Internet Explorer 8 Ad Blocking Gets Easier With Adblock IE

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 19, 2009
Updated • Jun 4, 2017
Internet Explorer
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Adblock IE is a browser helper object (BHO) for Microsoft's Internet Explorer that blocks advertisement actively when installed.

We have mentioned the release of the first Internet Explorer 8 ad blocking method less than two weeks ago. It involved importing a list of advertisers to the filter list of Internet Explorer's InPrivate Filtering module.

It was not really complicated but could pose problems to inexperienced users nevertheless as users had to find the right menu to import the list in the Internet Explorer 8 web browser. It also meant to enable InPrivate Filtering in Internet Explorer.

Adblock IE

Adblock IE provides an easier approach with the same results. It comes with a setup to install a browser helper object (BHO) in Internet Explorer 8. This object, when installed and enabled, manages the ad blocking in Internet Explorer.

The add-on for Internet Explorer 8 is in an early stage which means it does not provide access to a graphical user interface or any options at all at this point in time. The ad blocking works fine on the other hand and this is basically what counts the most.

The developer plans to bring the functionality of both Adblock Plus and NoScript to Internet Explorer 8 that can be controlled from within the web browser.

Adblock IE provides the means to block ads in Internet Explorer 8 right now with good prospect to provide a better usability and advanced features in the future. It could become a must have application for Internet Explorer 8. The program is compatible with Internet Explorer 8 and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 to be installed

To test if the add-on is installed properly do the following after Installation:

  • Open Internet Explorer 8
  • Click on Tools > Manage Add-ons
  • Make sure Toolbars and Extensions is selected
  • Scroll down until you see af0.Adblock.BHO with the status Enabled

You need to visit the project page for information about new versions of the Internet Explorer 8 add-on though.

Update: Please note that the application has not been updated since mid-2009. We suggest you download Adblock Plus for Internet Explorer instead. It is probably the most popular ad-blocking program out there right now and fully compatible with all recent versions of Microsoft's web browser.

Summary
software image
Author Rating
1star1star1star1star1star
1 based on 4 votes
Software Name
Adblock IE
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Browser
Landing Page
Advertisement

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Comments

  1. Rekrapg said on January 12, 2012 at 4:21 am
    Reply

    looks like cut off bottom :(

    # Add final lines for XML
    Add-Content $File3 “`n`n”

  2. Rekrapg said on January 12, 2012 at 4:17 am
    Reply

    I’ve got a script going to update to fanboy’s latest & greatest for IE8. It’s powershell, so obviously older version of winblows (like me at work on XP) will require to install that first. Basically, downloads the TPL’s from fanboy, removes non-filters, converts to XML, ready for import :)

    # Set the file names for the downloaded and converted files. I have used HHmm in file name as I tested a lot, but can remove if doing once daily.
    $File1 = “fanboy-adblock_{0:dd.MM.yyyy-HHmm}.txt” -f (Get-Date)
    $File2 = “fanboy-tracking_{0:dd.MM.yyyy-HHmm}.txt” -f (Get-Date)
    $File3 = “ie8-fanboy-adblock-{0:dd.MM.yyyy-HHmm}.xml” -f (Get-Date)
    # Download adblock and tracking files
    $WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
    # If auth required for network uncomment below line
    #$WebClient.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.Networkcredential(“Username”, “Password”)
    $WebClient.DownloadFile( “http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/ie/fanboy-noele.tpl”, “C:\Utils\Adblock\$File1” )
    $WebClient.DownloadFile( “http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/ie/fanboy-tracking.tpl”, “C:\Utils\Adblock\$File2” )
    # Filter text file cleanup – remove first lines not relating to filters
    (gc $File1) | ? {(1..12) -notcontains $_.ReadCount} | sc $File1
    (gc $File2) | ? {(1..8) -notcontains $_.ReadCount} | sc $File2
    # Filter text file cleanup – remove hash lines (non-filters)
    (Get-Content $File1) -notmatch “#” | Out-File $File1
    (Get-Content $File2) -notmatch “#” | Out-File $File2
    # Create XML file and add initial lines to XML
    New-Item $File3 -type file
    Add-Content $File3 “`n`n`nFanboy AdBlock IE8 XML`nhttp://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/ie/fanboy-noele.tpl`nConverted to IE8 filters by REKRAPG”
    # Convert filters from TPL to XML add to XML file
    Get-Content $File1 | foreach { $_ = $_.trim(); $_ } | foreach {
    $_ = @”

    “@; $_ } | foreach { Add-Content $File3 $_ }
    Get-Content $File2 | foreach { $_ = $_.trim(); $_ } | foreach {
    $_ = @”

    “@; $_ } | foreach { Add-Content $File3 $_ }
    # Add final lines for XML
    Add-Content $File3 “`n`n”

  3. AJ said on February 15, 2011 at 11:02 am
    Reply

    Would you people shut up about firefox, its bloody useless nowadays, at least ie works.

  4. moe said on December 8, 2010 at 12:22 am
    Reply

    u momo’s.. just use FF

  5. FireFox said on November 21, 2010 at 7:20 pm
    Reply

    Lol… in Firefox it’s a 2 minute install of the adblock add on and you’re good to go. No faffing or messing around.

    This is the shit you have to put up with from IE… lol… again…

  6. Skeppsbrogatan said on July 29, 2010 at 11:32 pm
    Reply

    Since Direct X 9 includes and supports all older versions of DX before it, I wonder why MSFT couldn’t just make one .Net framework that would support all frameworks before it. I guess it’s just MSFT being MSFT. It’s like why don’t they allow Windows XP to support Direct X 10 or 11, but that’s another matter.

  7. Skeppsbrogatan said on July 29, 2010 at 11:26 pm
    Reply

    I have learnt .Net programming at University. It makes life a whole lot easier. However as an ex IT Administrator, I remember it was hard to keep up with the .NET frameworks. You would think that .Net Framework 3.5 would include or be backwards compatible with all the previous versions, but you were wrong. You have to install version 1, 2, 3.5 to be able to fully support .Net apps. That’s like in Windows XP you had to install Direct X 7, 8, then 9 to support latest games !!!
    After you install all the .Net frameworks, not only does it take a whole lot of space, but also your registry size will grow and your whole computer experience will be slower, not to mention the endless security updates to each of the versions 1, 2, 3.5 and so on.

    It’s the present, it’s the future, and I would personally much rather have a small program that can do the job rather than a 2 MB download and a 200 MB .Net Framework install.

  8. Turko said on June 30, 2010 at 9:58 pm
    Reply

    Thanks Peter!!! Simple Adblock is much better and it’s actively developed.

  9. Matt said on May 24, 2010 at 3:19 pm
    Reply

    Oh noez!!!! 250 mb?!?! What will I do??? Yeah dude, 250mb was a big deal in 1996. Are you still on dial up? It’s like a 1 minute download. And who is the cockmuncher whining about scalability. Really? Its a .net program made for a microsoft browser, run on a microsoft os. You tool sack. Yeah, they could have just included all the required .dll’s in the app itself. That would have made the app a lot larger and probably doubled up some .dll’s that you already would have on the system with the framework. Ignorant ass retards

    1. Skeppsbrogatan said on July 29, 2010 at 11:41 pm
      Reply

      250 MB may be 1 minute worth of download for you in your first world country internet, but there are countries in the world where 250 is a pain to download. African or Middle Eastern or even Australian or New Zealander users have limited bandwidth and limited download capacity per month. To lose 250 + 2 mb for an ad blocker is a real pain. Not to mention the slowup that installation of .Net will cause. Please try this: install windows xp, time the bootup. Now install every .Net framework by Microsoft. Update the .Net Frameworks with latest patches, now time the bootup. Do you feel any difference ? How about finding the size of your windows installation before and after .Net frameworks ? All done so that programmers can program easier. Yeah anything for their comfort.

  10. Peter said on April 19, 2010 at 8:03 pm
    Reply

    This adblock ie thing does not work.
    I have started using Simple Adblock instead. I don’t think it requires .Net to work but it does remove all ads.
    http://simple-adblock.com

  11. aussiebear said on April 15, 2010 at 4:40 pm
    Reply

    So essentially, you .Net developers want people to download and install 250MB framework to run your crap; as it makes YOUR life easier?

    Good luck with that one.

    1. snowburn said on July 26, 2012 at 4:35 pm
      Reply

      And you want people who are already giving you something to make YOUR life easier for free, to invest time they don’t strictly have to in order to get the job done, just to further add to your convenience? Good luck with THAT one.

    2. Kyanar said on May 19, 2010 at 1:42 pm
      Reply

      You probably have it installed already. Windows Update deployed it over a year ago now. Also, with .NET 4 you can build apps to link against a framework which is something like a 10MB installer (Client Profile).

  12. mmememe said on February 22, 2010 at 2:49 pm
    Reply

    You do realise that the dot net runtime 3.5 (with sp1) is 250Mb ! I am a msoft developer, but to develop a tiny ad on (at least you did it for free) and then say , oh by the way you need a 250mb download to run my ad-on is a bit of a pain (a deal killer as someone said) . I cant find the figures, but i would guess less than 50% of windows users already have dotnet 3.5. Still good work any way , and we need to get more down this route – that is, pop up blockers

  13. Newsjunkie356 said on January 29, 2010 at 9:06 pm
    Reply

    As long as Microsoft has 95% of the desktop OS market and 90% of the server marker, there’s not much profit to p***** and moaning about it.

    My brother’s a programmer and he tells me .Net ain’t going anywhere. So the choice is simple. (Tho’ I do agree that nothing should be installed on a computer without the owner’s consent. And if you don’t understand then LEARN.)

    If you hate MSFT products THAT much, then build a better mousetrap. Eventually somebody will. It always happens. Two hundred years ago nobody could imagine anything other than the steam engine. Then a German guy invented the internal combustion engine.

    Mah was a little more brusque than was necessary but I understand the frustration. It’s akin to when your car breaks down on the side of the road and you jump out and start screaming at it.

    But a Mac, go Linux or Solaris or write your own OS. Otherwise, to reiterate, quit p***** and moaning.

  14. hypotheek said on December 30, 2009 at 3:15 pm
    Reply

    I say yeah to .NET!

  15. Mah said on October 4, 2009 at 9:39 am
    Reply

    Appearently the people posting here are ignorant. The .net framework is just a collection of classes that can be used in many languagues to speed up programming. Every languague includes some prebuilt/3rd party functions to save build time. No one that writes in bianary.

    If any of you babys had ever written an IE BHO, in any languague, you would know that they are mainly using the APIs for IE. If you dont’ even know what a class or an API is, shut the hell up.

    I did not write this, but as an open source programmer, it pisses me off when people make fun of something, someone made just to be nice. It would be a different thing if the comments had some substance to them, but just ragging on .net framework is just plan ignorant. The only post here with some useful info was Jojo.

    There is only 1 reason I can see for hating the .net framework, and that is because you hate evil microsoft. Well, IE is a microsoft browser so why are you using it? For that matter why are you using Windows? Did you know that Microsoft has started to use C# in a lot of their products including – SQL server, Visual Studios, IIS, Windows, Media Player, Office, and IE. The reason that some of these don’t need the full .net framework installed is that when they are installed, they include the classes that they need into the GAC (Global Assembly Cache – google it if you don’t know what it is).

    NOdaddy.com – you are just stupid. Lets see you do this?

    1. Nahz said on November 1, 2009 at 10:21 pm
      Reply

      Mah, I couldn’t care less if you are pissed off about ignorant posters. You can educate people without the immature insults and rudeness. I would rather be obviously in need of learning about a computer than obviously in need of learning some manners.

      1. Gorey666 said on November 6, 2009 at 2:13 pm
        Reply

        You people should stop moaning about .Net.

        It’s the future of windows programming. Actually, it’s the present as well.

        After a few years of using C# with .NET… I vomit at the thought of doing any C++ coding for windows apps now. Coding for .NET is that much more productive.

        Just download .NET and be done with it. 90% of you most likely already have it installed and dont even know it.

    2. Phil said on October 14, 2009 at 12:22 am
      Reply

      Absolutely. .net framework just gives you all the classes needed to write excellent programs without all the hack work. I wouldn’t use anything else and I’ve been in the business for 25years.

      1. GH said on January 12, 2010 at 8:39 pm
        Reply

        lmao – if you’ve been in the business 25 years and say you wouldn’t use anything other than .Net it doesn’t say much about the content you’ve developed – anyone with any experience knows that .Net web apps are nowhere near as scalable as php or java; it’s a typical Microsoft solution – overengineered, and overcomplicated – and before you jump on this comment – I’m a .Net developer – I just realise its shortcomings.
        If this program requires .Net 3.5 that’s fine BUT it should prompt the user to download it…

  16. Bobby Phoenix said on July 5, 2009 at 10:51 pm
    Reply

    Very nice tool. Removes most ads. Some sneek in, but way better than not using anything.

  17. NOdaddy.com said on July 3, 2009 at 9:45 am
    Reply

    dot NET? Wow that’s some LAZY programming.

    It should require nothing other than IE8 itself!!

    when will something less lame come along?

  18. Dan Hater said on May 12, 2009 at 3:12 am
    Reply

    I hate this ad blockie thing.

  19. Viktor Krammer said on April 21, 2009 at 9:47 pm
    Reply

    Another ad blocker for IE8 is Quero, which replaces the navigation bar with Quero’s universal search, address and find box. You will love this concept once you get used to it, but it is also possible to just use the ad blocker of Quero.

  20. Jojo said on April 20, 2009 at 5:00 am
    Reply

    Please re-review when this thing becomes stable.

  21. dwarf_toss said on April 20, 2009 at 12:53 am
    Reply

    Yeah, the .NET 3.5 req is a deal-killer.

  22. browsing dude said on April 19, 2009 at 7:27 pm
    Reply

    doesn’t realy work :|

  23. Ray said on April 19, 2009 at 7:13 pm
    Reply

    Boo to NET 3.5 requirement!

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