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The Skype client shows a disturbing colored ad at the bottom of the client. The ad is unnecessary and only takes away important space for the contact list.
How can I remove that permanentely?
Even after clicking the close sign on the ad, the ad appears again each time I open/click Skype again...
FiveO
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 7 940
44
I got rid of this like that. Go to Tools > Options and uncheck Promotions and Help and Skype tips.
Additionaly, if you go to Tools > Options > Privacy > Show Advanced Options in the bottom of the window, you will see something about Microsoft targeted ads..., unticked this and restarted Skype altogether and so long I haven't seen any ads anywhere (thanks to juanm55)
Volodymyr M.
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 1 428
@JuanManuelLF That does it. Thanks. Should be added to the answer. – easwee – 2014-09-18T17:40:13.257
4This is not enough to hide the advertisements – Pere – 2013-05-25T11:10:58.107
5Well, yes, it's not enough. But if you carefully look at the screenshot OP provided, you'll see that he wants to remove promotions, but NOT ads. – Volodymyr M. – 2013-05-25T15:49:21.587
1At least for me, after disabling these 2 options I still see advertisements at the bottom of the client, very similar to the one in the screenshot the OP provided. And after reading the question again, I would say these are the ads the user wanted to remove. – Pere – 2013-05-25T20:47:49.730
3It actually worked for me. Just have to sign out and re-login again. Otherwise it's still there. – wujj123456 – 2013-06-15T23:35:46.523
5Additionaly, if you go to 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Privacy' > 'Show Advanced Options' in the bottom of the window, you will see something about "Microsoft targeted ads..." I unticked this, and restarted Skype altogether and so long I haven't seen any ads anywhere – juanm55 – 2013-12-10T20:09:17.873
71
Put this in your hosts file:
127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com
Update: nZeus suggests using the following:
127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com
127.0.0.1 g.msn.com
127.0.0.1 live.rads.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 static.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 a.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 b.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ac3.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ec.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 msntest.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1 sO.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 aka-cdn-ns.adtech.de
127.0.0.1 secure.flashtalking.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 apps.skype.com
I haven't tested the latter. The first one worked for me.
Pere
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 749
I prefer to use ip address 0.0.0.0 since I work as web dev and certainly don't want unwanted apps to contact my local http server! – None – 2014-07-13T13:06:32.570
Nice. I need this for my Macbook because constant 30% CPU usage courtesy of Flash via Skype Ad is simply criminal... Skype times out for about 30sec on startup desperately trying to phone up its ad. Then gives up. Yeah, that's what I thought. – Steven Lu – 2014-12-27T02:55:35.780
I wrote a script that does this https://github.com/awatertrevi/skype-ad-blocker :)
– Trevi Awater – 2017-09-22T11:36:20.023This list is still blocking the ads on mac! Thanks! – GuyGizmo – 2017-09-26T15:55:37.557
3Just in case somebody does not know what this does, this makes any attempt to connect to rad.msn.com impossible by making its IP point to localhost. I'm pretty sure it's safe to do, but I don't know if it works (didn't test it). – Camilo Martin – 2013-06-02T03:01:02.050
5For future reference, location of the hosts file in Windows XP and later (including Windows 8) is %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Just open it in Notepad and add the line in this answer. – Thunderforge – 2013-10-14T17:49:10.687
Works on OSX, but does leave a big white square within the 'Skype Home' pane. – David Goodwin – 2013-11-06T10:02:57.827
1
That hostname isn't enough to do anything for me. I put together a list of suggested hostnames to block here: http://superuser.com/a/708801/130906
– leetNightshade – 2014-01-29T19:23:32.990there are other lists of skype ad servers but this one did the trick. confirmed to still work for win-Skype 6.13.0.104 running win7. thank you! – Sassafras_wot – 2014-01-30T20:15:36.817
Thank you, Pere and @leetNightshade. It is working in Skype v6.13.32.104 on Win 7. – Churro – 2014-01-30T21:34:21.517
1
Please also include this line 127.0.0.1 ad-emea.doubleclick.net Found here.
31
None of the above methods work for the newer versions of Skype A new method has emerged that works in Skype 6.13 and Skype 6.14, works on Windows using Internet Explorer settings, from Chris123NT:
Open up Control Panel > Internet Options.
Security > Restricted Sites > Sites
Type in https://apps.skype.com, and click Add.
Again, click Add, then Close, then OK. Now open up Skype, click on the home button, and the ad banner should disappear and not come back!
leetNightshade
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 847
3OSX users can achieve the same by typing the following in a terminal window:
`sudo su && echo "127.0.0.1 apps.skype.com" >> /etc/hosts`
– Giacomo Lacava – 2014-09-13T17:01:38.5101This works on v6.21, however it will also disable the Facebook integration, at on the Home view. – Gio Palacino – 2014-11-04T14:50:54.483
7+1 Disabling Facebook integration seems like a plus to me. If I want to see Facebook stream, I'd go to Facebook not Skype. ;) – Sun – 2015-04-05T15:10:48.917
works in skype version 7 win7 – SomeAmbigiousUserName – 2017-02-21T11:49:27.107
13
>>Note that the steps below won't work in Skype 6.9 or later<<
To get rid of advertisements upgrade to Skype Premium (from http://www.skype.com/en/premium/):
To disable promotions (from https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1111/where-are-alerts-and-messages-displayed):
jaume
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 4 947
1On OSX (Skype v6.9) there's no comparable option under Preferences/Notifications. – David Goodwin – 2013-11-06T10:04:17.410
2I would like to minus you, but I can't... yet – nZeus – 2014-02-19T20:33:02.217
1@nZeus Why is that? – jaume – 2014-02-20T13:50:45.357
1
Because it doesn't work. See here - http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Skype-Premium-subscription-showing-ads-scam/td-p/2950141 Total morons work at Skype support and I'm still fighting.
– CRONUS – 2014-03-17T09:15:48.92331) I edited my answer and added that the steps explained won't work in Skype 6.9 or later. 2) I'm sorry to hear that you have trouble getting rid of those ads, but don't take it out on me, the answer was correct at the time of writing one year ago. I don't use Skype anymore, but you do - if you find out how to fix it edit my answer (as explained in Improve posts by editing or commenting in http://superuser.com/tour) or write your own answer. Thanks! – jaume – 2014-03-17T10:12:22.720
2
Updated DNS block list; works as of version 6.21.85.104. Add this to your hosts file (typically something like C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts). Works best with IPv6, since 100::/64 is a "drop-all" prefix. Works with IPv4 as long as you don't have anything listening on 127.6.6.6. You can use 127.0.0.1, but I would advise against that, since the connection won't die immediately if you have another program listening on port 443. (127.0.0.0/8 is loopback, not just 127.0.0.1.)
127.6.6.6 a.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ac3.msn.com
127.6.6.6 ads1.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 b.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.atdmt.com
127.6.6.6 live.rads.msn.com
127.6.6.6 rad.msn.com
127.6.6.6 secure.flashtalking.com
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net
100::1 a.ads2.msads.net
100::1 ac3.msn.com
100::1 ads1.msads.net
100::1 ads2.msads.net
100::1 b.ads2.msads.net
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
100::1 cdn.atdmt.com
100::1 live.rads.msn.com
100::1 rad.msn.com
100::1 secure.flashtalking.com
100::1 wildcard.msads.net
100::1 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net
Zenexer
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 1 022
Where did you get these? Is this wildcard.msads.net correct or is it supposed to be *.msads.net? * is commonly a wildcard after all, you just have the word instead of the character. – leetNightshade – 2015-04-06T16:37:32.247
1@leetNightshade I got them using a mix of Wireshark, Process Explorer, and good old trial-and-error That is literally wildcard.msads.net, not *.msads.net. Microsoft has some weird naming schemes, apparently. – Zenexer – 2015-04-09T19:26:10.487
2
I created a Windows Batch script to help remove the ADS from Skype, it can add a blacklist to Windows hosts file and also change a parameter on the Skype user settings file.
This way I was able to remove all ADS from Skype 7, including the ADS block that appears on the right side of the chat.
This script was tested on Skype 7.85.105.101 and is intended to run on Windows Vista, 7 or 8.
You can get the script here: disable_skype_ads.zip. Unpack the zip and read the readme.txt file to know how to use it.
If you find any bugs or have suggestions, please add a comment bellow, so I can fix/improve it.
Anthony Gaudino
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 41
3
Downloading and running code from an untrusted source isn't really the best idea. Could you post the code here in your answer or create a gist snippet on github so people can look at the code without downloading a foreign zip file?
– culix – 2016-04-27T14:42:30.550@culix and the paranoid: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/0111365ffd7eaf0312ce3dbec3737feb
– Cypher – 2016-08-10T18:58:36.6731
The way that works for me (version 6.11.0.102) is the following:
From what I remember about this trick... since the ads are targeted towards language, putting in a bogus string value will essentially cause Skype to fail at finding an advert to display, and in turn, it will not display one.
This has worked for me on multiple installs of this same version of Skype, and in versions past as well.
Note: I also do this in tandem with what Volodymyr does in his answer.
Shamtam
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 295
0
I wrote a program which hides the biggest and in my opinion most annoying Skype ad.
One can find it at:
Just remember, as it says in the README.txt, that Skype must be used in the Default View mode (View -> Default View) for the thing to work.
Jelle Geerts
Posted 2013-02-07T09:17:48.623
Reputation: 858
Detailed blog how you can remove ads from Skype: http://sforsuresh.in/remove-ads-from-skype-on-window/
– Suresh Kamrushi – 2017-06-21T07:20:59.2575Whether it's unnecessary or not is a matter of opinion. Microsoft, not being a charity, might think it's necessary. – Alan B – 2013-05-21T15:24:58.323
5Correct, but I'm aware of that Skype can make unlimited* calls or its other features. Microsoft does not need to remind me all the time. Also a Word 2010 does not remind you the whole time that there's a new version or that it can handle automatic reference lists or similar ;-) – FiveO – 2013-05-21T15:39:27.103
4No, Word doesn't. Not yet, anyway. But then you paid a whole load of money for Word. You got Skype for free. Ads are how they subsidise giving it you for free. – Alan B – 2013-05-21T15:52:52.760