AdShield Support

This page contains basic support information regarding installation, upgrading and frequently asked questions. For additional assistance, please review product documentation that installs with AdShield in the AdShield programs folder.

Click here if you purchased AdShield 3.0 and would like to submit a support request.

Download the AdShield.exe file to your computer.

Close all other Windows programs, including any virus software.

Double-click the AdShield.exe program file and follow the on-screen instructions.

After you download AdShield, we will immediately email you a license file with instructions on how to apply the license. (Please contact us if you do not receive your license file within 24 hours.)

Follow the instructions in the email to apply the license file and unlock the extended features of AdShield 3.0.

Note: You should save the license file, license.txt. You will need it if you upgrade AdShield or need to re-install the program.

Upon completion of the installation process, your Programs menu will contain a shortcut to the AdShield User's Guide, which explains how to use the product.

AdShield will automatically run the next time you start your Internet Explorer and begin blocking web advertisements. Verify AdShield is properly installed by either:

Launch Internet Explorer and click on the AS button on the right side of the browser toolbar. The main AdShield Window displays in the left pane of your Internet Explorer browser. (See illustration.)

or

Launch Internet Explorer and right-click a picture or advertisement you want to block (i.e., click a picture or ad using your right mouse button). A pop-up menu displays, with the following AdShield menu items added at the bottom: Maintain Block List, Add to Block List, Add to Exclude List, and AdShield Option Settings. (See illustration.)

Be sure to read the AdShield User’s Guide for tips that will help you optimize AdShield and block the most ads possible. Choose Programs -> AdShield -> AdShield User’s Guide from the Start menu.

In order for AdShield to operate properly and prevent unwanted Internet advertisements, please ensure your browser is properly configured.

From your Internet Explorer main window, choose: Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced:

• Check - Disable Script Debugging
• Un-Check - Disable a notification about every script error
• Check - Enable third party browser extensions

For best results when upgrading from a previous version of AdShield, follow these steps:

• Make a backup copy of your block/exclude list file, adshield.abl, and your license file, license.txt.
  
  Click the Export button on the AdShield Explorer Bar to make a backup of your block list and exclude list.
  
  If you have an earlier version of AdShield, you can also copy the adshield.abl file to another folder using Windows Explorer. The default location of the block/exclude list file is: C:\Program Files\AdShield\AdShield\adshield.abl.
  
  Note: If you're using AdShield in a multi-user environment, AdShield maintains a separate block/exclude list file for each user. You can log on as each user and run the Export function, or use Windows Explorer to make a copy of each adshield.abl file.
  
  
• Uninstall your previous version of AdShield.
  
  Choose Settings -> Control Panel from the Start menu. Double-click Add/Remove Programs. Select AdShield from the list of installed programs and follow the on-screen instructions.
  
  
• Reboot your system.
  
  Close all programs. Choose Shut Down from the Start menu and select Restart from the drop-down list.
  
  
• Install the new version of AdShield. Click here for installation instructions.
  
  When Setup prompts you to Choose a Destination Location, choose the same folder where you had your previous version of AdShield installed.
  
  
• Follow the instructions in your license file email to unlock the new version of AdShield. Import your block/export list file, adshield.abl.
  
  Note: If you're using AdShield in a multi-user environment and you exported separate block/exclude list files for each user, you must import a separate block/exclude list file for each user. Log on as each user and run the Import function.
  
  
• Review the AdShield User’s Guide for the latest features and options, to maximize AdShield’s performance.
  
  Choose Programs -> AdShield -> AdShield User’s Guide from the Start menu.
  

Problem: I just installed AdShield but it isn't blocking anything.

Probable Cause: The free version of AdShield ships with an empty block list. The block list is a list of partial URLs used to differentiate useful sites from ad servers or ad mills. As described in the User's Guide, you can add an ad mill site to the block list by right-clicking an ad image and choosing Add to Block List from the pop-up menu. Be sure to leave part of the URL highlighted before clicking OK. See the User's Guide for instructions on how to choose the most effective block list entries. AdShield lets you drag and drop banner ads onto the block list.

The block list itself is contained in the adshield.abl file in the AdShield install directory. If you have friends or colleagues who are using AdShield, you can jump start your list compilation by asking them to send you a copy of their list. Click the Import button on the AdShield Explorer Bar and select the block list file to import. AdShield will also import plain text block list files.

Problem: The AdShield dialogs do not display when I select the AdShield menu items. The browser displays an "Invalid syntax error" page that states, "The page cannot be displayed."

Probable Cause: Be sure to reboot your system after installing AdShield. This is especially important when you’re upgrading from a previous version. If you're using Internet Explorer 6, be sure to select the Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart) option. This option appears on the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog, accessible from the Tools menu.

You may be able to correct the problem by re-running the self-registration process. Choose Run from the Start menu and enter the following string in the Open edit box:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\adshield\adshield\adshield.dll"

Note: If you installed AdShield in a different folder, make the appropriate change in the path specified inside the quotes.

Problem: AdShield menu items and Explorer Bar are not available for all users of a multi-user system.

• Log on to the user account for which you'd like to enable the AdShield interface.
• Run the AdShield Setup program by choosing Programs -> AdShield -> AdShield Setup from the Start menu.
• The Setup program indicates whether the AdShield interface is enabled or disabled for the user.
• If the AdShield interface is disabled for this user, click the link to enable it. (You can also use the Setup program to disable the interface for a specific user.)
• You may need to log off and log back on again before the change takes effect.

Problem: Script error or script debugger messages.

Probable Cause: Harmless script error/debugger messages may occur when AdShield blocks a scripted pop-up ad or the download of an entire ad script. This usually happens when a poorly-coded ad script attempts to open a pop-up window and then manipulate it without checking to see if the pop-up was actually created. We recommend simply clearing the checkmark next to "Display a notification about every script error" on the Advanced tab of the browser's Internet Options dialog (accessible from the Tools menu). You can always double-click the little warning icon in the lower left corner to display the script error messages, if necessary. If you have a script debugger installed, you may also be prompted to debug these script errors. In this case I'd simply select "Disable script debugging" on the Advanced tab of the browser's Internet Options dialog when you're not developing web pages with scripts.

Problem: AdShield isn't blocking (all) pop-up ads.

Probable Cause: As described in the User's Guide, AdShield 3.0 does suppress pop-ups that attempt to open a window with a specific URL that’s listed in the AdShield block list. Unfortunately many of these pop-up ads don’t target a specific URL – their entire content is written into them by scripts running in the original browser window. AdShield includes an option to block these scripted pop-up ads, regardless of the contents of your block list.

Problem:The Add to Block List menu item does not appear on the pop-up menu when I right-click some ad images.

Probable Cause: AdShield only adds the Add to Block List menu item to the pop-up menu when you right-click an image that results from a standard HTML IMG tag or right-click a Macromedia Flash ads. Some images may appear as the result of background attributes on a number of different HTML tags. Others may be delivered through applets, plug-ins, or ActiveX controls. AdShield can block the download of images in all of these cases.

The problem is identifying the source and adding it to the block list. One possibility is to use Internet Explorer's View Source feature to examine the page's source HTML. If you can find the ad server’s URL in the page source, you can add it to the block list. Right-click any (standard) image on any page and choose Add to Block List from the pop-up menu. Type the part of the ad server’s URL to be added, highlight it, and click OK. Obviously this technique is time-consuming, so we can't recommend it very highly. We're working on better support to identify ads delivered through these mechanisms.

If the pop-up menu does not contain the Maintain Block List menu item when you right-click anywhere in the browser, there may be an installation problem. In that case, see the section of our site on Reporting Problems.

Problem: The AdShield dialogs do not display when I select the AdShield menu items. The browser displays an "Invalid syntax error" page that states, "The page cannot be displayed."


Probable Cause: Please be sure to reboot your system after installing AdShield. This is especially important when you’re upgrading from a previous version. If you're using Internet Explorer 6, be sure to select the "Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart)" option on the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog, accessible from the Tools menu.

Microsoft support article Q229970 confirms that a bug in Internet Explorer 5.0 prevents the loading of more than one browser helper object. As a result of this bug, AdShield may be incompatible with some component of a product already installed on your system. In particular, the problem has been noted on systems where the nzdd.dll from RealNetworks has been installed, and on systems where the amcis.dll from Radiate (formerly Aureate) has been installed. The Radiate "product" is spyware that we, personally, would remove from our own systems. For more information about spyware and what can be done about it, see the OptOut page at the Gibson Research Corporation site. Microsoft states, and our own tests indicate, that the bug is fixed in Internet Explorer 5.01. If you are still experiencing this problem with AdShield after upgrading your browser to the latest version, please let us know and we will investigate further.

Thanks to Mike in Milwaukee for alerting us that "REAL DOWNLOAD EXPRESS", (npnzdad.exe), may be uninstalling part of AdShield when you restart your computer. If you have this product on your system you can try the following:

• Uninstall AdShield.
• Run the System Information Utility (msconfig.exe), select the Startup tab, and clear the checkmark next to REAL DOWNLOAD EXPRESS. If you don't have msconfig.exe on your system, try moving "REAL DOWNLOAD EXPRESS" out of your StartUp folder manually.
• Run regedit.exe and rename or remove the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{EBCDDA60-2A68-11D3-8A43-0060083CFB9C}".
• Be careful not to change anything else when running regedit.exe.
• Reinstall AdShield.

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