Adverts and heavy CPU loads

Hi,

Please could the admin and owners look at a way to deliver adverts that isn't so heavy on the CPU, while still being able to make income from them? I use a lowly 1.6GHz Atom netbook for my internet (never my desktop, that's for work only), with Ubuntu. The CPU load is normally around 30%, going up to 100% on some threads, making it slow and unstable. Sometimes multiple tabs will crash the machine, but ONLY on ATS. I do understand ATS is a business and appreciate the necessity of adverts on the site, but think some of the all dancing, all singing animated ones are possibly taking away from the overall ATS experience; some of them even have sound. I would be interested to hear what the staff think about this, and any other user's experiences with this. Is there any possibility of using simpler methods to advertise, as it can't be good for the companies either if your machine is running slow. I think most people would be deterred from opening another tab to their page in this case.

but think some of the all dancing, all singing animated ones

I don't get any singing and dancing ads, that is unfair.

No pop ups since the space ship one.

pretty clean site, cpu usage at between 4 and 7 %

Sounds to me like its a memory problem.
Virtual memory is to low to handle all the pictures.

reply to post by habfan1968


I think the ads are entirely geographical - well, almost. Google ads seem to think I live down south somewhere, but they are still UK based ads. The problem is, the Atom processor is very small .: cut down, so a lot of things are quite heavy on it, but none quite like ATS - it seems to crash a lot, same when I had windows on my laptop. Maybe it is more than the ads, and the site overall?!? But in these hard economic times, I feel a lot of people will be using older or cheaper hardware to get online, hence I suspect there would be a few more members who have also noticed this.

reply to post by JBA2848


You might be on to something, its only got 16Gb SSD, so no swap/page file on it. But the CPU also seems off the chart. That still brings the question to ATS though, because other sites don't actually crash the machine...

reply to post by rufusthestuntbum


You could also try a different browser.

www.mozilla.com...

www.opera.com...

www.aceexplorer.com...

Also try to avoid using any tool bars such as google tool bar so on. That will save some memory. You can shut them off through the manu at the top of the browsers.

reply to post by JBA2848


Thanks, will try that!
Sorry for 1-line reply

reply to post by rufusthestuntbum


1.6ghz is just a slightly better clock speed than a smart phone, you should get a new computer or set your graphics to the lowest possible setting.
Since you probably cannot play games on that thing you may want to try ubuntu on it.

Try to look for a setting, you may have to ask a mod, on how to limit the number of posts per page.
Plus ATS has the largest avatars out of any site so.

only suggestion I can make is when entering the page, right click on the flash animation and then click quality, set it to low, it will make a difference.

If you are using Ubuntu, try using Google Chrome, I have found it to perform better with flash videos.

Originally posted by Zaanny
Mozilla firefox with ad block plus plug-in FTW

Oops! you better read the ATS T&C real quick, particularly the bit about ad blockers.

--------------------------

Hitting "esc" when a thread loads stops animated avatars, might free up some ram OP.

Try installing flash-block, it's a Firefox add-on.

I assume the flash based AD banners eat up all the CPU power.

EDIT: I wasn't aware that you may not block AD's, but I think the main purpose of Flashblock in this case would not be blocking ads, but only certain content that causes technical problems. So I guess that#s okay ?

I particularly hate the ads which feature a banner, which then expands. Blasted mountain dew. I cant even buy Mountain Dew within ten miles of my location. The computer I use is a very basic, pretty old home brew that a collegue did, the workings of which utterly confound my understanding. However, what I do know is, that such expandable adverts such as the Mountain Dew one, and the one for Drive Angry that was up a little while ago, screw with the computer quite a bit, and slow everything down. Its especialy annoying when attempting to access myATS, because just a millimetre out of place and I have to wait fifteen seconds for the blasted ad to load, appear, faf about for a bit, and then reduce to its original size. Why cant ATS request that only banners with no expansion are used on their site?

reply to post by TrueBrit
I absolutely agree, at least make it so you have to actually click them so they don't expand when your mouse accidentally slips into the banner area.

reply to post by sonofliberty1776


Yes, at least if the banners were only click reactive rather than roll over then the problem would be significantly reduced. Dont get me wrong, Im glad that ATS gets revenue from somewhere, since theres no way I could afford to BUY a membership here , and that would be the only other option to keep this site open, paying members.
But adverts , no matter how important for ATS as a business, ought never to overpower or interupt the flow of the members. I wonder how many lousy posts on this site, started out as gold and would have remained so until the last full stop , had the author not been distracted by one of these thrice cursed expanding adverts !