Remove ads from Yahoo! Messenger 9

no adsThis is just a quickie because I have a little free time now as tomorrow I will be done with my final exams.

I’m sure the issue with Yahoo! Messenger stealing focus is very common out there. It is annoying mostly because for example when I am engaged in a captivating chat with a friend and I am typing really fast (~60 wpm), the flash ads from the Y!M window swap and I find myself focused on the wrong window. Of course that for me this isn’t such a big deal (but still very annoying) as it is for others who look at their keyboards as they type and when they look at the chat window and see it empty… that’s not a pleasant sight.

Now let’s cut to the chase and get rid of this problem once and for all. It’s very simple and all you have to do is to open Notepad or any other text editor and open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (yes, that’s right, no extension there). A full explanation about that file is given and marked as a comment in the file.

So, after the default line (127.0.0.1       localhost) just add 127.0.0.1 insider.msg.yahoo.com

Well that’s it. Very simple and effective.

Here’s how it looks without ads:

Yahoo! Messenger no ads

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29 Comments

  1. Heiko
    Posted 09/22/2008 at 15:12 | Permalink

    Well that is one of the best solutions to find on the net!!
    I tried to disable the Ads with patches , Registry hacks – you name it , but this really works fine.
    Thanks a lot !!

  2. Posted 09/28/2008 at 13:56 | Permalink

    I have make program to do so. Get it here. http://www.ficforlife.com/2008/09/remove-yahoo-messenger-9-final-ads.html. Thx

  3. SS
    Posted 09/30/2008 at 14:48 | Permalink

    Only Thing That Worked For Me (On Vista SP1 64-bit) and Messenger 9 Final :D
    Great Work Man, Thanks ALOT !

  4. Kushan
    Posted 10/02/2008 at 17:34 | Permalink

    this is the #1 solution that I cud find from internet..
    thank you thousands time.

  5. King Leoric
    Posted 10/04/2008 at 03:05 | Permalink

    wow thanks man! This is the best and working! Thanks very much man! God Blessw

  6. Raz
    Posted 10/19/2008 at 13:49 | Permalink

    Finally, a permanent solution that works like a charm. Thanks man.

  7. leos
    Posted 11/02/2008 at 19:40 | Permalink

    thx, this is really the only real method to get rid of that enoying ads….i tryed everything else and it didn`t worked at all….thank you again

  8. Posted 11/08/2008 at 22:15 | Permalink

    try what HOK said… the link is useful ^_^
    this is the most useful thread of all non working pieces of others haha
    this works!

  9. Posted 11/15/2008 at 10:38 | Permalink

    Absolutely easy, and can’t believe it took this long to find such a simple fix. You’re a great person for sharing. Thank you

  10. jack
    Posted 11/15/2008 at 11:28 | Permalink

    it’s work thanks alot… lol…

  11. Evan
    Posted 11/15/2008 at 21:32 | Permalink

    THANK YOU, TOOK ME 10 different tries to get rid of the damn ads, this works, thanks!

  12. Paul
    Posted 11/16/2008 at 22:39 | Permalink

    Thanks, on Vista 64 bits and the latest yahoo messenger it works quite well, although the frame for the ad is still there, with a blank in it.

  13. Raphael
    Posted 11/19/2008 at 22:11 | Permalink

    This removes ads, but also removes the ability to place phone calls if you have an yahoo voice account, so it’s not useful for anyone that also use yahoo messenger for that. Any method for removing ads and still be able to place phone calls? Thanks

  14. mark
    Posted 12/06/2008 at 13:40 | Permalink

    remove the text to make ur calls

  15. dark journey
    Posted 12/21/2008 at 04:10 | Permalink

    program free ad-removal – gotta <3 it. Big plus about this fix is ~ you don’t have scan it for ad/malware – good job – it has to be one of the most useful lines in my hosts file.

  16. Posted 12/27/2008 at 19:19 | Permalink

    I’m very glad that my post helped so many of you out there.

    @Raphael: I don’t use a Yahoo! voice account. I prefer Skype for that. From what you’re saying, it seems like that particular service uses the same server as the ads do. In that case blocking the ads results in blocking the functionality of your voice account. Check out what “mark” said, he might be on to something.
    Anyway this is the best general solution I could imagine. Cheers.

  17. ghost
    Posted 01/06/2009 at 00:52 | Permalink

    Try “yahoo ghost” application latest version, search at google.com
    or it can be found here on download.com

  18. lukman
    Posted 02/02/2009 at 05:18 | Permalink

    This is the best way i found on the net about removing add from YM 9
    Thanks so much

  19. drath
    Posted 02/04/2009 at 01:55 | Permalink

    It did work very nicely thank you very much!

  20. greenexplorer
    Posted 03/15/2009 at 21:02 | Permalink

    still, there’s problem! the ads are gone, but there’s still a blank background with an ‘action canceled’ notice. I restarted my pc but it’s still the same. any suggestions? ty!

  21. hafis
    Posted 04/03/2009 at 07:18 | Permalink

    definitely it removes the ad on my yahoo messenger v.9.0.0.2112
    But the space of the ad doesn’t went off , what could i do to remove it.
    image : http://i43.tinypic.com/2rf3q50.jpg

    reply your views to hafiskaniyarakkal@yhaoo.com

  22. Drake
    Posted 04/14/2009 at 22:39 | Permalink

    This is the only method I found that really works
    Thanks a lot man

  23. Posted 06/09/2009 at 09:12 | Permalink

    Hi everyone. For the new messenger i saw that non of old methods are working. I have a website with some downloads. http://baiamare.myftp.org/downloads.php?cat_id=13 here you can find yahoo messenger with a patch that is working. ;) good luck!

  24. guah
    Posted 08/20/2009 at 22:38 | Permalink

    tried this method, but it disables me to enter chatrooms.
    i tried the registry method in the link below and it works well.
    http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/25/disabl...

  25. Posted 12/12/2009 at 13:43 | Permalink

    Just lovely. Way simpler than the patching. Unintrusive. Elegant. Wish i thought of that.

  26. snoopz
    Posted 01/10/2010 at 03:49 | Permalink

    Yes..its..so..easy..thanx..alot

  27. Dermot2k
    Posted 02/03/2010 at 16:38 | Permalink

    Ad Destroy 6.0 has been released and available in downloads in 32bit and 64bit Versions

    Ad Destroy 6.0 is compatible with all official builds of Yahoo Messenger 10

    If you use 9.0 or below, check for older versions of Ad Destroy.

    Image: http://f.imagehost.org/0566/AdDestroy6.png

    Features:

    Remove Advertisements
    Enable Polygamy
    Enable Smiley Search
    Disable Buzz! Sound
    Disable Yupdater
    Disable smileys
    Disable Audibles
    Remove Plugins area/Y!Mobile/Y!insider
    Disable Chat Abuse Link
    Toggle Nicknames/Usernames
    Enable Messenger Debug Options
    Disable Yahoo! Messenger at Startup

    Please Report any questions or comments to http://www.irish-gaming.net/index.php/topic,149...

  28. Name
    Posted 04/09/2010 at 11:40 | Permalink

    Alternatively, to remove and disable ads display on Yahoo Messenger 9,
    follow the trick below:

    1. Run Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

    2. Navigate to the following registry key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareYahoopagerLocale

    3. In the right pane, locate a value named Enable Messenger Ad with default value as 1. Set the value to 0.

    4. Restart Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.

  29. Posted 06/04/2010 at 14:46 | Permalink

    insider.msg.yahoo.com is used on more than just ads on yahoo messenger, blocking it is not advised specially since all languages come from insider and the chatroom lists, if you block insider, never try and refresh you roomlist again, you won't get any, voice call options also come from insider and media updates.

    If you don't use chatrooms or anything else in yahoo messenger but IM's then this option of using hosts file is optional, otherwise it's not.

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  1. [...] little programs who do this job with 2 clicks, but  not in this case. For this new version i found here a triky thing to do. You will not disable the window component, you just block the ad server, a [...]

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