LandzDown Forum

Hi Friends,
I have finally decided to move on and leave Norton/Symantec behind.  It's been a difficult decision for me, since Norton Internet Security, really, has served me very well...for something like 11 years.  But lured by the support forums for the free AVG anti-virus, as well as Zone Alarm firewall, and my approaching renewal date for Symantec in Sept, I feel the time has arrived for me.  I have actually defended Norton against the inevitable "Norton bashing" type of post, which I get every time I mention that I use their product (not just at LzD).  So please, don't take this as another opportunity to bad-mouth Norton, deserved or not.  I've heard it ALL!

What I need now, and the reason I'm posting, is to find a replacement for the other features of the NIS product, besides AV and FW, the pop-up and ad blocking.  I particularly LOVE the ad blocking feature of NIS, which in all honesty has been my only reason for renewing the last 2 or 3 years.  There are 2 parts to this Norton product -- pop-up blocking, which obviously blocks pop-up windows of all kinds (advertisements or not), and ad blocking, which blocks most...well, actually ALL non-pop-up graphic advertisements on webpages (it does leave purely text ads to display, which is fine with me -- it's the obnoxious graphic displays which I find especially annoying).

I have done some searching, but am finding it hard to identify effective, reliable and safe ad blockers, which do not install spyware, and am hoping someone here at LzD can either recommend one, or offer me the resources to make this decision myself (such as safety guidelines in choosing an ad blocker, for example).  And I should also say that I realize advertising is what keeps many free programs and services on the internet alive, and which would not otherwise be free.  However, I also need to say that for whatever reason, I find this type of advertising to be EXTREMELY annoying, and would seriously consider not using the internet at all, if I can't find a good ad blocker (or, I guess, go ahead and renew my NIS subscription).

My ISP (EarthLink) offers a pop-up blocker, but not an ad blocker.  I use IE, but find its pop-up blocker blocks too much -- more than just pop-ups.  Ideally, I would like 1 product which does both.  But if there is no such thing, I'm fine with using 2 separate products.

I actually may change ISPs, before too much longer, as well.  I'm looking into bbUSA, which from what I can tell, offers the only EL features I find useful, for much less $'s per month.  I don't like netzero or people pc, but if there are other lower priced ISPs, I would appreciate hearing about them.

Ok, I guess that's it.  Thank you very much for any info you can share.
All best.

you are just a bit faster than me this morning  spydie hehehe

yep ff works great, has a built in pop up blocker

and a simple right click on a image ad and it is blocked forever

and they do have a pretty good ad blocker, (on the add-ons you can rate them )

as i have said a few times. try firefox, you can have two browsers
and if you are finally giving up norton maybe you can finally give up IE (except for some sites) :firefox:

Wow SpyDie and mitch,
This is a big enough change, and enough new programs to learn to use, without having to learn a new browser as well!  I'm just not quite there yet, although as I said in another thread, Ff is on my list of future changes.  For now, it is still off in the future, though.

GR@PH;<'S, I do already use SpywareBlaster, but wasn't aware it blocks ads and pop-ups.  Does it?  I'll read through the documentation again, but I don't really think it does.  And the POW program, I had come across it some time ago.  I suppose one could argue late into the night about the difference between blocking ads and pop-ups, so that they never display or open, and closing them so immediately after they open, that one never sees them.  I think I would opt for blocking so that they never open.

Well, thanks for your comments, guys.  Does anyone else have any further comments or suggestions?
And as always, many thanks for everyone's help and support.

Brynn, I agree with Mitch -- even more so if you are on dialup as I am.  Pages load slowly with IE, but with FF, they are much faster.  But, the choice is yours. 

Since you've already settled on ZoneAlarm, I'll just mention that Sunbelt's Kerio Personal Firewall blocks ads, popups, has host file protection and more.

Now, now, Brynn, there's a place for discussing ISPs.   <*cough*> Freedomlist <*cough*> If you need help over there, I might be able to lend a hand.

Brynn, I was just teasing you.  Of course you can ask about ISPs here at LzD and any other computer-related question (I'm sure in the Lounge we could easily accommodate other questions too, like, "What shall I fix for dinner tonight?").

Note that the version of Kerio I referred to above is the pay version of Sunbelt's Kerio Personal Firewall.

Well, it's incredibly ironic that I just now had perhaps my most frustrating experience with Symantec yet (over the last several years), then read babyoh's post and feel the need to praise the Norton ad blocker.  You see, with Norton, one CAN "banish" ads forever, just like apparently Ff does.  The difference is that with Norton, one almost never sees any ads, not even once.  The feature with which one can forever banish is almost never needed, because very few ads have ever beat the blocker.  And if I understand it correctly, it's not just closing them very quickly, as one of the programs recommended in an earlier reply does.  Ya just never even have a hint they were ever there.  The most I ever see, is sometimes a big blank place where everyone else sees an ad.  But unfortunately for me, it doesn't exist as a stand-alone product; one can only get it as part of a "suite" of products.  And after this last joke of a session which Symantec calls support, GEEZ, who cares!

So anyway, one final thanks for everyone's comments and support.  I'm still not ready for Ff yet, but after everyone's near-unanimous recommendation, I have moved it up in my list of priorities.  All best.

   Hi all, particularly babyoh :

      Have you configured your Internet Options > Security > Custom Level ( under
     " Internet " ) under the Miscellaneous category so that "Launching programs and
      files in an IFRAME" is "Disable" !? This recommendation was made by the Editor of
      Spyware Weekly Newsletter in both his Nov 24, '04 and Jan 13, '05 Issues .