PAC file info update?

I'm using W2k.
I've been using pac files successfully for the last few years, but as in everything else in computing, someone found a way to disrupt all this no-ad blissfullness. Now my favorite news site says "If you don't see my ads, then you also don't see my site!"
Wouldn't you know it all came to a slow fizzling halt just like turning off a turn-table playing an old sweet song, and resulting in the familiar DNS error.
Checking around, the site wasn't down, and traced the problem to my pac provisions.
Reverting to the Hosts, everything is now back to normal, but I really do prefer pac because I didn't get the blank popups that now appear.
Is there a workaround for this latest in intrusion tactics still using pac files?
If so can you lead me to the documentation, or at least to a better understanding of this new condition, which will probably escalate? (Or it is now just catching up with me)
Apparently it has to do with cookie placement, necessary for browsing the site, but I haven't got it sorted yet.
I prefer to stay away from 3rd party software.

Hi Oldhermit
Can you give an example of the websites your having issues with?
Have you tried Proxomitron there are plenty of filters available for it if you look round?

Hi 104456
Check out the Washington Times site.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Up until they rebuilt the site everything worked like clockwork.
Either they lost their webmaster a couple of weeks ago, or he has become buried in complications, because everything has slowed down and little things like the dropdowns won't release. Enough to drive people on a tight schedule elsewhere.
I'll check out PROXOMITRON.
It might be time for something new, but would rather just update the old provision, if still possible.

Using a default filter in Proxo it looks like this:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...4/f26a6b73.jpg

instead of this:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...6/f26a63ab.jpg

oldhermit: I have ever so slightly dabbled with a .pac filter. My main purpose was to try to filter ads out of the Opera browser. Let's just say that when I started getting a bunch of illegal address warnings from Opera, I knew I needed something else. (The OperaAdFilter, an Opera add-on, didn't work well at all for me either.)

I have tried the Proxomitron before and liked it. But, modifying it's filter is way way way beyond my meager abilities. If I couldn't run someone else's filter set, I was cooked!

I have ran (quite happily too!) Firefox's Adblock extension. It has worked pretty well and is simple to work with. But it did nothing for Opera.

So this finally brings me to Ad Muncher http://www.admuncher.com/ I started testing it a couple of days ago and so far, it rocks! I have never had pages so clean. On dialup, this is like heaven! Granted, it's not free but IMO, it's the best I've yet used/seen. If I don't run into any serious issues in the next few days, I'm buying it.

FWIW, I surfed over to the Washington Times site running Ad Muncher and have attached my screen grab from the weather page. Ad Muncher did not seem to block anything critical (but I have never been to this site before.) The drop down boxes worked fine for me. I did have to allow cookies from washingtimes.com and washingtontimes.stockgroup.com through for things to work ok.

That all said (you noted you didn't want a 3rd party solution), have you checked out this site for .pac file ideas? http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/ They list "on" and "off" links that are supposed to help control browsing with a .pac file. Also, have you considered editing your .pac file to delete the info that's causing your issues?

Did you check the speed of transitioning from one article to the next?
It should be quick with wait-times under 5 seconds.
Currently it wants to download all the menu items a second time, and then places all the ads and extra menus, which seems to take forever.
Stopping this second attempt manually also stops most of the ads, similar to what is shown by the second view, and makes transitioning this site at least, bearable.

Thanks HAN,
Basically what is happening is that PAC is not allowing the javascript to load the popup ad, and this keeps the cookies from being installed, which the site uses to transition its pages.
Until the cookies are allowed, I can't connect to the site.
Apparently hosts is also blocking a certain amount of those provisions since your drop-downs work and mine won't.
But, at least the site is usable this way.
I've never seen that article on PAC files you linked to before so I'll take a look to see if it covers the problem I'm having.
If the problem is not fixed in PAC, then I'll give Proxomitron a try, and if the results are still not suitable, then will try the free trial you posted for admuncher.

Must be an old page on PAC.
The links I wanted for "How Do I Deactive no-ads For Just One Site?" don't work.
Sheesh! I'll figure it out.
Thanks guys...

What hosts file are you running? Your own or one of the ones from hpguru or mvps.org? Somewhere else?

I downloaded the latest from MVPS.
Then added the url for the popup to it.
But I can also revert back to PAC and disable it whenever I go to that site.
Or even use a different computer, for that matter
It's just one more little inconvenience until I get it all sorted.
Once reaching a level of security, I just don't like to back-off to a lower level.
I have yet to catch any virus or be crippled by any spyware (knock, knock on wood)!
To me it's worth every effort to never leave myself vulnerable.
Know what I mean???

I agree!!! I too have been fortunate.

I admit that until I began learning about this stuff, it was all blind luck!!! ;)