Quantserve Removal Tutorial v.1

[Torowaa]

QUANTSERVE REMOVAL TUTORIAL v.1

This thread is being made for user concern over the Quantserve demographic cookie tool that GaiaOnline uses to view what sites and interests it's userbase has individually. I have taken it upon myself to get the lag fixed by making an active thread in the SF and now people have asked me to make a tutorial for wallbashing it entirely from their systems. So, below you will find a precise tutorial on how to remove the Quantserve cookies from your machine and how to keep them from coming back period. Any questions and concerns should be directed to me in this thread.

WHAT IS QUANTSERVE?

quantcast.com

Quantcast is a team of web analytics experts building powerful statistical technology to understand internet audiences. Quantcast helps web publishers of all sizes understand the composition of their audiences and attract higher advertising rates, and helps advertisers and agencies find elusive online audiences wherever they might be. This web site allows anyone to view audience reports on hundreds of thousands of websites.

Quantserve unleashes cookies into your system to track what websites you view most and reports back to quantcast.com to let them know; they then tally the websites that are visited most by GaiaOnline's userbase and they let GaiaOnline know via their website. It's a good marketing tool but the idea of it can bother some people; thus the reason I made this thread.

REMOVAL VIA FIREFOX BROWSER

Please follow the precise steps listed below to disable the Quantserve cookies directly from your browser.

Firefox removal

Firefox: Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies and Exceptions:

quantserve.com
quantcast.com
edge.quantserve.com
pixel.quantserve.com
shout.quantserve.com

> Block

REMOVAL VIA INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER

Internet Options > Privacy > Sites.

Copy/paste these:

quantserve.com
quantcast.com
edge.quantserve.com
pixel.quantserve.com
shout.quantserve.com

Then block.

REMOVAL VIA OPERA BROWSER

Please see the post by Windpowa for detailed screenshots.

REMOVAL FROM OTHER BROWSERS

Technically, other browsers are more than likely going to have near the same setup. If you cannot find how to block these cookies in your browser or you just want to totally annihilate them please see the step below.

ULTIMATE WALLBASH METHOD

In order to ultimately shut out and disallow the cookies from happening all together you can modify your hosts file via Windows; to do so please follow the below directions very, very carefully as messing up the hosts file can lead to some messy business. Those of you who take the time to read the steps slowly and pay attention will have no problem.

WINDOWS XP USERS

FOLLOW ME SLOWLY

Open Notepad. (To do so: Start > Accessories > All programs > Notepad)

Go to: (File > Open > My computer > C: > Windows > system32 > drivers > etc > hosts)

Copy the lines of text in the below quote.

127.0.0.1 quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 edge.quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 pixel.quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 quantcast.com

Paste these lines of text AFTER all the rest of the text in the hosts file. DO NOT erase anything in the file.

Note: 127.0.0.1 localhost MUST be the first line of text! Do not paste above it!

Hit save and close your browser(s). Restart the browsers.

You're done.

WINDOWS VISTA USERS

FOLLOW ME SLOWLY

Open Notepad as "Read as administrator". (To do so: Start > Accessories > All programs > Notepad > Right click > "Read as administrator" wink

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.

Go to: (File > Open > My computer > C: > Windows > system32 > drivers > etc > hosts)

Copy the lines of text in the below quote.

127.0.0.1 quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 edge.quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 pixel.quantserve.com
127.0.0.1 quantcast.com

Paste these lines of text AFTER all the rest of the text in the hosts file. DO NOT erase anything in the file.

Note: 127.0.0.1 localhost MUST be the first line of text! Do not paste above it!

Hit save and close your browser(s). Restart the browsers.

You're done.

MAC OS X USERS

Stella Black

Changing your Hosts file on Mac OS X is easy enough if you follow some simple directions. You don't have to know exactly what's going on, as long as you follow the steps, everything should work fine. smile First thing is to make sure you're on an administrator account, or else you can't edit the Hosts file.

To block Quantserve in your OS X Hosts file:

1. Open the Terminal program. You can find it in Applications > Utilities. For those of you not familiar with Terminal, you'll get a window that looks like this: click for screenshot.
   
2. Type:
   
   
   sudo pico /etc/hosts
   
   (Make sure you type that exactly as you see it, or better yet, copy and paste. Terminal is a powerful application that can do serious damage to your computer with one typo. I take no responsibility for what happens if you're not careful.)
   
3. If you've never used Terminal before, it will output a warning like mine above, and then it will ask for your admin password. Type it in and hit enter; you won't see any characters on the screen, but it's there. Once you do that, you should have a screen that looks like this: click!
   
4. Move the cursor with the arrow keys to the end of the line that says "127.0.0.1 localhost" and hit enter to make a new line. Type these four lines:
   
   
   127.0.0.1 quantserve.com www.quantserve.com
   127.0.0.1 edge.quantserve.com
   127.0.0.1 pixel.quantserve.com
   127.0.0.1 quantcast.com www.quantcast.com
   
   Your screen should now look like this: click!
   
5. Hit control+X, it will ask you if you want to save. Hit Y, then enter. Quit Terminal and restart the computer.
   

Now Quantserve should be blocked on any browser you use. heart

ALL YOU CAN EAT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOSTS FILE

Windpowa

127.0.0.1 is the loopback address : It points to your own PC. Save the file, and from now on (you have to restart your browser though) all requests to quantserve.com or the other domains listed above will be redirected to your own computer, doing nothing unless you have a web server running on your computer. In the same fashion, you could add stuff like 127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com to block Google ads, etc... There's a pretty complete list here, it'll block most ads and known spyware sites while it's at it. It doesn't cover quantserve and stuff, so you'd have to add the lines I've put above anyways.

Endrael

There's another really good host block list here.

I hope this helped those of you who took the time to stop by here for answers. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments please by all means ask here or send me a PM. If you have any technical problems when trying to edit the host file please feel free to contact me.

Need help with other computer issues? I might know the answer to those too. Have a good day!

Credit goes to Windpowa for giving me the hosts file solution in the first place.

[Rydian Morrison]

1 - Thank you for trying to help, but read the rules, this is not the section it goes into.

2 - I have not seen a spyware removal tool yet that doesn't get rid of tracking cookies.

[Torowaa]

Rydian Morrison

1 - Thank you for trying to help, but read the rules, this is not the section it goes into.

2 - I have not seen a spyware removal tool yet that doesn't get rid of tracking cookies.

1. Where's it go then? I'm not in here that much. I'll ask to have it moved.

2. Big deal, that's not the issue. People wanted a tutorial and I gave it to them.

[Angelic_Desires]

T.r.o

Rydian Morrison

1 - Thank you for trying to help, but read the rules, this is not the section it goes into.

2 - I have not seen a spyware removal tool yet that doesn't get rid of tracking cookies.

1. Where's it go then? I'm not in here that much. I'll ask to have it moved.

2. Big deal, that's not the issue. People wanted a tutorial and I gave it to them.

It belongs here.

[Torowaa]

Angelic_Desires

T.r.o

Rydian Morrison

1 - Thank you for trying to help, but read the rules, this is not the section it goes into.

2 - I have not seen a spyware removal tool yet that doesn't get rid of tracking cookies.

1. Where's it go then? I'm not in here that much. I'll ask to have it moved.

2. Big deal, that's not the issue. People wanted a tutorial and I gave it to them.

It belongs here.

Thank you, that's much more helpful than "it doesn't belong here". I've asked a mod to have it moved.

[Rydian Morrison]

1 - If you read the rules, you'd know a thread about technology that isn't asking for help with a question, goes int othe tech-talk subforum. However, this would be better in the forum where guides go. I think it's a subforum of the Q&A. A_D just gave you the link.

EDIT: Don't blame me, you were the one that didn't read the rules.

[mercy_no_koibito_zutto1]

good thread T.r.o

saw the original question thread in SF, and looking at all the sites listed in the host file that youve posted, one of them was the one i posted about. so im glad its in there.

ive used the host file & now gaia runs smooth as anything...along with all the other websites in general.

well done & thanks for this thread

[WindPowa]

Nice thread~ ((Credit me for the hosts file solution ? x3))

It could use some additional screenshots though, and an Opera section because it's a little different.

• To refuse cookies in Opera :
  
  • (Note : Opera works on a per-site preferences basis, which is why it's a little different to configure it.)
    
  • Open the preferences :
    
    
  • Go the advanced tab, then on the "Cookies" section, click on "Manage cookies" :
    
    
  • A window named "Server manager" will appear, listing all your cookies.
    
  • Search for "quantserve" in the quick find box. If nothing is found, click on "Add..." to add a new preferences set for Quantserve :
    
    
  • Type "quantserve.com" as "Site" :
    
    
  • On the "Cookies" tab, select "Never accept cookies" :
    
    
  • Repeat to block the other domains (edge.quantserve.com, pixel.quantserve.com, etc.)
    
  • Done ! Phew~
  
  
  
  
• To block quantserve from Opera :
  
  • (Note : The hosts file method works in Opera as well, there's no need to do both methods.)
    
  • Open the preferences :
    
    
  • Go on the advanced tab, then on the "Content" section, and click "Blocked content..." :
    
    
  • Use the "Add..." button to add as many websites as you want to block :
    

Okay, maybe that was a little too many screenshots.

Shamelessly formatted by GaiArch.

[Torowaa]

Thanks for the screenshots and sorry; I thought I had credited you. sweatdrop Added.

[mcschulze]

Heya --

I work for Quantcast here on 2nd and Harrison Street in San Francisco, CA.

I thought I would chip in $.02.

If anyone has any problems, please let us know. I can't speak for Gaia, but sites like Gaia use us to better understand how large their audience is. If you block the cookies, you are not supporting Gaia by not standing up and saying "I use Gaia".

The problem for fantastic sites like this is that the big players like ComScore and Neilsen seriously undercount their traffic. This hurts their ability to function as a business.

Also, please note the cookies are used to get a sense of audience in mass. This is the end result of the cookies: http://www.quantcast.com/gaiaonline.com -- that's all folks.

This type of data is used by sales people to hit the streets and find investors, sell advertising, etc.

Anyway -- write me if you have problems with slowness, etc. We have not seen slowness on any of the other 7,000 or so sites that use us. We are on Akamai (thousands of servers worldwide) to avoid that.

I can be reached at mark at quantcast. Also feel free to reach me at contact at quantcast.

Also -- if anyone lives in the Bay Area and wants to have coffee to hear more, drop me a line. The phone number is 415-738-4755.


My best,

Mark
VP, Quantcast

[Sleeb]

Thank you SO much, my computer is moving so much faster now. sweatdrop

[Jesse James Hollywood]

Thank you

Though I never had an issue with the trackers above.
This is interesting info.