How to Disable or Remove Annoying Ads from Yahoo! Messenger?

DISCLAIMER: We do not suggest disabling advertisements from 3rd party software. This tutorial was created as per readers requests.

If you are visiting this place that means you are one of those people who are tired of annoying Yahoo! Messenger ads and want to get rid of them. Congratulations, you have come to the right place.

Yahoo! Messenger displays ads in its main window as well as in chat window and webcam window. There are many 3rd party patchers available which claim to remove ads from Yahoo! Messenger but the problem with those patchers is that they don’t work with new messenger versions and you need to wait for an updated version of the patcher if you install a new version of Yahoo! Messenger.

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Don’t worry! If you don’t want to use 3rd party patchers but want to remove the ads from Yahoo! Messenger window, here are 2 easy manual methods for you:

  • Using Registry Editor
  • Using Hosts File

After following any of the 2 methods given in this tutorial, you’ll get a similar result as shown in following image:

Disable_Yahoo_Messenger_Ads.png

So without wasting time, lets start the tutorial to disable or remove ads from Yahoo! Messenger window:

Method 1: Using Registry Editor

This method requires editing Windows Registry. It works for almost all Yahoo! Messenger versions. If it doesn’t work for you, try the 2nd method given next.

1. Type regedit in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\pager\Locale

3. In right-side pane, you’ll see a DWORD Enable Messenger Ad which would be set to 1.

4. Double-click on it and change its value to 0 as shown in following screenshot:

Disable_Ads_Yahoo_Messenger.png

5. That’s it. Start Yahoo! Messenger and you should not see any annoying ad.

PS: If you don’t want to edit registry manually and want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, download following ZIP file, extract it and run extracted REG file. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it:

Download Registry Script

Method 2: Using Hosts File

If the above method doesn’t work for you or you don’t want to play with Windows Registry, this 2nd method will definitely work for you. Its very easy to use and works like a charm for all Yahoo! Messenger versions:

1. In this method, you’ll need to edit a system file “Hosts“. We’ll use our exclusive freeware “Host Mechanic” to edit Hosts file.

First download Host Mechanic using following page:

Download Host Mechanic

2. Once you download the above mentioned tool, run it. Now enable “127.0.0.1” checkbox and type insider.msg.yahoo.com in Site: text box as shown in following screenshot:

Host_Mechanic.png

3. Click on “Add to Host” button and close the program.

4. That’s it. Start Yahoo! Messenger and you’ll not see any annoying ad.

Published in: Mobiles and Internet

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. Registry Method worked perfectly for me on Yahoo! Messenger 11.5.0.192-us

    Thank you so much

  2. Registry hack had no effect for me on Yahoo IM 11.5, seems like it simply ignores that. However, the host hack worked fine and it was more satisfying. 🙂 Thanks VG!

  3. The host method still works for me as of today (Sun 11th May 2014). It is also worth noting that if the hosts file is edited while Y!M is running, you must exit the messenger completely (right click the taskbar icon then select Exit) for the change to take effect. Signing out alone is not enough.
    P/S: it should be more useful if the comments are shown with date 🙂

  4. How do i keep adds from coming up on my email account when i am trying too print something off

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