Most and least effective filters

[Melgund]

I used to subscribe to Easy List.
I found the filters very effective but I never got any hits on about half the entries.
To cut the list down I unsubribed and deleted the unused entries.

My question is does a long filter list slow the browser down compared to a smaller list assuming that none of the filters use Reg Ex?

In other words is there any value in eliminating unused entries?

[rick752]

I used to subscribe to Easy List.
I found the filters very effective but I never got any hits on about half the entries.
To cut the list down I unsubribed and deleted the unused entries.

My question is does a long filter list slow the browser down compared to a smaller list assuming that none of the filters use Reg Ex?

In other words is there any value in eliminating unused entries?

Most of the filters in my EasyList follow the "8 unbroken character" rule for simple expressions ... some are too small to qualify (but they are the ones that you probably use). These "8-char" rules process very quickly in ADP because they create 'shortcuts' within the program itself and parse very quickly. My forum regulars have not really seen any noticeable decrease in speed from a longer list (neither have I). Wladimir has claimed to have run well over 1,000 rules during a test without any real noticeable difference in speed.

So, in answer to your question, I would say "no", there really isn't much value deleted unused strings if you don't want to see ads. On the other hand, if you only go to the same couple of sites all of the time and do not mind the inconvenience of ads when you "stray away" from your regularly used sites, then do what you're doing

Actually, this week, we are testing for old and unused filters on my forum.

ps: Have YOU noticed a difference since deleting the unused one?

[rick752]

And I hate that hit counts get reset when filters are modified,

Yeah, well I'm sure that there may be one or two people that are gonna notice THAT one after I remove those beginning and trailing *asteriks* from all of my filter strings in a couple of weeks (they're really not needed anymore

I tested that with one filter string and it reset the counter for that filter. So "fair warning" folks ... this will be done after I get finished with the 'filter housecleaning'on my forum.

Oh yeah, btw, .... my "least effective filters":
http://www.richsterling.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=485

Feel free to contribute.

[IceDogg]

I think sites load faster with the ads blocked myself. The ms (milliseconds) that it may take to filter out the ads is far faster then the minutes it takes (most times) to load the ads from slow ad servers.

But in saying that I do disable the bigger list sometimes to see if there is a difference and to me it's so slight you can't really tell. The only time it may show is on huge sites with lots of elements (like pictures). But I don't use Noscript extension for the very reason that it does slow down page loads, so I am sensitive to page loading speeds. But I can't see much of a slow down with Rick's list and my own. I have some things that I block on sites that are not popular enough for anyones filtersets but I go to often, and even with the extra 25 to 50 filters I see no speed decreases. I'm sure it's because all mine are large (8 unbroken characters) filters.. as they block specific items. I don't understand all the tech behind what Wladimir did to make those work faster, but I do KNOW that it WORKS.

[Melgund]

Have YOU noticed a difference since deleting the unused one?

I didn't do any before or after tests and subjectly I can't see any difference. It just bugged me that some filters got thousands of hits and a lot got none.

Maybe I'm a neat freak. I think I will resubscribe to Eaasy List

To get back the purpose of this thread. my top five are:
*/dclk.*
*doubleclick*
*adserv*
*/ads/*
*.googlesyndication.*

[rick752]

To get back the purpose of this thread. my top five are:
*/dclk.*
*doubleclick*
*adserv*
*/ads/*
*.googlesyndication.*

Just out of curiousity,Melgund, where did you find that */dclk.* subdomain? That looks like a doubleclick subdomain that I've never seen on a site before.

[Melgund]

Just out of curiousity,Melgund, where did you find that */dclk.* subdomain? That looks like a doubleclick subdomain that I've never seen on a site before.

I don't remember but it got about 2700 hits in the last 3 weeks.

[iamnu]

Where are you getting these statistics regarding the number of hits you are getting? How would I look at my own statistics?

Thanks...

[Stupid Head]

Where are you getting these statistics regarding the number of hits you are getting? How would I look at my own statistics?

If you open up the preferences (Tools > Adblock Plus), there is a column on the right showing you the number of hits for filters.

[MonztA]

Where are you getting these statistics regarding the number of hits you are getting? How would I look at my own statistics?

Thanks...

[IceDogg]

The box with the arrow down to the right of hits (in the picture in the last post) is where to turn on more columns. I can't remember if hits is on by default or not. Just thought I would point you to that either way.

[Lucas Malor]

These are mine top 4:

Code: Select all

http://ad.pro-advertising.com/nwsa/ad.
http://ad.doubleclick.net/
http://pagead*.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js
http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js

I prefer to block only single scripts.

[Melgund]

Just out of curiousity,Melgund, where did you find that */dclk.* subdomain? That looks like a doubleclick subdomain that I've never seen on a site before.

I found the source of the elusive */dclk.* subdomain.
I think most of them come from: http://www.haaretz.com/

They all seemed to be part of:
http://dclk.themarker.com

Does this come up anywhere else?

[anonim]

forgive me if i'm doubling any post here, but I don't have time right now to read whole thread.
i saw many of you presenting google as top blocked site. well, i believe that we should take also under consideration fact that google ads are small, don't use much bandwidth, and usually not annoying. maybe you should scale it somehow. an example of good stats would be "how many mega(or giga?;)bytes particular filter blocked.

and for post scriptum I have an feature proposition: how about using the same filter list for blocking cookies?

and in the end: congratulations for making piece of really life-saving software.

[Johan]

I use Adblock Plus mainly to block that annoying advertising links made from normal words in the content. When you hover on a word with the cursor you get a popup with a very irrelevant ad about the word.

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*intellitxt.com/*
*kontera.com/*
*vibrantmedia.com/*
*ontok.com/*