- Disable IFRAME based ads
- Disable Flash based ads. These ads suck up a lot of bandwidth. It's easy to enable/disable add-ons like the Flash plugin on newer versions of IE & Firefox. Note however that you will need Flash to be enabled to watch videos on YouTube or MyPopKorn.com (the site that gives you short summaries of long drawn Indian TV serials)
- If you like watching Flash based videos like those on YouTube, don't play it immediately but allow them to load completely (i.e till you see light red line at the end in progress indicator of the player).
- Disable images. This will take the fun out of browsing the Internet, so take this extreme step if pages download really slow. The Opera browser has a simple option to turn off images on a per page basis. From the menu, go to View > Images > No Images. For other browsers, you would have to look for the option typically under Tools > Options.Browse
- Use a RSS Reader. Most content websites now provide RSS Feeds of site updates. Subscribe to these feeds using a free RSS Reader like Google Reader. This way you catch all the action without having to visit the website which may be bloated with ads and other bells & whistles.
Got any other tips?