do have control over it and that they have choosen to have them. Good seeing you !

Nice tips, bmore. Wonder if I can use that same technique with Firefox. Have to look into that. Tamara responded to my complaint, stating that she had reported the problem this morning and a fix should be in place soon. She also told me that generally these types of ads should only appear once per session. If only they were that infrequent! I even had the Duracell ad show up on the message preview page and I've never seen an ad there before - not even when we were dealing with the underlined green word hyperlinks mess. Oh, scratch that. I just noticed the Dove bleed-in ad from the right when I previewed my reply. At least it's not nearly as annoying as Duracell or Penney's ads. I've seen the Penney's ad once so far today but no Duracell ad. I'm hoping they've gone away for good.