Question: How do we stop the pop out ads from the right of our screen every few minutes for something on Skype without uninstalling the program altogether. This is how we keep in touch with our sons and our grandchildren.
– Vickie R.
Niceville, Florida
Answer: Before I get to an actual answer for your question, I feel like it might be time for my semi-annual diatribe on so-called “free” stuff on the Internet. The truth is, there are very few things online that can be had for truly zero cost, this column being one happy exception. Nearly everything else that has value, things that someone puts effort into creating, or that takes money to keep running is there because someone, somewhere is making money off of it. To those people, it is a business – their livelihood. There’s not a whole lot of motivation there to give away their hard work for free. I realize this is a technology column, but this is pure economics.
To provide products and services without charging actual money from the end-user requires a means to generate revenue. One very common way of doing that is by selling advertising. This pattern predates computers, and for that matter, anyone who might be reading this – it’s been around for decades. The cost of busses and bus benches are offset by the ads they display. TV shows air commercials to pay the expenses. Even movie theaters, which we pay to enter, have advertising before the movie starts. I’m sure you could think of many more examples of this, and it’s a logical extension for ads to help pay for services on our computers. Third parties are eager to pay money to have ads displayed while you use the service, and the service provider is happy to receive ad revenue to make it worthwhile for them to run the service as a business. You, as the end-user, receive your product or service without forking over any money. It’s a necessary evil in the world of “free” stuff.
Now, having said all of that, there are ways that you, as the owner and operator of your “personal” computer can take some measure of control over the content that is displayed as you run certain software. Let’s take Skype, for example, since that’s what you’re asking about. While Skype does not allow you to completely opt-out of ads, you can perhaps reduce them by changing your system settings.
To start, open Control Panel. Go to Network and Internet -> Internet Options, and select the “Security” tab. Click “Restricted Sites” then click the “Sites” button. Add “apps.skype.com” and “g.msn.com” to the list and save your changes.
You can also install actual ad blocking software such as AdBlock, AdGuard or others. Such software is capable of blocking most pop-ups, as well as phishing attempts, malware, and in-app advertisements, such as you are receiving. Some ad blocker titles are available cross-platform, with different flavors for Windows, Mac, Android, and Apple platforms.
One warning I will offer about blocking ads: Companies that rely on ad revenue to pay for the services they are providing to you at zero-cost often take a dim view of their users blocking the ads that pay the bills. If they can detect that ads are being blocked (and more often than not, they can) they may just deny you access to their service. This may be obvious, with a status message that says something like “Ad blocker detected.” Or, it may be a little more subtle, and the service might just fail to work with no indication why. So, block if you wish, but be careful about cutting off the hand that is feeding you. You may just find that you are the one being cut off.
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