Spiceworks Thoughts II: How to Remove the Ads from Spiceworks
Now, before I go any further, let me make a few things clear:
- Spiceworks is an ad-supported program. By removing the ads, you are depriving the development team of their funding. In essence you are stealing the software from them.
- Spiceworks is not open source software. This means that you are not allowed to modify the code for your own uses.
- Removing the ads is probably illegal.
So, why am I posting this? Well, for a few reasons:
- I was having issues with the ads loading - they were timing out, making each page take 30+ seconds to load, and making the software somewhat unuseable.
- Many tech people have adblocker software that is blocking the ads already.
- This is to illustrate a point that I plan to make in an upcoming post.
That said - here is a quick way to remove the ads in Spiceworks. What tools do you need? Nothing. You need notepad, and the Windows Explorer.
An immediate observation I made when first looking at Spiceworks is that it is written in Ruby on Rails. All other things inside, that immediately indicated that somewhere, there was an .rhtml file which contained the layout code to include the ad block.
So, immediately, I performed a serach of the program directory, and found all the .rhtml files.
The two which you need to edit are:
- C:\Program Files\Spiceworks\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\spiceworks-0.8.3616\app\views\layouts\common\_ads.rhtml
- C:\Program Files\Spiceworks\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\spiceworks-0.8.3616\app\views\layouts\common\_sidebar.rhtml
To remove the ads, simply open both the above files in notepad. Remove all the contents from _ads.rhtml, leaving it completely empty. Remove everything within the “adbox” div tag.
If you would rather place your own ads in the sidebar, or the other content of your choice, perhaps links, or other content, you can also edit
C:\Program Files\Spiceworks\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\spiceworks-0.8.3616\app\views\ads\adiframe.rhtml
replacing the contents within the tage with whatever you want to appear there. You could even place your own ads into the spiceworks install if you wanted.
I’m disappointed that people would try to disable the ads on something that is so clearly a new business model. You can hide behind statements about ad blockers and the like, but at the end of the day, this is their only revenue.
When they stop developing it, or go out of business because they can’t make a successful return on investment, then what? If the ads were pop ups or clearly just obnoxious, I might possibly understand, but not for the small amount of real estate that their ads use.
I agree with you as far as statements concerning adblockers and the like. I am a webmaster, I hate those myself.
But as far as I am concerned, they were a liability to the software for me, timing out, causing pages not to load etc. So I disabled them just for usability purposes.
That said, I posted such here in order to illustrate a point I am making in a post that is currently in draft, illustrating the weaknesses of their potential business model, and touching on code security issues in Ruby on Rails.
Brian, I came across your blog and then this posting while doing some research. We too (Klir) launched a free IT monitoring/analytics solution in late Sept ‘06, but rather than being “ad” supported, we are supporting the free entry-level version with paid content–content we believe IT users are already accessing to do their job better. The entry-level version allows a user to monitor/analyze up to 25 devices. I’d be very interested in getting your thoughts/reaction to the product if you don’t mind and have the time. Free registration is at www.klir.com/free…Thank you in advance!
Scot - I will check it out when I have some more time on my hands - from what I can see perusing the website, it looks quite interesting.
Thanks for the comment!
Great! Thanks, Brian. I look forward to your input on the registration/install process AND product. In the meantime, here’s a couple of recent mentions on Klir. One is from a fellow blogger, Phil Wainewright, and one from Network Computing identifying Klir as “a company to watch” in the networking space:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=262
http://www.networkcomputing.com/gallery/2006/1221/1221f2a.jhtml
-Scot
You guys are missing the point here I think. The problem is that Spiceworks sends information out of your network. Many of my clients refuse to use the software because of that. I don’t see any advantages in having a “free” software using advertisement through pop ups as their business model. If people refuse to use the software because it is sending private company information out, the solution is not good at all.
I would like to know if your ad blocking method also blocks outbound data delivery.
Robert: This method does not block other outbound data. All it does is simply remove the advertising code from the program. It does not affect any other functionality of the program.
Ok. Thanks for the reply Brian. I definetely need another solution for small networks (1-25 users). SpiceWorks does the trick but I can only use it if I could block the outbound data.
Robert:Klir is also a “hosted” solution, and we certainly run into folks that are sensitive about sending their data off premise, but I’d like to leave you with a few benefits/thoughts to think about with regards to a hosted solution, not to try and pitch you or sell you, but because I think it might lead to an interesting dialogue:
1. We actually have many customers that like the solution for this very reason. They have access to their data, alerts, ect. even if they are not able to access their internal systems (it’s down, their off-premise, traveling, etc.)
2. Our business is our datacenter. We have millions of dollars and levels of security built in place that very few companies have in place, especially when their core business is something else.
3. A huge number of companies use ADP for their payroll, and a large growing number use Salesforce for their CRM. For most organizations the data that we are collecting is not nearly as sensitive or critical to their business as their financial or customer information.
Thoughts? Thanks!
This ad block doesn’t work with the latest version of Spiceworks.
Sending data out of the network from a network monitoring is scaring many people, including myself.
We spend a lot in securing our networks. The fact that Spiceworks shows “relevant” ads means that some activity data is sent to their networks.
I came across a different product called ServersCheck. They allow to monitor 15 devices for free. No ads, no annoying screens. Their website is
http://www.serverscheck.com. The freeware version is not available from their website but through Snapfiles:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/servercheckstd.html
Spiceworks has a lot of work to do to come near that product
It might be a much better idea to request a timeout parameter for the ads or a different loading sequence so it won’t negatively affect the usability of the software. This way the original developers and the user’s are better off. My concern with these type of programs is also privacy: what information is sent to where? Has anyone checked the source on what information is gathered and how much is sent to third parties?
Hello:
I am curious about this new model.Even if we set aside the security concerns for a moment, are any of you likely to pay attention to these ads? Can they potentially influence your/your company purchasing decision?
Thank you - rakesh
Hi Rakesh.
I never looked twice at the ads. They were for the most part unrelated to my business, or products I would use.
Therefore, they were an annoyance that at the same time made the product unsuitable for use in a secure network.
It’s a good idea though. I would suggest that a business adopt both models - offer a free, ad-supported version of a product like this, but also make an ad-free version available for a nominal fee.
Brian,
Spiceworks does have a version that allows you to turn ads off for $10.
User:
At the time this was written, only the ad-supported version of Spiceworks was available, hence my comment above.
“For just US$ 10 per month (or US$ 110 per year) you can sponsor Spiceworks” -http://www.spiceworks.com/myway/
spiceworks is slow and not user friendly. i then found another free monitoring software called sysuptime thru google. http://www.ireasoning.com/network_monitor.shtml
i’ve been using this software for a few months and it works smoothly.
I’m currently looking to remove the ADs from version 2.0. I just downloaded the software and never at any point in time on their website did I see a paid version and I did a lot of reading on that site first. So they aren’t doing a very good job and promoting the AD free version.
I’m removing the ADs because they don’t work. Our network is locked down pretty good and outside connections are open only on a need by need basis. So instead of ADs I have error messages.
So according to the people that are pro ADs I’m suppose to unsecure my network enough to let their ADs work? Wrong! I’m going to do what I can to remove the error messages from the app.
If there’s a paid version then I’ll check it out however while in the middle of typing this, I just checked again and I still DO NOT see a paid version.
If the ADs are their livelihood then that’s their big mistake, not mine. That’s a very poor choice on their part. AD’s in applications will fail. They are unsecure and they promote unproductive employees. I’m not sure at what point in time the IT industry decided it was “ok” to let all employees browse the internet whenever they wanted but it’s a model that is already starting to fail. Case in point; Windows Live Mail Desktop. While the app itself failed for many reasons (oops, I mean “changed direction”), it’s AD based approach was a big part of it. As well as most of MS’s AD based framework.
@JEmlay
Not too sure if you ever check the help section of such sites but this FAQ answers your question http://community.spiceworks.com/help/Can_I_Pay_To_Get_A_Version_Of_Spiceworks_With_No_Ads%3F
However I would like to see feedback from anyone that purchased the paid version and confirm that there was no outbound network activity when using the paid version.
According to what I`m reading here, it seems to be that we, as users, have all the right to get someone`s work, (written code) and modify it to please our needs. In my opinion, first, it`s not a big deal to pay $10 a month for an ad free version and second, although using the code is our option,it`s morally wrong to modify it with the excuse that “they“ made a mistake.