Adblock nuisance

[Arborbridge]

I'm trying to access historic prices for the FTSE TR. Recently, when I go to this site, investing.com, on two different browsers I am told there is an active adblocker for the site. I'm "helpfully" shown how to unblock the site (see images below) but I can't even reach first base. i.e. the icon marked as number one in the instructions does not exist on my screen. Can anyone help me get started?




Alternatively, can anyone link to a better alternative site to down load historic FTSE 100 TR prices? I find the investing.com site always gives me aggro with the formatting anyway, so isn't ideal.
For example, does any one know the code on the yahoo site for the FTSE TR?

Arb.

[ReformedCharacter]

I haven't found a better site than Investing.com and have looked around for the data in the past. FWIW I've just tried copying the table for 'FTSE 100 Total Return Historical Data' (weekly closing prices) and pasting it into a Google Sheet and it appears correctly formatted into separate columns and rows. I haven't tried it but I suspect it could be copied from there straight into Excel.

RC

[monabri]

Isn't there an option to "whitelist" (allow adverts from) the website? (have a look at the options available if you click on the "cog-wheel" after clicking on the red ABP Stopsign.

[ReformedCharacter]

Just to add, I use Ublock Origin and Investing.com works on both Chromium and Firefox without issue.

RC

[UncleEbenezer]

Do you actually have an ad blocker? A website's complaining of it is not proof: the vast majority of websites that try to guess things about your browser are hopelessly broken, and ad blocker detection is just one instance of that. The message could be triggered by some security or privacy feature that has nothing to do with your browser, or even your computer.

I suspect the answer is "don't know" ('cos if you knew, you'd not be asking). You can investigate by querying your browser what extensions it has installed, which will be an option in your menus. Once you've identified a suspect extension (one calling itself an ad blocker would be an obvious guess, but other security or privacy features are also likely candidates), a quick-and-dirty test would be to disable the extension completely and try again. If that fixes it, you've found your culprit and can go into its settings to disable it only for one site. If not, just revert to where you were.

[Breelander]

I'm trying to access historic prices for the FTSE TR. Recently, when I go to this site, investing.com, on two different browsers I am told there is an active adblocker for the site. I'm "helpfully" shown how to unblock the site (see images below) but I can't even reach first base. i.e. the icon marked as number one in the instructions does not exist on my screen. Can anyone help me get started?

Hi Arb,
I don't use any ad blockers, but I do use a HOSTS table that has the same effect and is detected as an 'ad blocker'. Most sites that ask you to disable ad blockers will allow you to continue to the site once you've read the request to disable them, but not investing.com. However, I have found that their ad block detection can be inconsistent. If I clear the browser cache and delete all cookies for investing.com I can usually get in on a second attempt.

[Arborbridge]

Isn't there an option to "whitelist" (allow adverts from) the website? (have a look at the options available if you click on the "cog-wheel" after clicking on the red ABP Stopsign.

But that's my problem - I don't have a red ABP sign (or the other sign show in my second screen shot). I don't knowingly have an adblocker, unless some update has installed one without my knowing.

Arb.

PS I've just noticed in Firefox under "Manage your extensions" Adblcok is mentioned with an "Add to Firefox" choice - presumably that means it hasn't been added.

Maybe I should "add it" and then go through the procedure mentioned for excepting inveting.com?

[Arborbridge]

I haven't found a better site than Investing.com and have looked around for the data in the past. FWIW I've just tried copying the table for 'FTSE 100 Total Return Historical Data' (weekly closing prices) and pasting it into a Google Sheet and it appears correctly formatted into separate columns and rows. I haven't tried it but I suspect it could be copied from there straight into Excel.

RC

That's not what I've found. If you copy and paste (I haven't found a "download" button) the date column does not come out in a form which can be formatted. Even if you "edit formats", it appears as a text string so you cannot change it. In the past I've had to labouriously retype the dates into a proper Excel format. This is where Yahoo scores - it's dates are in a proper format, and there is a download button to excel.

Maybe someone has another tip to offer?

[Arborbridge]

I've manage within Firefox to find something which manages extensions, and put investing.com on a "white list" equivalent.

Thanks for all the pointers which helped me get started.

Arb

[ReformedCharacter]

I haven't found a better site than Investing.com and have looked around for the data in the past. FWIW I've just tried copying the table for 'FTSE 100 Total Return Historical Data' (weekly closing prices) and pasting it into a Google Sheet and it appears correctly formatted into separate columns and rows. I haven't tried it but I suspect it could be copied from there straight into Excel.

RC

That's not what I've found. If you copy and paste (I haven't found a "download" button) the date column does not come out in a form which can be formatted. Even if you "edit formats", it appears as a text string so you cannot change it. In the past I've had to labouriously retype the dates into a proper Excel format. This is where Yahoo scores - it's dates are in a proper format, and there is a download button to excel.

Maybe someone has another tip to offer?

Just had another look, on Google Sheets select and highlight the date column, on the menu select Format > Number > Date.

RC

[Arborbridge]

I haven't found a better site than Investing.com and have looked around for the data in the past. FWIW I've just tried copying the table for 'FTSE 100 Total Return Historical Data' (weekly closing prices) and pasting it into a Google Sheet and it appears correctly formatted into separate columns and rows. I haven't tried it but I suspect it could be copied from there straight into Excel.

RC

That's not what I've found. If you copy and paste (I haven't found a "download" button) the date column does not come out in a form which can be formatted. Even if you "edit formats", it appears as a text string so you cannot change it. In the past I've had to labouriously retype the dates into a proper Excel format. This is where Yahoo scores - it's dates are in a proper format, and there is a download button to excel.

Maybe someone has another tip to offer?

Just had another look, on Google Sheets select and highlight the date column, on the menu select Format > Number > Date.

RC

I don't have google sheets (no idea where or what it is) I'm using Excel. Are you copying and psting the dates etc straight from the investing.com webpage? The date come over as a text string - it cannot be formatted as a date in Excel. I can convert the string to three columns month/day/year but that doesn't get me much further.

This is a bit frustrating as there isn't a similar problem to solve on the yahoo site.

[pje16]

I have Adblockplus and use Firefox
Mine looks slightly different to the OP and it worked fine on Investing.com

[ReformedCharacter]

That's not what I've found. If you copy and paste (I haven't found a "download" button) the date column does not come out in a form which can be formatted. Even if you "edit formats", it appears as a text string so you cannot change it. In the past I've had to labouriously retype the dates into a proper Excel format. This is where Yahoo scores - it's dates are in a proper format, and there is a download button to excel.

Maybe someone has another tip to offer?

Just had another look, on Google Sheets select and highlight the date column, on the menu select Format > Number > Date.

RC

I don't have google sheets (no idea where or what it is) I'm using Excel. Are you copying and psting the dates etc straight from the investing.com webpage? The date come over as a text string - it cannot be formatted as a date in Excel. I can convert the string to three columns month/day/year but that doesn't get me much further.

This is a bit frustrating as there isn't a similar problem to solve on the yahoo site.

If you have or get a gmail account then you can use Google Sheets, (top right hand corner, 9 dots in a square) to open Google apps. I like it because you can get 'live' share prices for most equities straight into a cell. I used to use Excel for this but - for me - Google Sheets is much quicker to get a portfolio valuation. I'll have a play with Excel to see if it can convert the dates because having to manually edit them is an awful faff.

RC

[Arborbridge]

Just had another look, on Google Sheets select and highlight the date column, on the menu select Format > Number > Date.

RC

I don't have google sheets (no idea where or what it is) I'm using Excel. Are you copying and psting the dates etc straight from the investing.com webpage? The date come over as a text string - it cannot be formatted as a date in Excel. I can convert the string to three columns month/day/year but that doesn't get me much further.

This is a bit frustrating as there isn't a similar problem to solve on the yahoo site.

If you have or get a gmail account then you can use Google Sheets, (top right hand corner, 9 dots in a square) to open Google apps. I like it because you can get 'live' share prices for most equities straight into a cell. I used to use Excel for this but - for me - Google Sheets is much quicker to get a portfolio valuation. I'll have a play with Excel to see if it can convert the dates because having to manually edit them is an awful faff.

RC

Thanks for the ideas - I'll take a look a the nine dots!
While we've been thinking bout it, I just typed the price into my Analyst charting program - it seemed easier than trying to wrestle with the format problem for the moment. I only had to update a couple of months of prices - 60 entries.
I shall post the result on the HYP board in a while.

[ReformedCharacter]

Copying and pasting from Google Sheets (as above) straight into Excel works fine regarding the dates.

OTOH if you paste from Investing.com to Excel then you can use a formula to obtain the dates from the text like this:

- Paste into Excel, move to a free column on the right and paste in the formula: DATEVALUE(MID(A1,5,2)&"-"&LEFT(A1,3)&"-"&RIGHT(A1,4))

Where A1 is the first cell reference of your pasted table, whatever that is.

This will give a (date) number. Copy the formula down the column.

- Select all the Date Numbers in the column and select the Format option from the Home tab. Select the Date option of your choice.

RC