New version cleanses websites of big bad ads.

If you use the Web as much as we do, you see your fair share of advertising. In the past, Web ads consisted of tiny banner ads flickering in corners, but ads are bigger these days. A webpage larded with ads can take a while to download, especially if you're connecting via a 56k or slower modem. While the merits of advertising can be debated, there are ways to zap ads if you don't like looking at them.

One way is WebWasher 3.0, a free browser add-on that filters most (but not all) webpage advertising. While WebWasher has been around for a few years, the latest version includes new filters and privacy enhancements that make it a worthwhile download. WebWasher 3.0 works with Netscape 6.0, IE 5.5, and Opera 5.0.

Aside from being free, the economical 3MB application can filter out the newest types of ads -- those glizty Flash-enabled ones, or those that span the length of a webpage, often called skyscrapers. You can also filter out images, applets, and plug-ins. There are 60 ad sizes you can choose to filter, which are listed by an ad's pixel count. Once you configure the software, it can be password protected and set to launch when you switch on your computer.

In TechTV tests, WebWasher 3.0 worked quite well. After a quick installation, we elected to filter most ads. We visited a variety of sites, and with a few exceptions the software cleansed webpages of ads. In some tests, the space where an ad would have displayed appeared as an empty white box with only the word "advertisement" to identify it. In other tests, no ads or white space were displayed -- including the new skyscrapers. When we visited Yahoo!, however, we were served ads -- most likely because the pixel count of the ad did not conform to a corresponding pixel count available with WebWasher.

Other enhancements include tools that thwart analysis of website tracking. For instance, a Prefix filter chops off parts of a site's URL that you've visited, so that some Web servers won't be able to analyze where you've been. An Access Control feature allows parents to block questionable URLs, so that the young ones can't see them.

The software is free for home users and schools. Businesses pay a licensing fee, based upon the number of users.

While WebWasher 3.0 goes a long way to filter ads, we would have liked a tool that filters out unwanted email (notably spam). A company spokesperson says future upgrades will include this feature. Another downside is that WebWasher 3.0 doesn't filter out every ad -- mainly because an ad size (and its corresponding pixel count) isn't available to filter. The company says you can customize the filter to include such ads, but few people know or would spend the time calculating an ad's pixel count.

Summary: WebWasher 3.0 does a good job of filtering ads. If you don't like looking at ads while surfing, this tool can help. Besides, its free to home users and educational institutions.

Pros: Free; filters most webpage advertising.

Cons: No email filtering; customizable ad filtering isn't intuitive.

Company: WebWasher
Phone: 800.305.4986
Price: Free to home users and schools
Available: Now
Category: Browser Software
Platform: Windows: 95/98/ME or NT 4.0/2000; Macintosh; Linux (all versions).
Requirements: Intel Pentium 90 MHZ processor, 32 MB RAM, 2 MB free disk space; Macintosh: PowerMac, 2 MB free disk space, or above; Linux: Intel Pentium processor or better, 5MB of main memory, 3 MB free disk space.