[Windows Phone 8 General] Abdulrazak_Kh:
Disclaimer Note : Before you proceed : Do this at your own risk!

I'm not responsible for anything that goes wrong

NEW UPDATE 13/7/2015 .. completely rewrote this tutorial to clean it up and make it easier and faster using newer tools

New! 5/21/2015 : this tutorial is now available in Arabic language , translation courtesy of Windows Phone Arabia

and the translated article can be found here

this method does not block inApp Ads ,I'm not going to say why , you find that out yourself ,I'll keep that part to my own use ( I did block all ads with this including in app ads ) BUT this will help you block ads and pop ups while using your web browser , feel free to use the pool to make a vote

Hello everyone , this is my first ever post on Xda-Developers.com !:good:

if there's mistakes please let me know :) and don't forget to click on "Thanks" if it helped you <3

In this tutorial I'll explain how to block annoying and unwanted adverts using HOSTS file classic trick , lets begin!

If you have Interop Unlock with full FS access enabled :

only download this hosts file ( or any other one that you want ) and replace it with your

"C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS" on your phone ( C: drive on phone , is your phone memory ) , make sure to name it HOSTS not HOSTS.txt

If you do not have interop unlock, but you want to , I'll show you how through this tutorial ( remember this is Lumia-based )

if you do not , and you don't want to interop unlock your device, that's okay , there's a quick method without having to interop-unlock

First of all you need the following :

STEP 1:

A Lumia Windows Phone with SD Card support

Developer or Interop Unlock with foreknowledge about how to deploy apps ( free with 2 apps limit works fine )

WPV Deployer 2.0 from here

a modified HOSTS file with Ads Blocking such as this

[MENTION=4730550]Pasquiindustry[/MENTION]'s CustomWPSystem 0.6 app from here

If you don't want to interop unlock : [MENTION=5889633]djamol[/MENTION] 's Lumia Resources Hacker from here

If you want to Interop unlock : [MENTION=6655208]vcfan[/MENTION]'s vcReg tool

now that we have all that we need, lets go to

STEP 2 :

now , what you need to do is , uninstall "Extras+Info" app from your phone and move it to your SD Card

to do this you need to :

Open WPV Deployer 2.0 and click on XAP Tools

Input this into the Uninstall box

2377fe1b-c10f-47da-92f3-fc517345a3c0

Click Uninstall

go to Storage Sense and set your apps to install on SD Card

go here to install Extras+Info again, now it will be on your SD Card

Should look like this

pretty simple so far , lets move on to

STEP 3:

While you're at WPV Deployer , use it to deploy CustomWPSystem 0.6

now if you want to interop unlock ,

Copy vcReg bootstrap xap file to the root of your sdcard

Open CustomWPSystem app on your phone

tap on "SD Card permissions" and choose SD Card folder and click the second option so both are green

Target app Extra e info

Tap on "Select the XAP" and choose "vcREG_1_2_BOOTSTRAP.xap"

Tap Apply XAP

if you DON'T want to interop unlock and just want to block ads

Copy Lumia resources hacker xap file to the root of your sdcard

Open CustomWPSystem app on your phone

tap on "SD Card permissions" and choose SD Card folder and click the second option so both are green

Target app Extra e info

Tap on "Select the XAP" and choose "LumiaResourceHacker_Release_ARM_noInterop_Services.xap"

Tap Apply XAP

you got a "Success!" message? nice! lets move to

STEP 4:

Now what we've done basically is hijacking the "Extras+Info" app and maintain its permissions for our homebrew application

we'll need to go into settings and scroll down to the end , and the tap the Extras+Info which would look like D:\WPSystem\Apps\{2377fe1b-c10f-47da-92f3-fc517345a3c0}\.......

just ignore the name and click on it , you'll see our homebrew app instead of the Extras+Info App , which means its successful now! , if not , then you did a mistake , read the tutorial again to see what you did mistake with ..

Using Interop-unlock:

Press the app menu ( . . . ) button

Press Templates

Check the first two options to LIVE interop-unlock and to grant full fs access

reboot and connect your phone to pc

Using your pc navigate to (Phone Memory) \Windows\system32\DRIVERS\ETC\

rename the downloaded HOSTS.txt file to HOSTS , and use it to overwrite the one you have on your phone

re-open vcReg app ( settings > Extras+Info ) and apply the disable full fs access template ( optional but highly recommended even for advanced users ) and reboot for it to take effect

Should look like this :

Without using Interop-unlock:

Connect your phone

rename the downloaded HOSTS file to make sure it is only HOSTS not HOSTS.txt

Place the downloaded hosts file into your PHONE MEMORY > DOWNLOADS folder

Go to custom mode

Source Path : C:\Data\Users\Public\Downloads\HOSTS

Destination Path : C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS

Tap "Write" ( or "Apply" whatsoever )

Restoring your old Extras+Info app :

Open WPV Deployer 2.0 and click on XAP Tools

Input this into the Uninstall box

2377fe1b-c10f-47da-92f3-fc517345a3c0

Click Uninstall

go to Storage Sense and set your apps to install on Phone Memory

go here to install Extras+Info again, now it will be on your Phone Memory like it was and should work just fine.

Congratz , annoying ads now should be blocked ,while ads inside Apps should still be there for most apps ( I'm not saying why or how , if you insist to know , just email me then but if you really want to use the app without ads and there's no better alternative, then support the developer(s) of that app you like so much and actually BUY it :) )

Special thanks to the following people for their apps and help :

[MENTION=2159229]sensboston[/MENTION] for thread about Ad blocker

[MENTION=5889633]djamol[/MENTION] for his Apps linked above

[MENTION=5889633]djamol[/MENTION] again !! for pointing out that this worked without Interop services!!

[MENTION=2110475]contable[/MENTION] for his WPSystem Folder Unlocker App which was used in my old tutorial

[MENTION=4730550]Pasquiindustry[/MENTION] for upgrading his CustomWPSystem app to make the process much easier

[MENTION=1501461]WojtasXda[/MENTION] for his Interop-unlock discovery

[MENTION=6655208]vcfan[/MENTION] for his one click interop-unlock app

[MENTION=5875832]irshad2809[/MENTION] for the awesome personal help providing nearly half of this tutorial you see now :)

Thanks to Taha Malas from Windows Phone Arabia team for the Arabic translation

​

That's all folks , hope you find this useful! , hit the Thanks button below for my first ever post on Xda :)

ps: wrapped the entire tutorial to prevent messy long quotes when new people try to reply