Ads are still showing

1. Check that protection is on

Open the dashboard. The panel at the top says one of three things:

• Protection is active — this check passes; carry on to the next one.
• Filtering is paused — a pause you started earlier is still running. The Pause panel counts it down and offers Resume now.
• Protection is off — the license is the reason: a trial or license has run out or was revoked, or the license is not active on this PC, including one you deactivated here. License messages and what they mean covers each one and how to turn protection back on.

The tray icon, near the clock, tells you the same thing. Right-click it: if the menu shows Enable filtering, filtering is off — click it. If it shows Disable filtering, filtering is on. If it shows neither, check the dashboard: unless AdFender has only just started, that means the license is not active, and the link above is the place to start.

2. Check that your browser is switched on in Apps

AdFender filters the applications you have turned on, and nothing else. Open the dashboard, go to Apps, and find your browser. The toggle beside it must be on.

• Supported browsers are detected automatically, so yours is usually listed already. If it is missing, add it with Add an app — the same way you add anything else, such as a chat client, a game launcher or a mail program.
• A banner reading No apps are being filtered. means nothing on your PC is being filtered. Turn at least one app on.
• A newly added app takes effect the next time it starts, and AdFender tells you so.

3. Check HTTPS filtering and the certificate

Most ads are served over HTTPS today. If HTTPS filtering is off, or the root certificate is not installed, AdFender can still block whole ad domains by name but cannot look inside a secure page — which is where most of what you are seeing comes from.

On the dashboard, the Advanced panel states this in one line. Root certificate trusted is the healthy state. Root certificate missing, or a filtering level shown as Partial (domain name filtering only), is the cause. How to fix that is its own article.

4. Check your filter lists

Open Filters. AdFender ships with four lists on, and the one named EasyList is the foundation the others build on — with it off, the rest catch only a fraction of what would otherwise be blocked. If it is off, the page says so in a warning at the top, where AdFender calls it EasyList English; it is the same list.

If the ads you are seeing are on sites in another language, check that the regional list for that language is on — setup may already have added it. Choosing filter lists covers which one and how.

5. Restart the browser

If you have just turned a browser on in Apps while it was running, AdFender asks you to restart it for the change to take effect. Close every one of its windows and open it again.

Closing the last window is not always enough: some browsers keep a process running in the background after you close them. If ads persist, restart the PC once.

6. Check what AdFender leaves unfiltered

Some traffic is outside what a local filter can reach:

• Traffic that is not ordinary web traffic. AdFender sees HTTP and HTTPS on standard ports. Anything using other ports or other protocols passes through unfiltered.

And two settings leave a site unfiltered on purpose. Both are yours to change:

• Sites on the HTTPS exclusion list. AdFender steps aside on those and leaves their traffic alone. Banking and other sensitive-transaction sites are on the list by default, and you can see the whole list on the dashboard under HTTPS filtering.
• Sites you have exempted yourself. If you have ever used Exempt website from filtering, that site is allowed on purpose. Your rules are on the Filters page under My filter rules.

Still seeing them?

Then it is worth looking at together rather than guessing. Send us a diagnostic report and name the site — it gives us the details we need to look into it.