jakemullin

Q: How do I get rid of AdChoices on Safari?

I have noticed that a program called "AdChoices" has been collecting my personal browsing data and displaying a huge amount of ads that are 'relevant' to me. I never installed this program; I do not trust it, and I do not want it on my computer. Does anyone know how to remove it?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Aug 9, 2013 3:32 PM

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Q: How do I get rid of AdChoices on Safari?

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  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Aug 9, 2013 3:56 PM in response to jakemullin
    Level 10 (122,477 points)
    Apple Music
    Aug 9, 2013 3:56 PM in response to jakemullin

    CAN I OPT OUT OF INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISING?


    Yes. The AdChoices program is all about giving you information and control so that you can make informed choices about the interest-based advertising you receive online. The AdChoices Icon—whether in an advertisement or on Web pages—gives you access to consumer choice mechanisms where you may, at any time, opt out of the interest-based advertising that you receive from participating companies.

     

    From here >   Your AdChoices - How interest based advertising finds you

     

     

    message edited by:  cs

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 9, 2013 5:54 PM in response to jakemullin
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Aug 9, 2013 5:54 PM in response to jakemullin

    Please post a screenshot that shows what you mean. Be careful not to include any private information.

    Start a reply to this message. Click the camera icon in the toolbar of the editing window and select the image file to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

  • by John.A,

    John.A John.A Aug 9, 2013 9:23 PM in response to jakemullin
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 9, 2013 9:23 PM in response to jakemullin

    I have this problem too on my MacBook. I have FF23, Flash Player 11.8, Safari 6.0.5. The problem occurs BOTH in Firefox AND Safari. These appear as double-underlined green text. Putting the cursor over the text sometimes produces a pop-up for NAV-LINKS (the link for endlessmatches.com goes to NAV-LINKS). Other times it produces a pop-up for ADCHOICES (see gray text in upper left corner of screen shot). Clicking on the opt-out button at NAV-LINKS is useless. The hassle of opting out at ADCHOICES is mind-boggling.

    In Firefox I have tried setting AdBlockPlus to reject all ads, even non-intrusive ones. This has had no effect. In Firefox I have also disabled all extensions. This has had no effect either.

    I have tried all the advice I can find online so far (use AdBlockPlus, disable extensions, etc.). Nothing's working. AND this exists cross-browser, in FF and Safari. So it must exist somewhere else. Any ideas or information appreciated.

     

     

    Screen Shot 2013-08-09 at 10.46.29 PM.png

     

     

    Screen Shot 2013-08-09 at 11.10.33 PM.png

  • by dallegri,Helpful

    dallegri dallegri Nov 9, 2013 1:20 PM in response to John.A
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 9, 2013 1:20 PM in response to John.A

    In Safari:

    1. I first selected with the mouse the double-underlined green text.
    2. Right-click of the mouse and selected Inspect Element. This gave me a clue of what is the address I want to get rid of. For instance for AdChoices link I found a reference to http://images.intellitxt.com/...
    3. On a Terminal I ran

     

    sudo vi /etc/hosts

     

    to edit the file hosts as root user.

     

    At the end of the file I added

     

    0.0.0.0 images.intellitxt.com

     

    Saved the file and quit. That's it. Just refresh your web page and the links should be gone.

  • by 1992Comm,

    1992Comm 1992Comm Dec 22, 2013 11:27 AM in response to dallegri
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 11:27 AM in response to dallegri

    This worked like a charm!  Thanks!

  • by mcpeck,

    mcpeck mcpeck Feb 17, 2014 1:22 PM in response to dallegri
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2014 1:22 PM in response to dallegri

    Thanks, worked great!  Cleaned up Safari and Firefox.

  • by mjdoran10,

    mjdoran10 mjdoran10 Mar 3, 2014 12:39 PM in response to dallegri
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2014 12:39 PM in response to dallegri

    Can you explain how you found the adchoice link

  • by bhrangerfan0809,

    bhrangerfan0809 bhrangerfan0809 Mar 9, 2014 8:55 AM in response to jakemullin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2014 8:55 AM in response to jakemullin

    I'm having the same problem and I don't know how to fix it. I've seen practically all of the responses that have worked for other people, but they don't seem to work for me. I tried looking at the extensions tab (where some people said intext-nav or some other extension was that shouldn't be there) but I have nothing in my extensions tab. Can somebody please help me?

  • by mjdoran10,

    mjdoran10 mjdoran10 Mar 9, 2014 11:35 AM in response to bhrangerfan0809
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2014 11:35 AM in response to bhrangerfan0809

    I called Apple support and they told me it was a virus and I had to wipe my whole computer and reinstall the operating system.  It fixed the problem for me

  • by bhrangerfan0809,

    bhrangerfan0809 bhrangerfan0809 Mar 9, 2014 12:04 PM in response to mjdoran10
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2014 12:04 PM in response to mjdoran10

    I clicked on the "opt out" option and immediately quit Safari and reopened it and no longer see any green text. I think this may have fixed it.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Mar 9, 2014 12:52 PM in response to bhrangerfan0809
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 9, 2014 12:52 PM in response to bhrangerfan0809

    What "opt out" option did you click on?

     

    Note that you may have adware or some other problem, and that this may not have done anything to fix that. See my Adware Removal Guide.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Mar 9, 2014 12:52 PM in response to mjdoran10
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 9, 2014 12:52 PM in response to mjdoran10

    mjdoran10 wrote:

     

    I called Apple support and they told me it was a virus and I had to wipe my whole computer and reinstall the operating system.  It fixed the problem for me

     

    That would fix the problem, but this isn't actually a virus, and that solution would have been overkill.

  • by willp0wer,

    willp0wer willp0wer Apr 3, 2014 11:38 AM in response to jakemullin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2014 11:38 AM in response to jakemullin

    I was able to get rid of this pesky thing by trashing the following folder:

     

    /Library/Application Support/VSearch

     

    Just use Finder to go here & drag the entire folder to the trash. Then restart your computer to complete the process. Hope this works for everyone else.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 3, 2014 1:58 PM in response to willp0wer
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 3, 2014 1:58 PM in response to willp0wer

    willp0wer wrote:

     

    I was able to get rid of this pesky thing by trashing the following folder:

     

    If you had that folder, deleting it by itself isn't enough. You need to follow the instructions here:

     

    http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-downlite/

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