AdEmbargo is a script that modifies the system hosts file so that address that serve advertisements are blocked. Since this change happens at the system level, ad traffic to any application is blocked.
Simply start the run.bat file. It will ask for administrative rights before proceeding. This script makes a backup of the existing hosts file whenever it is run. If you have run the script previously, you'll be prompted:
> Backup file found. Do you want to restore backup? [Y/N]
Entering Y will restore the backup file and terminate script. Entering N (or first-time run) will prompt:
> Proceed with modifying hosts file? [Y/N]
Entering N will terminate script. Entering Y will:
- Create backup of current
hostsfile, - Download new
hostsfile, - Merge current and new files,
- Copy merged file into
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.
The hosts downloaded are taken from an actively curated repository. They contain addresses of known adware and malware providers.
Bear in mind that a large hosts file may incur additional processing cost. I personally did not see a noticeable difference.
Tested on Windows 10. Should run on Win 7, 8, 8.1 as well.