Remove MySpace IM Ads

Introduction

Many of us use the popular MySpace Instant Messenger; but if you are like me, you find the advertisements at the bottom to be, not only an eyesore, but annoying; not to mention that on some PC's, it can slow them down. I will show here a very simple, and free way of ridding yourself of those ads.

Background

I must admit, I am not a fan of adware, though I do realize it helps generate revenue for the company releasing it; so as a point, I am not saying to arbitrarily annihilate them. If you find some ad there to be of interest, then by all means, click through. If you are like me and have not seen a single one that sparked the least bit of interest, why keep them?

Using the code

Navigate to the following:

C:\Program Files\MySpace\Skins\_Common

Find the UI_ContactsAdUnit.xml file

Right click on it and select edit (should open with notepad)..

You should see something similar to the following lines of code:

           <!-- CONTACTSLIST_AD_IMAGE -->
<ImageControl>
  <Name val="CONTACTSLIST_AD_IMAGE" />
  <Visible val="false" />
  <Image path="&WIN_IMG_AD;" />
  <AlignPivot val="true" />
  <AlignPivotPos x=".5" y="0" />
  <Layout>
    <XPos val="0.5" type="percent" />
    <YPos val="7" type="minimum" />
  </Layout>
</ImageControl>                                                          
<!-- CONTACTSLIST_AD_CONTROL -->
<BrowserControl>
  <Name val="CONTACTSLIST_AD_CONTROL"/>
  <Visible val="false" />
  <Layout>
    <TopPos val="-(&WIN_AD_HEIGHT;+5)" type="maximum" />
    <RightPos val="(&WIN_AD_WIDTH;/2)" type="center" />
    <BottomPos val="-5" type="maximum" />
    <LeftPos val="-(&WIN_AD_WIDTH;/2)" type="center" />
  </Layout>
</BrowserControl>

The portion we are concerned with is the code that begins with

<!-- CONTACTSLIST_AD_CONTROL -->

Highlight that line of code all the way to the last BrowserControl

</BrowserControl>

So you should have the following code highlighted:

<!-- CONTACTSLIST_AD_CONTROL -->
<BrowserControl>
  <Name val="CONTACTSLIST_AD_CONTROL"/>
  <Visible val="false" />
  <Layout>
    <TopPos val="-(&WIN_AD_HEIGHT;+5)" type="maximum" />
    <RightPos val="(&WIN_AD_WIDTH;/2)" type="center" />
    <BottomPos val="-5" type="maximum" />
    <LeftPos val="-(&WIN_AD_WIDTH;/2)" type="center" />
  </Layout>
</BrowserControl>

Now delete those lines (or just backspace), then click save. If you don't feel comfortable making this change to the file, copy and paste the original, unchanged file. somewhere for a backup.

Points of Interest

Basically all this does it remove the reference from the programs' XML file that tells it to "show me some ads"; no code, no ads!

I have noticed a slight drop in my cpu and memory load after this mod, may not be much on some systems, but when you run as many processes/programs as I do (90+), every little bit helps!