Not a day goes by without somebody complaining that they’ve been shutdown by Adsense because of “click fraud”. Scary isn’t it?

Your kids or family members accidentally “stumble” on your website as they’re browsing the net (using the home computer)… and proceed to click on YOUR ads. You accidentally click on your ads yourself while you’re “checking” your site in your browser.

Now, I’m sure that some people have accidentally clicked on their Adsense ads once by mistake – and nothing happened (Google simply discounted the click). But… can you risk your entire Adsense income on a potential “accidental click”? You never know when an “accidental click” would occur that would mark the end of your Adsense account… and your hard-earned income stream. Can you afford to risk that? I bet not ;-)

I used to worry a lot about accidentally clicking on my ads as well. I used to make sure I never put my cursor anywhere near my ads when I’m checking my websites on my browser. I used to instruct my employees and workers (again and again… until they got bored) to NEVER, under any circumstance, click on my ads while working on my sites. I was so paranoid about the safety of my Adsense account that it felt like standing on the edge of a cliff that could crumble down anytime… and I’m sure you’ve felt this at one point too. Then one day, I discovered a simple “trick” (2 actually) that instantly – overnight – removed all my doubts and fears about my ads being “accidentally” clicked on. In fact, today I NEVER worry about my Adsense ads being clicked on by accident anymore… because I know…

Why My Employees, Workers, Friends And Family Can NEVER “Accidentally” Click On My Adsense Ads… Even If They Wanted To!

OK, I’ll cut straight to the chase. I’ve discovered 2 simple but VERY effective techniques you can implement – within minutes – that ensures that your Adsense ads will NEVER be “accidentally” clicked on again… by you or people in your vicinity. I’ve separated them by “Protection Levels” – and depending on how much “protection” you want, you’d want to use the appropriate technique below.

Protection Level 1: Disable That Javascript!

Adsense and contextual advertisements are driven primarily by Javascript. Basically, in order for Adsense or contextual ads to load, your browser needs Javacript enabled! Solution: Disable Javacript on your browser!

Here’s how to do it:

1). If you’re using Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level. Then scroll down the “Security Settings” list that pops up after you click on the “Custom Level” button, and find the heading “Scripting”. Then, look for the Active scripting option and select “Disable”. Click on “OK” and you’re all set!

If you’re using Firefox, go to Tools > Options > Web Features. Then in the “Web Features” window, find the Enable JavaScript option and uncheck it. Then click on “OK”.

After you disable Javascript on your browser, Adsense (and other contextual ads that uses Javacript) will NEVER load again! And if your ads never load, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to click on them ☺ You can disable Javascript on your home computer, as well as on your employees’ or workers’ computers. This way, you can rest assured that nobody will be able to see your Adsense ads and click on them.

However, there is a major disadvantage to this method: Any website or web application that requires Javascript to run won’t work properly anymore.  In the past, I used frequently “enable” and “disable” Javascript on my browser whenever I needed (or didn’t need) it. I would also instruct my employees, outsourced workers, and family members to do the same thing.

However, I recently discovered an even more powerful method to “block” Adsense ads… and you don’t even have to mess with your browser settings! I call it…

Protection Level 2: “Hosts” File Blocking

Using this method, you can permanently block Adsense ads (or any other contextual ad you choose) from ever loading on your computer… no matter which browser, software program, or anything you use!

Here’s how it works: Windows uses what’s known as a “hosts” file to determine the relationship between IP addresses and hostnames. In layman terms, it simply means that your computer will associate an “IP address” to a particular “hostname” (like pagead.googlesyndication.com) within the “hosts” file. Normally, your “hosts” file should be empty, except for the following line: 127.0.0.1 localhost Basically, the above IP address and hostname combination tells your computer that “localhost” points to 127.0.0.1 (your computer’s IP address).

Now, how can you use this to your advantage? Solution: Assign every known “hostname” that your Adsense or contextual ads are loading from to your computer’s IP address (127.0.0.1). So instead of “loading” the hostname by visiting the actual IP address, your computer will go to 127.0.0.1… and the actual ads will NEVER get retrieved from Adsense’s servers. Now, this might seem complicated, but don’t worry. In a moment I’ll tell you how you can download the same “hosts” file I’m using and edit the one on your computer to block Adsense (and even Chitika) ads. But first, let me show you where to find your “hosts” file. Here’s where you can find your “hosts” file for different operating systems:

Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Windows 2000: C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc
Windows 98 or ME: C:\WINDOWS\-

Once you locate your “hosts” file, right-click and choose “Open”, then choose “Notepad” to open the file. As you can see, there’s only 1 entry in your “hosts” file – the default “127.0.0.1 localhost” entry. Here’s what you want to do: Go to the last empty line in your “hosts” file and add a list of “IPAddress – Hostname” combinations you want, like you see below. It’s as simple as typing in “127.0.0.1” and then following it with 2 spaces and the “hostname” of the contextual advertising service you want to block. Put one IP Address – Hostname combination per line. Here’s my entire list of IP Address – Hostname listings in my “hosts” file that you can use (currently blocks Google Adsense, Google Analytics, Urchin and Chitika):

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 adwords.google.com #[Gmail ads]
127.0.0.1 pagead.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com #[Google AdWords]
127.0.0.1 syndicate.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 syndicate2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 adservices.google.com
127.0.0.1 syndicate.google.com
127.0.0.1 syndicate2.google.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com #[Google Analytics]
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 imageads.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads1.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads2.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads3.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads4.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads5.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads6.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads7.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads8.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 imageads9.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 www.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 apps5.oingo.com
127.0.0.1 oingo.com
127.0.0.1 www.oingo.com
127.0.0.1 service.urchin.com #[Urchin Tracking Module]
127.0.0.1 ads.chitika.net #[IE-SpyAd]
127.0.0.1 ads1.chitika.net
127.0.0.1 blogads.chitika.net
127.0.0.1 ca.chitika.net
127.0.0.1 mm.chitika.net
127.0.0.1 scripts.chitika.net

That’s it! Once you’ve edited your “hosts” file and save it, Adsense ads will NEVER load again on your computer. You can try visiting any website you want, and you’ll never see an Adsense ad block ☺ Now, you can confidently edit, modify and “preview” your websites as much as you want without worrying about “accidentally” clicking on your ads again!

Hint: This powerful technique is indispensable if you have any employees or outsourced workers working on your websites. Simply edit the “hosts” file on their computer (or show them how to) and you will never have to worry about them accidentally clicking on your ads again. Now you can sleep well at night ;-)