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How do I disable ads in Viber for PC - version 11.4 (2019). The hosts file trick no longer works (the following one):

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com

Viber offers no option to disable (paid) ads and their ads are too large and too disruptive (covering half of the contact list).

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  • OP notes previous solutions no longer work. Unless someone can verify that they do, this is NOT a duplicate of superuser.com/questions/1230742/disable-ads-in-viber – music2myear Sep 2 '19 at 0:49
  • Are you certain that those addresses are the only ones being used? – ajgringo619 Sep 2 '19 at 0:50
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    You are aware that this is probably a violation of their terms of conditions of use, and that you are actually stealing a service from them by doing so? If you don't want the ads, find an alternative. – jcaron Sep 2 '19 at 17:18
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    @jcaron Apparently, I have determined that there is a suspicious traffic coming from those URLs and I am blocking them to safeguard my own system, and saving bandwidth. So not violating SE own TOS. I wouldn't know if I am violating Viber's TOS. I pay random people on the street to click "I Agree" buttons for me. – Coder12345 Sep 3 '19 at 10:03
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    I am closing this as it is against the (spirit of) the terms of service in that you shouldn't be trying to circumvent or otherwise abuse specific programs or copyright holders. A slightly more generic question of "Given a nonspecific program, how do I determine what sites it connects to?" Might well be on topic as it can be viewed as a general system protection question. We all hate adverts, but sometimes developers go for a small evil for the greater good (free). Adverts are near the point where they are considered harmful, but I don't think we should single out sites or programs. – Mokubai♦ Sep 3 '19 at 10:30
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I put also these two into my "c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts" file: (for mac the file location is: "/private/etc/hosts"), however, as others may suggest, later on new ad sites filtering might need.

127.0.0.1 rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
...

so I have these now: (Viber related)

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com
127.0.0.1 rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 ams1-mobile.adnxs.com
127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com
127.0.0.1 fra1-ib.adnxs.com
127.0.0.1 mediation.adnxs.com
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    After some time this was not enough as new domains are added. Here is my list i managed to collect so far: 127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com 127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com 127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com 127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com 127.0.0.1 ams1-mobile.adnxs.com 127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com 127.0.0.1 fra1-ib.adnxs.com 127.0.0.1 mediation.adnxs.com – Ognjen Babic Nov 20 '19 at 9:30
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    @OgnjenBabic - Thanks Mate, added your suggestion to the list. – Zoltán Kurgya Dec 8 '19 at 14:45
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127.0.0.1 images.taboola.com
127.0.0.1 api.taboola.com

Do the job.
First for kill image.
Second for kill load ads data from this ads network.
But if viber switch to other ads network, this solution stop work.
Or if it use another network for you.

I suggest install DNSQuerySniffer unload viber, run tool, run viber, and monitor your DNS queries.
If you see some suspicious DNS query - block it in hosts.

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    Thank you for the added URLs, but you should also clarify this makes the images white as well in the answer (which might prove useful as a backup solution if the above ones stop working in some later version). – Coder12345 Sep 2 '19 at 10:15
  • @Coder12345 api.taboola.com block ads completely. – Enyby Sep 2 '19 at 14:13
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After my investigation, here are my hosts items:

127.0.0.1 ads.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aws.viber.com
127.0.0.1 ads-d.viber.com
127.0.0.1 s-bid.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 s-imp.rmp.rakuten.com
127.0.0.1 api.mixpanel.com
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