[accesscomp] Fw: (using Window-Eyes with iTunes) and (How to Remove Google Text Ads), Dan's tips for nOvember 13 2013
- From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "access comp" <accesscomp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 07:32:08 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: dan Thompson
To: dan Thompson
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 6:49 AM
Subject: (using Window-Eyes with iTunes) and (How to Remove Google Text Ads),
Dan's tips for nOvember 13 2013
There are two tips today. The start of each is marked by an asterisk
pronounced as star by screenreaders. Find/replace feature of a word processor
can be used to jump from the first to the second and back if desired.
*. After being tipped off by this week's Tech Tidbits from Flying Blind, I
checked out this webinar on using Window-Eyes with iTunes, I found it very
useful and informative. you can listen now and use the study guide at:
http://www.gwmicro.com/Training/Webinar_Training/
If you wish to download and listen later, below are steps to download the mp3
file.
1. Open your browser.
2. Select the link below and copy it to the clipboard by pressing control plus
c or click the right mouse button and click on copy.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Training/Webinar_Training/
3. Press alt plus tab to maximize your opened browser window or maximize with
the mouse.
4. Press control plus the letter o or click into the address bar.
5. Press control plus the letter v or click the right mouse button and click
on paste.
6. Press enter.
7. Press control plus the letter f.
8. Type in the next line exactly and hit enter.
Itunes
a.. 9. Arrow down once to "iTunes 11 and Window-Eyes Webinar Recording (MP3)
b.. 10. Press the application key or click your right mouse button.
c.. 11. Press the letter a or click on "save target as."
d.. 12. Navigate to where you wish to save this file.
e.. 13. Press alt plus the letter s and the file will start downloading.
f.. 14. Press alt plus f4 to close the current window.
g.. 15. Navigate to where you saved the ffile and hit enter on the mp3 file.
It will start via your default audio playing program.
h..
*How to Remove Google Text Ads
Updated 4. June 2012 - 20:39 by gizmo.richards
It seems that almost every web page you view these days has Google AdSense
texts ads spread across the top or down the side.
These ads have never bothered me. They are easy enough to ignore and besides,
website owners are entitled to earn a living just like the rest of us.
However, lately some sites have started embedding the Google ads in the center
of the page or worse still, right in the middle of a block of text. So I
decided enough was enough and started looking for ways to block the ads.
It turns out that it's dead easy to stop them. In fact there are many ways you
can do it. For example Firefox users can use the AdBlock or CustomizeGoogle
extensions to kill the ads while Internet Explorer users can use one of the
many ad-blocker add-ins such as AddSubtract, WebWasher or the excellent
freeware program IE7Pro.
Perhaps the simplest and most universally applicable method is to use the
Windows Hosts file to block the address of the Google ad-server.
There is another advantage in using this technique; it will help you develop an
understanding of the Hosts file and its many uses.
The Windows Hosts file
This a file on your computer that can be used to locally translate the names of
web sites into IPs. IPs are sets of four numbers separated by dots like
65.109.128.16. They are the real addresses of the internet not web site names
(URLS). Names are only a convenience and have to be translated into IPs. For
example, the name (URL) of my website is techsupportalert.com but its IP, its
"real" address on the internet, is actually 72.52.134.218.
Normally this kind of translation takes place at your ISP. They have a special
server dedicated to the task called a DNS server. Whenever you type a URL like
www.techsupportalert.com into your browser address window, the DNS server
translates the name into the corresponding IP 72.52.134.218. It's automatic and
requires no involvement from you.
However, you can also do it locally on your own PC and that's where the Windows
Hosts file comes into play.
The Hosts file is just a plain text file containing a simple list of web site
names (URLs) and their corresponding IPs. Here's an example of what a Hosts
file might look like:
216.109.118.69 www.yahoo.com
72.52.134.218 www.techsupportalert.com
216.239.115.141 www.cnet.com
You can think of this like an address book. In an address book you look up a
name and find the address. With the Hosts file you look up a web site name
(URL) and find the address (IP). In the example above, any reference to the
name www.yahoo.com will directed to the address 216.109.118.69.
Now, the Hosts file on most computers has nothing in it. That's fine because
the DNS translation is usually handled by your ISP.
If your Hosts file does have entries then these are used for the DNS
translation for those sites instead of your ISPs DNS server. This is actually
fractionally quicker as it saves a step. In fact. some web accelerators store
thousands of popular sites in your Hosts file to take advantage of this slight
increase in speed.
But there's another common usage for the Hosts file: to block addresses. This
is done by using a dummy address, typically 127.0.0.1, that goes nowhere. For
example, consider this entry:
127.0.0.1 wwww.yahoo.com
With this entry in the hosts file, any reference to www.yahoo.com will be
redirected to the address 127.0.0.1. Now that address is not a valid web
address for any real web site. In fact, by convention it refers to your own
computer.
If you have this entry in your Hosts file and you type www.yahoo.com into your
browser, you'll get an error message: "Host cannot be found."
This is the very technique that we can use to block Google text ads.
Stopping Google Ads with the Hosts File
All the Google text ads seem to come from the addresses
pagead.googlesyndication.com or pagead2.googlesyndication.com. If we place
these names in the Windows Hosts file and point them to a dummy address then
the Google ads will not appear.
First though, we need to locate the hosts file. Here is the usual location for
the major Windows versions:
Windows 9x, ME C:\WINDOWS
Windows NT (and some 2K) C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc
Windows 2K, XP, 2003, Vista C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
The Hosts file is simply called "HOSTS" and has no file extension.
It's a simple text file and must only be changed with a plain text editor like
Notepad and never a word processing program such as MS Word.
First, we need to open the Hosts file in Notepad. If you don't know how to do
that then locate the Hosts file in Windows Explorer and right-click on it.
Select "Open" and then check "Select the program from a list." You'll then be
presented with list of programs; select Notepad. You should now see a simple
text file.
Special Note from Dan:
Below are directions how to open this file in Windows-xp, Vista and Seven from
the keyboard. I believe the process for Windows Seven and Eight would be the
same. This is according to what I did using four different screenreader
software programs and without any screenreading software. In the case of no
screenreader and opeing the file from the keyboard, I had to use sighted
confirmation to make what I requested to open did in fact appear on screen. I
did the process without a screenreader in case someone wanted to carry out
this actiion from a keyboard even if they could use a mouse.
1. In this document, arrow up or move y our mouse to the line of text (file
name) that applies to your version of windows.
2. Select and copy this line of text to the clipboard.
a. Screenreader users should
1. press the home key once.
2. Press and hold the left shift key and hit the end key to select this line
of text.
3. Press control plus the letter c.
b. Mouse users sshould:
1. MOve to the line of text that applies to your version of windows.
2. Select this line by running the mouse across it with the left mouse key
down.
3. Press the right mouse button once.
4. Click on copy.
2. Now With the line of text in the clipboard, Press the start button (windows
key), along with the letter r.
3. Type in the line below and hit enter.
Notepad
4. When the program is opened, press control plus the letter o.
5. Press control plus the letter v to paste in this clipboard's contents.
6. Hit enter.
7. Tab once to "files of type" and hit the letter a for "all."
8. Shift tab twice back to the list of available files.
9. The very top one is named "host" with no file extention.
Press the spacebar to select this file.
10. Hit enter.
11. Go to the first blank line at the bottom of the file and type in ( or copy
and paste) these two lines:
127.0.0.1 pagead.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
Make sure you leave no blank lines before this entry.
12. Press control plus the letter to save this file.
13. Press alt plus f4 to close "NotePad."
14. You are finished. Saving this change may spark an alert from your
anti-spyware software but it's OK, just approve the change.
If you've followed the instructions carefully you should never see Google
AdSense text ads again. If at a future stage you want to see the ads again,
just use Notepad to delete the line you just added.
The same technique can be used to block other advertising servers, malicious
spyware or sites containing inappropriate material. In fact a number of folks
offer free downloads of Hosts files containing thousand of entries of such
unwanted sites.
I'm not a great fan of using the Hosts file for such large scale blocking. To
me it's too unselective - I prefer to know exactly what I am blocking and this
is virtually impossible with a list containing thousands of sites. However if
you want to play with this kind of application, here are some Host file
download sites:
http://www.hosts-file.net/
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Dedicated Host file enthusiasts may want to check out Hostess, a free Hosts
file editor/manager you can get from here: http://www.raymarron.com/hostess/
1 Thessalonians 2:4
but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we
speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. (ESV)
Thought: Pleasing God - The Key to Success
He may not be a Bible scholar, but Bill Cosby has spoken many words of wisdom
in his lifetime. This quote of his lines up with spiritual wisdom from
Scripture: "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying
to please everybody."
In my sixty+ years, I've learned that it's virtually impossible to please
everybody. Discovering true freedom and personal success begins with ceasing
our quest to please other people, and turning our focus to God. Pleasing him
alone is the key.
If close enough, You are invited to a time of praise and prayer from 5:00 to
6:00 every Tuesday held in the lounge at First Presbyterian Church 870 W.
College Jacksonville, Il. Come in the double glass doors by day care off of
West Minster. Turn right at the first set of double doors across from the coat
closets. Go up these stairs and turn left at the top.
The lounge door will be opened and welcoming you in to God's open house of
praise and prayer!
To receive emails regarding Dan's daily Tips or the Daily HotSpot Devotional,
send an email to dthompson5@xxxxxxxxx with "subscribe Dan's Tips" or "subscribe
Hotspot Devotional" in the subjectline.
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