How to Block Ads in Firefox

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ABPI love the internet. I think that’s pretty obvious. I spend all of my work day and a lot of my free time using, learning about, and playing with internet technologies.

Internet ads, on the other hand, I don’t like nearly as much. So many websites these days load up their pages with big, obnoxious, annoying ads that they’re almost not worth reading.

Even worse, these ads waste bandwidth that could be used for downloading other things and make it possible for advertisers to track what you’re doing online. Why would I want to make it easy for them to do that?

Fortunately for you and me some smart person came up with the idea of an ad-blocker program many years ago. The original ad blockers where separate programs that ran on your computer and you had to actually pay for them. They also didn’t have a fantastic detection rate so some ads would still sometimes get through.

These day, though, ad blocker programs have improved greatly and are available for free for just about any web browser you can think of.

Here’s how to install one such ad blocking program, called AdBlock Plus, on Mozilla Firefox:

On the Adblock Plus plugin page, click the big green “Install for Firefox” button.

Firefox will ask if you want to allow the installation process, so go ahead and click OK.

If all goes as expected, Adblock Plus should now be installed and running in Firefox. You don’t even need to restart your browser. How cool is that?

Adblock Plus will block the ads on thousands of different websites and hundreds of advertising networks. It’ll even block the video ads on YouTube, which are honestly the most annoying ads in my humble opinion.

Adblock Plus is one of the first things I install anytime I work on a new computer. I’ve gotten so used to browsing the web without intrusive ads that on the rare occasion that I do have to use someone else’s computer without an ad blocker, I’m completely shocked at how many ads I’ve been missing. How do people put up with? I honestly don’t know.

But now you don’t have to. Enjoy your new, faster, ad-free internet experience.

Are adware and spyware programs making you miserable? ZookaWare techs are on-call 24/7 for remote technical support.

How to Uninstall a Program

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2014-05-30 15_41_48-Control PanelUninstalling a program is normally considered “basic” computer knowledge, but if you’ve never done it before it can be a confusing process.

Here’s a short guide, complete with pictures, to help get you uninstall any program you don’t want anymore.

First, click the start button at the bottom left of your screen, if you have one. From the menu that pops up, click on “Control Panel”.

If you’re using Windows 8, move your mouse all the way to the bottom left of your screen and right click. This should bring up a little menu that you can select “Control Panel” from.

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Once you’ve opened the control panel, there should be a category listed called “Programs” with the words “Uninstall a program” underneath it. Click on the “Uninstall a program” line.

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Now you’ve opened up the Windows program uninstall interface. It should show you a list of all the programs Windows knows about that are installed on your computer. (Some programs may not show up here, but removing those is a lesson for another day.)

Click on the program you want to uninstall. It should be highlighted. You can then either right click on that program name and select “Uninstall” or you can click the word “Uninstall” that appears above the programs list.

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After you click Uninstall the program’s uninstaller will run. This will be a little different for each program, but the general rule is just follow the directions you see on screen.

That’s it. You’ve just uninstalled a program. This will work for just about any program on your computer, so be careful that you don’t uninstall something you really want to keep!

Have a program on your computer you just can’t get rid of? ZookaWare Remote Technical Support technicians are here to help 24/7.

Uninstall Hard to Remove and Broken Programs with this Free Tool

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If you’re like most computer users, myself included, you’ve probably installed something on your computer unintentionally before. Maybe it was a browser toolbar. Maybe it was some other technically legitimate program that technically asked you if you wanted to install it, but worded the question in a really confusing way while still technically gaining your consent. Technically.

I’m not a big fan of technically legitimate programs (sometimes known as PUPs or Potentially Unwanted Programs). I know a lot of you aren’t either. Unfortunately, these programs are notoriously hard to remove from your system. Try as you might to go through the normal Windows uninstall process, at the end of the procedure the program is still there. It’s infuriating…

Or maybe you have a completely legitimate program that you just don’t want any more, but can’t remove it because the uninstaller isn’t working correctly.

In my many trials and tribulations as a computer technician, I’ve run into both issues on many occasions. Normally resolving the issue involves a combination of guessing, praying, and banging my head on the keyboard repeatedly out of shear frustration. Fortunately, for you and for my forehead, those days are behind us.

IOBit has created a program they call “Uninstaller 2” that has taken the hassle out of removing tough to remove programs.

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Uninstaller 2 takes the standard uninstall process up a notch by providing a “Batch Uninstall” feature. With Batch Uninstall enabled, you can select multiple programs that you’d like to remove at the same time, and Uninstaller 2 will automatically run the uninstallation process for each program one after the other. It sounds like a simple feature, but if you’ve ever had to remove a dozen or so programs at once, you can see how this can be a real time saver.

To take advantage of Uninstaller 2’s most powerful features, make sure that you’re using the program in “Advanced” mode, which is the default.

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Even in the event that the uninstaller for the program is broken (intentionally or not) Uninstaller 2 can still take steps to remove the program from your system.

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The “Powerful Scan” feature is where Uninstaller 2 really shines. Powerful Scan will search your computer’s registry and Program Files for any remaining traces of the program that it just attempted to remove. You’d be surprised how often little bits and pieces are left behind by uninstallers.

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If any remnants are found, Uninstaller 2 allows you to choose which remaining items you’d like to delete, and removes them from your system for you.

Uninstaller 2 can turn what once was a tedious several hour long procedure of tracking down software leftovers into a painless 2 minute process. While Uninstaller 2 won’t remove programs that deliberately infect your system for malicious purposes, like computer viruses or spyware, it can handle just about anything else.

Uninstaller 2 can be freely downloaded from IOBit’s website here: http://www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html