Why? It works (well, has worked) quite well.
Then WHAT was it designed for? Sure seems URL blocking is what it does.
Quite true. I did have to do a reinstall of Avast (after PC Tools’ Threatfire managed to quarantine the ashserv.exe file as a false positive and disposed of the file when I tried to restore if from quarantine). I have the list and was able to manually re-enter it.
Have you ever looked at a pre-compiled hosts file? There are over 50 entries alone just for the .com and .net TLDs for Doubleclick’s hosts, and that doesn’t cover all TLDs nor do they have all the hostnames listed. The management – assuming you actually do manage that hosts file per YOUR choices – is a far worse nightmare than a few dozen entries in Avast’s URL blocking list (unless, of course, you decide to delegate complete authority to someone else as to which hosts get blocked). With Avast’s URL blocking, I can include a hostname but I can also block on domains which covers a LOT of duplications in the hosts file (because URLs there must be fully qualified to the hostname, not just the domain).
Yep, except the add-ons that I was using in IE7 are not compatible with IE8. Plus I’ve had problems with some sites (where I do want full functionality), like my bank site and my ISP’s webmail login, because of substrings on which the ad-blocker was matching. It became too difficult to drill into all the ad-blocker’s rules trying to figure out which rule was causing the problem, so eventually I simply added the entire domain to the ad-blocker’s exception list. That took me 4 days to figure out and I got clued in only after disabling the add-on and noticing the sites then worked okay. I’m not really interested in eradicating every possible advertisement in the web pages that I visit but just the major proliferating marketing resources.
I’ve used 3rd party firewalls before, including TallEmu’s OnlineArmor (where I really like its RunSafer mode) and Comodo; however, both got in the way of several programs that I use which, for example, will dynamically load drivers and set global hooks. Even when I train the HIPS function (app rules) in these 3rd party firewalls+HIPS products, or go into their app rules and give them full privileges, the problematic programs remain problematic. I can’t just disable their HIPS functionality or reboot into Windows’ safe mode because something remaining of these programs still interferes. I have to configure them to not load on next reboot, reboot, use the programs, reconfigure to load on next reboot, reboot, and then I’m protected again. I’ve reported several problems or deficiencies with both these products. So I simplified my setup and went back to the Windows Firewall. Rather than use HIPS (app rules) in these 3rd party firewalls to regulate what program can load, I use SRPs (software restriction policies). If I find a program making unwanted or covert connections for which there is no explanation or a means to configure it network accesses, I get rid of that program.
I’m not really looking to further complicate my security setup. I’m the type where security is okay as long as it doesn’t get in my way or overly consumes my time putzing around with the security product rather than just use it.
Avast is blocking the content and inserting its placeholder text (announces Avast blocked the content and gives the URL of what it blocked). This is its static placeholder text that it replaces in the region within the page where the blocked content would have appeared. This isn’t an error message. This is the expected placeholder that Avast inserts into a web page to alert the user that it blocked that content.