Skype has replaced Yahoo to become the most popular free chat and call software that many of us use it on a daily basis, whether it’s at work or in the home, whether you are on a mobile or on a computer. Besides many useful features, Skype and Microsoft are not much different from others, they steal our information then annoy us with their advertisements.
In this article, I will guide you how to remove and block advertisements in Skype completely. This guide works will both versions Skype 6.x and Skype 7.x
How to Completely Remove/ Block Advertisements in Skype
1. Block Advertisements in Skype by setting Restricted Sites in Internet Options Security
– Go to Control Panel => Internet Options
– In the Internet Options windows => Switch to the Security tab => select Restricted Sites => click Sites button
– In the popup of Restricted Sites, type (or copy/paste) below domains into the text box: Add this website to the zone
apps.skype.com
ad1.msn.com
b.ads2.msnads.net
– Save and restart Skype.
Done!
Note:
+ The domains you have just Add to Restricted Sites zone actually are ad server of Skype (used for ad serving/ delivery). It may be changed by Microsoft, then you only need to update the new domains to Restricted Sites zone to block Skype ads.
+ As adding domain apps.skype.com to Restricted Sites zone, we also block the “Home page” of Skype interface (where Skype updates news feed), however, I think no one considers about Skype Home page.
+ This method works well with Skype 6.x. In Skype 7.x, this method will block Skype ads but there is a blank space in Skype that you will want to remove it. Let’s follow the method 2 below.
2. Completely Remove Advertisements in Skype by setting AdvertPlaceholder
– Open the Run dialog by pressing the shortcut Windows + R (you may want to discover the most useful shortcut in Windows here), then type: %AppData%\Skype
– Select the folder with your Skype ID => Select file config.xml => Open with Notepad ++ or Notepad (I prefer to use Notepad++, it is a very useful text-editor tool in Windows).
– In Notepad ++, press Ctrl + F to search for keywords “AdvertPlaceholder”.
– Replace the strings:
<AdvertPlaceholder>1<FAdvertPlaceholder>
by:
<AdvertPlaceholder>0<AdvertPlaceholder>
– Save the file config.xml and check Skype Windows now.
Done!
Note:
– The above method works well even with the latest version of Skype 7.x
– This will not only block Skype ads but also remove all advertising area on Skype. Your Skype is now completely clean !
Before removing Skype ads:
After removing Skype ads:
3. Block Advertisements in Skype by setting the hosts file
– You can use the hosts file to block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and even most hijackers…
– To block Skype ads by hosts file: open Windows Explorer => Select the system partition (for example C:\ ) => Windows => System32 => drivers => etc (You may just paste this into Address bar of Windows Explorer or Run dialog: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\).
– Open the hosts file with Notepad or Notepad ++ and then add below strings into the file:
127.0.0.1 *.msads.net
127.0.0.1 *.msecn.net
127.0.0.1 *.rad.msn.com
127.0.0.1 a.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 ac3.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 adnexus.net
127.0.0.1 adnxs.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 aka-cdn-ns.adtech.de
127.0.0.1 apps.skype.com
127.0.0.1 b.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 bs.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 cds26.ams9.msecn.net
127.0.0.1 db3aqu.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 ec.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 flex.msn.com
127.0.0.1 g.msn.com
127.0.0.1 live.rads.msn.com
127.0.0.1 msntest.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com
127.0.0.1 sO.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 secure.flashtalking.com
127.0.0.1 static.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 static.2mdn.net
– Save hosts file and restart the computer to update new settings.
Done!
Video guide how to remove/ block Skype Advertisements Completely
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