Boards is slow! (was:What is Star-adserver.com)

Sarsfield

I use Slimbrowser and the Universal URL filter does the job nicely. I promise to unblock star-adserver once the problem's sorted.

(Am I the only Slimbrowser user?)

zAbbo

ninja900 wrote:

Thanks but that's windows only, I use Linux

*nix heads are supposed to know how to do it themselves

Just edit the hosts file, /etc/hosts for linux.

For mac users - open a terminal and

sudo pico /etc/hosts

Hit enter, and add
127.0.0.1 www.star-adserver.com

press ctrl+x, and then press y/enter

A restart might be in order to see these changes, possibly the same solution for mike65 there

netwhizkid

Originally Posted by bazH

Whu not use an ad blocker for opera?

http://www.operaadfilter.com/



Anyone usings windows, and wants the quick fix

Here it is(from memory)

You need to edit the HOSTS file, its located here

Windows XP = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K = C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98\ME = C:\WINDOWS

Open this file in notepad, and add the following lines

Code:
127.0.0.1 www.star-adserver.com
Save and thats it.

Here is my complete hosts file - http://members.boards.ie/bazh/HOSTS.zip
Which includes an update hosts file taken from here - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

No need for switching browsers

I treid entering the code you gave and i entered it in the three 3 hosts files and no good its still as fast as a snail, lol. I have three hosts files on mine perhaps maybe my screenshot would help determine which one i should enter the code in. I cant upload actually another glitch unfortunatly. Whatever i did with that code (which i have no removed it has caused usit.ie to go like treacle too, can anyone check out usit.ie and post here to see is it slow with them too. This is the biggest boards failure i've seen in my 4yrs visiting it. And is a big turn off to newbies too i'm afraid,

Please try fix it, anyone ? I'd advise pulling the star adserver contract if neccesary.

zAbbo

What version of windows do you have, are all those HOSTS files in the same location, have you restarted windows after editing them?

netwhizkid

Originally Posted by bazH
What version of windows do you have, are all those HOSTS files in the same location, have- you restarted windows after editing them?

I have windows XP Home edition SP2, i never restarted after editing them, i have since un-edited them. I am now viewing easy as i downloaded Firefoz and ff adblock and i swimming through the sea of treacle now, I don't like FF i rather IE6 but as it allows me to view boards for the time being i will put up with it.

Mr.Nice Guy

bazH wrote:

Whu not use an ad blocker for opera?

http://www.operaadfilter.com/



Anyone usings windows, and wants the quick fix

Here it is(from memory)

You need to edit the HOSTS file, its located here

Windows XP = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K = C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98\ME = C:\WINDOWS

Open this file in notepad, and add the following lines

127.0.0.1 www.star-adserver.com

Save and thats it.

Here is my complete hosts file - http://members.boards.ie/bazh/HOSTS.zip
Which includes an update hosts file taken from here - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

No need for switching browsers

For those of us who are not great when it comes to things that are technical, could you dumb that down slightly?

For example, where exactly do I go to edit the hosts file?

Could you simplify it please? I'd appreciate it as Boards is running sloooow for me.

zAbbo

Thats as dumbed down as it gets

Locate the file, and edit it.

If you have windows XP

start > run > notepad C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC

That will open it up in notepad, edit, save, done

mike65

No joy after rebooting. I'll just stick with FF while on boards.

Mike.

Victor

zapata wrote:

If someone is on a mission (or back-hander) to promote firefox

http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0715/internet.html Boards.ie killing M$ one step at a time

Capt'n Midnight

BTW:
in windows 2K / XP you can use ipconfig /flushdns instead of a reboot.

Mr.Nice Guy

I have Windows XP and I've done what's suggested but it still isn't working. The top of the page loads and then it says 'Done' in the bottom left hand corner but I've to wait about 10-15 seconds for the page to load. It's very frustrating.

I can block ads through Google's toolbar but this doesn't help me at all.

Can't we just have Boards back the way it used to be?

netwhizkid

Originally Posted by Mr.Nice Guy
Can't we just have Boards back the way it used to be?

Rest assured boards will be back soon, I've just discovered that star-adserver is blocking the student site USIT i noticed this as it won't load on IE6 nor will it load on Firefox with adblock turned off, If you wanna access boards snappy in the short term, download firefox and then FF adblock, it worked for me. Total size about 5Mbs cost Nil Whatever the problem is it is being caused by Star-adserver.com not boards or the mods as it F***ed up usit too.

Thank god for adblock of Firefox

Hotblack Desiato

bazH wrote:

*nix heads are supposed to know how to do it themselves
Just edit the hosts file, /etc/hosts for linux.

Did that yesterday, made no difference... Opera just kept waiting indefinitely for a response, whether from the adserver or the adserver redirected to 127.0.0.1 by the hosts file.

mike65

I was going to e-mail star-adserver.com but the page won't load in anything right now!

Mike.

causal

star-adserver.com isnt' responding to pings, tracert can't get to it either, nor is their webserver responding.
They've certainly had a major failure of some kind, maybe they've been cracked.

causal

Calibos

Just edited my hosts file, saved and the work-around seems to be working already without a reboot.

pickarooney

ninja900 wrote:

Thanks but that's windows only, I use Linux anyway enabling ad-blocking isn't the fix, it's the workaround, and in the long run boards.ie loses out on revenue. Hope the adserver crowd get it sorted soon. Dunno if there's anything that boards.ie can do on their end to overcome this problem if an adserver is very slow or down?

Could be worse though, a few months back The Register's third party adserver was hacked and served up malware for a while :eek:

Here's a python-based adblocker for Opera (just change the paths for a linux installation). There's also a C and a lua version on that guy's site.

Here's a fairly decent filter.ini and css file with star-server on top (so you can delete it easily later if you wish).

CrowdedHouse

LOL Boards won't be able to give ads away after this outbreak of Ad-blocking -encouraged by a Mod as well !

Mac daddy

at home using opera no problems now - In work today standard i use opera had to use firefox and adblocker to access boards with decent speeds.

Whatever was up seems to have been solved.

Mr.Nice Guy

Boards is working fine for me now.

I don't know who sorted out the problem but whoever it was, thank you!

mike65

Ditto that, but now here's a question - do I go back to Opera or do I continue with FF and adblock for all those pesky pop-ups etc....ooooh choices, choices.

Mike.

DeVore

Ok, the ad server system has been fixed and shouldnt be causing slowdowns any more.
It would be nice if people unblocked them now, they really arent that in your face and they do help us pay for costs.

DeV.

Sarky

Hooray!

Now let's hear more about this night-with-Sarky, er, fundraiser...

Dinner

Excellant, unblocked and no slowdown for me anyway.