How to block Microsoft Live Messenger Ads

I agree this is a fair deal that I use Live Messenger for free while Microsoft pushing Ads at the bottom to make some money.

Some time ago the Ads became unbearable. A big window pop up right in the middle of desktop whenever my cursor walk over the minimized Ad. This drove me crazy and I decided to block the Ads with no mercy...

Again, google helps in almost all cases. I found there are at least 3 ways to deal with the Ads.
1. install MSN Shell
2. block the site rad.msn.com by adding it in IE options
3. blind messenger by redirecting rad.msn.com to itself (loopback)

I don't like 3rd party shell since they are too powerful to win my trust. I don't like IE to get involved because it get hi-jacked by ad sites easily. Option 3 is no doubt the best solution because it's risk free. I gave it a try and it work out so great. Here's the steps to carry it out:

step 1. edit the file c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, add a line "127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com" at the bottom. (example from Windows 7)

   # Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
   #
   # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
   #
   # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
   # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
   # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
   # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
   # space.
   #
   # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
   # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
   #
   # For example:
   #
   #      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
   #       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host
   # localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
   #    127.0.0.1       localhost
   #    ::1             localhost

   127.0.0.1    rad.msn.com

step 2. save the file to your desktop (it's a system file so I save it to desktop temporarily)

step 3. move the saved file back to its origin. my case, cut the file "c:\users\jason\desktop\hosts" and paste it in folder "c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc". you need to authorize the request to overwrite because you're accessing a system file.

step 4. execute the command in DOS Shell "ipconfig /flushdns" to activate the trick

step 5. re-login restart your Messenger and you should fine Ads no longer show


Hope this work for you also.



cheers!