Networking-savvy gamers have figured out a way to disable the adverts in the latest Xbox 360 Dashboard overhaul.
360 users seem quite fond of the new-look Dashboard, but one major gripe on the forums points to the prominence given to adverts, and in particular how they take priority over the games and content.
Searching for a solution, the proactive users on Reddit have taken matters into their own hands and blocked 'rad.msn.com', the server Microsoft uses to beam ads to the 360.
Here's how to do it (using this method will require you to re-download title updates):
- Sign up for a free OpenDNS account.
- Add a network for your current IP address.
- Go to Advanced Settings and next to 'Domain Typos', check the box 'Enable typo correction' if it's not already checked and apply.
- Go to Web Content Filtering settings and set the filtering level to 'None', and under 'Manage individual domains', put rad.msn.com and select 'Always block' and then click 'Add domain'. Screenshot.
- On your Xbox, go to System Settings -> Network Settings -> (your connection) -> Configure Network -> DNS settings -> Manual, and enter the OpenDNS IP addresses for the primary and secondary DNS servers: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
- You may need to clear your hard drive cache before ads disappear entirely: System Settings -> Storage -> Hard Drive -> press Y -> Clear System Cache (note that you'll have to re-download any title updates for any games you play after doing this).
We haven't tried any of this, so we can't guarantee that it works or that it doesn't mess with your online gaming/other network services. Use at your own risk folks.
Have a read of our new Xbox 360 dashboard review for our impressions.
Comments
42 comments so far...
only_777 on 9 Dec '11 said:
The fact the adverts appear at all on Live is disgusting. You pay for the service, you should not have to tolerate adverts.
ste hicky on 9 Dec '11 said:
'777 it's quite intrusive man.
you will see all kinds before you get to your games and it's a tad annoying.
i just want to play games not sift through lynx ads and pics of jessie chobot from ign (though of course i would, natch
)
i'll sit tight on this until it's confirmed to be safe (and see whether ms ban everyone for daring to take control of their own experience)
fat_tony2001 on 9 Dec '11 said:
I haven't even noticed ads at all to be honest. If they start becoming intrusive then it might be an issue but at the moment it doesn't really bother me.
Black Mantis on 9 Dec '11 said:
Good for them, but it really doesn't bother me enough to attempt this.
ste hicky on 9 Dec '11 said:
fat tony: you haven't noticed them?
really?
ricflair on 9 Dec '11 said:
I had a quick flick through and can't say the ads got in my way - I actually don't remember any of them apart from that bird from IGN, and I assumed it was those s**tty gameplay videos they do. I pay for plenty of things that still have ads, it's just the way of the world now unfortunately - at least they're not ads in front of content - i.e watch a 30 second ad in order to watch a 30 second trailer, á la CVG.
I like the way it moves, but the arrangement is a bit all over the place. But I spend such a small amount of time navigating the dashboard, I don't really care too much.
Having gaming about the 4th option along is a bit odd, but I guess if you play a few XBLA titles and you've got the game in your drive, you'll be able to get to it from the 'Quick Play' section, or whatever it's called.
Don't think MS can ban anyone for settings on their router, but you never know with these companies!
bendz on 9 Dec '11 said:
The ads have never really bothered me. I pay for magazines that are full of ads, so I really don'e see why people get upset by them. If you feel that strongly about it then don't pay for an XBL Gold account.
zombiesinmyhead on 9 Dec '11 said:
This really needs doing, the new dash is a f**king travesty. I thought I've give it a few days of trying to use it before I hated it, and now I really do hate it.
I don't have kinect, that doesn't really bother me, but its just a big scrolling advert for things that I will never want. I tried looking for the IGN strategise about Skyrim last night (now that I've got Skyrim cheap) but the video archive has just vanished.
Then I wanted to change my motto to 'Dashboard=Gashboard', but I couldn't find how to change it.
So unless I buy kinect and spend all my time drooling thinking 'Ooo fingys moving magic ooo!' like some sort of idiotic ape, its just a massive pain in the arse.
If anyone knows where the video archive is or how I alter my profile or who I can punch in the face about this, please let me know.
corkscru74 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Yes, but you don't pay for CVG or to watch any of its movies.
Every other online service I can think of uses the mantra "If its free there'll be adverts, if you pay for the service we remove the ads" á la Spotify.
Granted, your example above is annoying, especially if the advert is for the same game as the one in the trailer - preaching to the choir so to speak.
ricflair on 9 Dec '11 said:
It was just an example of the vids really. Although I simply won't watch short vids on CVG because of it. But that's another story!
I get what you're saying, and if the above happened it would be a step too far for a subscription service. As it is I personally don't find them intrusive as they take a split second to skip past and it's not like (as far as I'm aware) they pop up at other times, or inside your game library etc.
Soviet1918 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Xbox 360 users work out how to block Dashboard ads
Naughty, naughty
Naughty, naughty bl**dy hell some of us are adults you know not 6 year olds.
Y2Ken on 9 Dec '11 said:
The ads would annoy me more if they hadn't at least sorted out that when you boot up, it finally starts you on the "start disc in tray" option so you can just press A and get going if you don't want to check the store or anything. Personally I don't mind ads that much anyway, as long as they're for game content on the 360. It's when they're unrelated I get annoyed.
Currently it's the new friends list and party menus which are more of a pain to navigate around.
shellster2 on 9 Dec '11 said:
can't say i've really taken any notice of them as i had a quick look around using kinect then jumped into my game of fifa, which frustratingly then wouldn't connect to the EA servers, so not sure if that's MS or EA's fault. c^nts anyway
i do like the new kinect integration though. you can hold a pint in one hand, fag in the other and still start your game up
only_777 on 9 Dec '11 said:
I don't pay for XBL, I sold my Xbox 360 two years ago and Stuck with Steam and PSN. It's not the only reason I sold the machine, but this is not the time or the place for the list.
I hope many people use this trick to block the adverts, many people are so apathetic this days and let big companies rip them apart.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 9 Dec '11 said:
/\/\ The biggesst thing the dash really is is an advert for Kinect. get it and the new dash becomes a hell of a lot easier to use.
Since i have kinect i'm loving it. I can get everything set up for a game of whatever while i still rummage around looking for the controler and making myself a cup of tea. Fantastic.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 9 Dec '11 said:
wait so you'll have a go at MS for selling ad space on live. But still have a PS3 a console that has had features removed for the sake of profit, Has had games with ads actually in them while it loads. and by a company that'd rather sue its own customers and attack the homebrew community rather than allow them to have any kind of control over their own hardware. and never admits to defects within its hardware and only offers a 3 month warrenty on its consoles.
As aposed to MS that has added features with each revision, Has extended its warrenty pretty much indefinately to faults with the hardware they owned up to and has given the homebrew community the tools to be able to create and sell games on the 360s marketplace.
If you're going to play the evil coroporation card it pays to think about the ones that you're currently backing.
ricflair on 9 Dec '11 said:
I just flicked through the dashboard, and there are ads for Peugeot in the bottom right corner of three of the sections. The rest are ads for content within that section, which as far as I can see is fair enough. I get the same as the latter on my PS3 in places, and I really don't care about that either.
Until it actually starts to get in the way of me finding and getting what I want, there are far bigger issues in this industry to get p**sed at - DRM, the quality of games out of the box, pricing, not enough games using dedicated servers, on disc DLC, the value of DLC and GoD, the way one time codes are used in games like Arkham or EA's annual releases likes FIFA, NFS etc.
Would I prefer no ads? Of course, but they're less intrusive than ads you see in papers, TV etc. I'm guessing doing this workaround will give you a blank tile in the bottom corner of some sections, to me that makes absolutely zero difference.
They've totally buried Indie games though - you have to go through about three button presses just to get to them. That's pretty s**tty, although I guess if you have Kinect you can 'Bing' it. Bing.... it's never going to catch on MS.
zombiesinmyhead on 9 Dec '11 said:
It wasn't exactly an uphill struggle without kinect, was it? Now finding anything that has to do with gaming is, though. I could easily ignore the ads if it wasn't for the features that seem to have vanished. Try searching for 'IGN Strategise' on bing. It just vomits up a load of random s**t. Its pathetic.
TheKraige on 9 Dec '11 said:
Really this should have been the announcement of Platinum as a £40 a year service that blocks the ads and because they're using adverts knock the rrp price of Gold down to £20-30, for that I wouldn't mind adverts. That's the one thing about the dash I don't like Microsoft will profit but the only thing gamers get is cloud saving which should be in with the subscriptions anyway not paid for by adverts.
danhalen74 on 9 Dec '11 said:
stick the disc in the tray and play the bloody game, jesus wept....
dannyhulse on 9 Dec '11 said:
Does anyone know if doing this is against their ToS?
I'll give it a read myself later, but it's seems that they wouldn't actually be able to do anything to stop me, would they, I'm not tampering, or altering the hardware or the software, I can block this site like I can block any site since I'm in control of my router (except when Sky feels like telling me I'm not, but f**k them)
dangermou5e on 9 Dec '11 said:
Imaduck on 9 Dec '11 said:
I've never seen 1
Maybe it's where I am or service provider or summit?. I getz no addz! 
I feel deprived 
MrPirtniw on 9 Dec '11 said:
All I remember seeing is an image of Kelly Brooks cleavage- that I can live with. Don't recall any intrusive adverts though... or maybe I'm not paying attention. Or maybe I was playing a game...
Mmm... feeling really thirsty now, actually. Anyone want a can of Cuke?
Imaduck on 9 Dec '11 said:
Ok where do I sign up for adds?!
lonewolf2002 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Ok if they are starting to go ad supported then the gold subscription should be scrapped and Live be free for all to play MP.
only_777 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Don't get me wrong Sony have broken more consumer rights laws than you can shake a stick at. To be honest I'm surprised that you haven't read my many rantings about my support for Anon and Geohot on this very site;
Like here:
http://forums.computerandvideogames.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=131488&hilit=+hack#p2017258
Here:
http://forums.computerandvideogames.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=126985&hilit=hack&start=15#p1942792
And here:
http://forums.computerandvideogames.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=123911&hilit=hack&start=15#p1890113
So trust me, as a PS3 Linux user and a member of the PS3 modding scene I probably know more than you on the subject.
But the difference is as simple as this: For right or for wrong Sony done these things in defence. Now I'm not saying that I agree with their methods (you probably can guess my stance from the links), but it's still defence.
MS screw their customers as default and not as the result of being attacked. What do you think they would do if they were attacked?
I'm not going to go down the road of listing all the faults of MS and their breaches of consumer rights with the Xbox platform alone (unless that's really what you want).
Most of the scene now use two PS3's. One for PSN access, and one for modding. So the whole thing is a moot point, as no one has been sued and Sony leave the scene alone now even though it's pretty lively.
illage2 on 9 Dec '11 said:
I fully agree. If there are adverts even after we have paid for it then Microsoft must be in desprate need of money.
illage2 on 9 Dec '11 said:
I don't think it is against the TOS. The TOS only covers modifications made to the console and the live service it's self. It does not cover anything about configuring your router to block adverts.
alan666 on 9 Dec '11 said:
i pay for CVG via my subscription of GamesMaster & EDGE magazines, even though 90% of their content is published here on CVG as 'news' a month later
The_KFD_Case on 9 Dec '11 said:
Which is precisely what I'm doing (i.e. not paying for a Gold account). This is yet another reason not to cave in to MS blatant extortion scheme, and since online gaming on my Xbox 360 means nothing to me, I really don't perceive myself to be at a loss.
gmcb007 on 9 Dec '11 said:
I hate the dashboard in general. Why can't they just have all the marketplace items in one place and use a simple menu system like the second dashboard update ( the nice blue one) The new one is like a god dam cheap porn site spammed with unappealing BUY NOW!!! tacky video adverts everywhere.
Barca Azul on 9 Dec '11 said:
Its a bit rich if they are charging for the service too.
If it was free then its understandable.
STE MO on 9 Dec '11 said:
Wow adverts on my 360, s**t I thought it was made for playing Skyrim and only Skyrim, who knew there was adverts
Noobsaibot on 10 Dec '11 said:
Do you mean the same Microsoft that only acknowledged the "three red lights error" (or RROD as MS hate it to be commonly known as) after essentially being forced into it by various governments, courts, and consumer watchdogs EIGHTEEN MONTHS after reports of it first emerged? The same Microsoft that will accuse you of moving the 360 or placing it in a location with "microscopic vibrations" and will simply refuse to believe you if your 360 is abnormally loud or scratching your discs (with no possibility of repair or disc replacement)? The same Microsoft that have, in the majority of cases, renamed the E74 error to E82 on the slim and provide only the standard warranty nowadays?
If so, you need to be educated. Yes... I'm whoring this out again.
http://www.thirdschism.com/articles/noo ... thday-xbox
Buddha on 10 Dec '11 said:
This may be part of the reason why people are viewing the ps3 as an “upgrade“.
Tbh, the only time I‘ll tolerate ads is on a free android game I‘ve downloaded. However, if I like the game I‘ll normally upgrade to the paid ad-free version.
FixBeatGames on 10 Dec '11 said:
lol wow! so microsoft are already the only ones in the industry charging for services everybody else provides for free, but now they're putting adverts on said service? no wonder microsoft are losing footing with all their online services to the likes of google and facebook when their thinking is so backwards.
so we got a choice, a paid for service with ads. or a free service with no ads. anybody else see how backwards this is?
sonic_uk on 10 Dec '11 said:
I absolutely despise the new dashboard. Apart from the fact since they got rid of the blades everything has become ridiculously brighter than white with each subsequent Xmb update (which as a daily migraine sufferer this is not good), the very first thing you see upon booting up is an advert for possibly the worst game of all time...f***ing Fifa. Every single tab is plastered with adverts (most of which have nothing to do with gaming), and yet the essential things the console uses (like er, I don't know, GAMES tabs) are buried and very difficult to see, and are also a quarter of the size of the adverts. The "Games" section on the Ui is now in the middle of the scroll bar at the top - says it all really. Considering the 360 is a GAMES console I would have thought that should be the very first thing you would see and take priority over everything else no? As a PAYING GOLD ACCOUNT USER I shouldn't have to see any adverts whatsoever, let alone ones that are completely irrelevant like deodorant, car ads, etc. This really annoyed me in the last couple of xmb's and has been getting steadily worse and is a major reason why I took the decision not to renew my gold account when it runs out very soon. As a free Silver account user I would expect to see some advertising, but as a Gold member (for now) this is absolutely ridiculous.
At least with the Ps3 when you first boot the machine up it starts on the "games" tab and the other tabs are all relevant and have no advertising, which is the way it should be. Funnily enough, I never thought I'd say it but out of all the current consoles I think the Wii has the best Ui currently. The very first tile you see is the games tile, which as a games console first and foremost I would expect to see. The rest of the tiles are useful, such as the BBC I-Player, Web Browser and Online Store and there is no advertising whatsoever. Ninty may not have the most powerful console, and true there is a rubbish skip load of shovelware for their machine, but they sure know how to design a menu system and not p*** off their customers. Its funny how both the Wii and Ps3 are free to use online too, yet the only system (360) people actually pay a subscription to play online and use some other features (like the Sky player) is rammed to the s***load with non related adverts. When this generation of consoles started I was all for Ms new console, having owned an original Xbox beforehand and loved every minute of it, but its clear their priority's have changed, shoving s*** Kinnect down your throat and a million, streaming, bandwidth sucking adverts in your face. If this keeps up next gen I don't think I'll bother getting the next Ms console unless something rapidly changes between now and then.
/rant.
ricflair on 10 Dec '11 said:
I must say I'm very surprised at the reaction here, but fair play to those who feel taken advantage of. This isn't me 'bending over for the man' or anything like that, just a difference in priorities I suppose.
I agree the Wii does have the best interface (I actually can't stand the flow of the xmb, and not having a proper 'mini XMB' in game, plus it's not viewable against certain themes, and MS are putting more and more focus on non gaming content) because, no matter what people think of it, it's the only pure games console out there. I'd rather not have any of the other s**t on consoles. I do like Lovefilm and iplayer, but I don't actually want to be 'sold' anything that's not game related.
If the Wii U doesn't play films etc, I'll be more than happy. I have a PC to do multiple things - emulators, play music/video files, operating systems, my consoles are ultimately for playing my games on.
sam2 on 10 Dec '11 said:
Google puts several ads in Gmail, Youtube and no one complains. Hypocrites.
ricflair on 10 Dec '11 said:
The issue is charging a sub and still having ads. It's not a problem for me in it's current state, but I can see why people find it annoying to some degree.
liquidphantom on 10 Dec '11 said:
Easier just to block the add servers from your router.