AdsGone
http://www.adsgone.com
Price $19.95
 The first thing to strike unpleasantly is the process of loading and installing the application. Instead of loading the whole installer, it downloads a loader only that doesn't detect the presence of a proxy server. As a result, if a proxy is specified in your settings, you won't be able to download the installer. The only way to do it is to enable direct access to the Internet bypassing the proxy server. In addition, AdsGone requested to restart the computer after the installation.
AdsGone blocks black listed banners only. The user can expand the black list, though the built-in URL list is far from being complete. AdsGone failed to block banners on many sites. It appears that AdsGone ad blocking performance is much poorer than that of other applications with similar functionality.
Among the advantages we would note that in addition to the basic banner and popup window blocking functions, AdsGone also detects and blocks well-known trojans (viruses working behind your back and sending information from your PC to the Web). But then again, it does it in a considerably less intellectual way than specialized applications, by just scanning the memory and hard drive for noted processes.
On the whole AdsGone seems to fall short of efficiency (in banner blocking too) offered by some applications that will be reviewed below.
Integrated assessment - 2 points adsnomore
http://www.adsnomore.com
Price $19.95
Realistically the application only blocks black listed banners with the ability to predefine the black list. The rest of the features fall short of perfection. Banner blocking performance is just a little bit better comparing with previous program, which is probably due to a rather limited black list that never updates. In our opinion, there are alternative applications that perform ad blocking functions much more efficiently.
Integrated assessment - 2 points
FilterGate
http://filtergate.com
Price $34.95
 FilterGate is for those users who care about fine-tuning ad blocking features rather than an appealing design.
FilterGate blocks not only all pop-up windows one after another, but also windows that pop-up in response to certain actions such as, for example, opening or closing Web pages, etc.
As far as banners are concerned , we can say that some declared features, such as blocking by dimensions and blocking images from other domains, are not working properly. Although FilterGate blocks ads better than above reviewed applications its quality is far from being blameless.
FilterGate shrinks page area that was previously occupied by ads. This is very useful when the page is overloaded with banners, and though useful information is very limited, it may spread over several screens. It makes viewing information very inconvenient. But still, this feature works partially too (see the results in summary table) Unfortunately, though, the application doesn't allow setting a different option that will replace blocked ads by empty boxes and preserve the original design of the page. Rarely as it may be, this option may come in handy every once in a while.
Also, the application doesn't cope with blocking pop-up windows very well, limiting the blocking to widely known pop-up windows generators. For example, when we tried to load www.tucows.com, the pop-up window remained unblocked. In addition, the application failed to pass many of the pop-up cutting tests.
In addition to ad blocking, FilterGate contains an adult filter allowing to block access to unwanted resources. This filter also supports a wide variety of settings that help block not only access to certain sites, but displaying the results of certain keywords queries. However, any user with minimum knowledge of Windows can easily bypass this block by merely opening the Task Manager and deleting FilterGate from active processes. Therefore the adult filter appears to be just a nice furnishing of little practical use.
On top of that there is a Privacy Filter that makes sure there are no traces of your Web surfing left on your computer. In addition, with the application you can quickly switch over to the 'text only' mode that automatically toggles off loading any graphics, thus considerably speeding up the process of opening the Web page.
Integrated assessment - 3 points (Some of declared features are not working properly)
Adkiller
http://www.softcows.com
Price $19.95
This is a simple ad blocker with a rather unpretentious interface. It blocks ads on the basis of black listed ad resources. Unfortunately, you cannot automatically update the list from the producer's site. One of the strengths is that the application enables the user to create his or her ad URL black list. An undoubted drawback of this application is the inability to block banners of specified dimensions and to block loading graphics from other domains. In addition, the application does not support shrinking page area previously occupied by ads. The efficiency of ad blocking leaves much to be desired. Also, popup windows are blocked at random times.
But still, the program cuts ads much better than above reviewed applications.
Integrated assessment - 4 points
In our opinion, this application can be used, but it would be better to consider other alternatives.
adsubstract
http://www.intermute.com/adsubtract
Price $29.95
 The application has an appealing interface and supports custom defined color, background, sounds, etc. Obviously, these features are not crucial for an ad blocker, so we will concentrate on its banners and popup windows blocking features.
Adsubstract blocks black listed banners, but does not provide for automatic black list upgrades from the producer's site. Blocking banners of specified dimensions is not supported, as well as shrinking page area occupied by ads. It is quite certain that Adsubstract offers rather limited ad blocking opportunities.
It should be noted that the application displays the number of blocked banners and popup windows, but does not calculate the traffic it has saved. Another advantage is the ability to specify the cookies that you wish to keep and the cookies that you wish to remove.
One of the obvious drawbacks is that when starting, the application changes proxy settings, thus causing many inconveniences. To resume work in the Internet, you need to go to the Adsubstract settings and include the necessary proxy into the link.
On the whole the application doesn't seem to perform its ad blocking function efficiently.
Integrated assessment - 4 points
Zero Ads
http://www.zeroads.com
Price $19.95)
Right after the installation the application requested to restart the computer. Zero Ads is an effective application that stands out from its class by a novel design based on flash technology, with nicely emerging application window elements, buttons, splash intros, etc.
This attractiveness covers up simple functionality on blocking banners, popup windows and cookies. Unfortunately, the application doesn't enable expanding ads "black list" by user. Zero Ads only supports enabling and disabling blocking functions.
Among its additional features Zero Ads displays connection speed and the number of bytes received/sent to the Internet. ]
Back to the application design - it should probably be noted that such an abundance of animation, so delightful at first, appears to be superfluous in daily routine work and may turn into an additional annoying factor. But this is a purely subjective opinion.
Integrated assessment - 5 points
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