Chikka ads appear non-obtrusive (yet) and small enough to not be a bandwidth hog (yet) but similar guides/apps have sprung up for Y!M, AIM, etc. Besides, auto-update breaks my IM session :-\ And I'm on XP so adjust if you're using an older OS.

1. Add this to your Hosts file [1]:
Code:
127.0.0.1 imu.chikka.com
Or block all incoming/outgoing connections with your firewall on that hostname or
209.10.203.1122. If you want to delete exisiting ads, purge recursively:
Code:
%USERPROFILE%\ChikkaDefault\Data\ads
3. To completely remove/hide the ads placeholder in the GUI on the default theme:
Edit
skins.xml from (default install directory):
Code:
%ProgramFiles%\Chikka Messenger\Chikka v.4\skins\Default
Search for:Code:
<control id="807" rect="44,390,174,450">
Yes, that's the same as the
coords attribute of HTML's
<map> tag. Now
replace with:
Code:
<control id="807" rect="44,0,174,0">
Output:
Note: Blocking imu.chikka.com will also effectively block auto-update, the "web updates" dialog contents and some other (blank) pages that dont seem to be used at this time.
MMS should still work as it uses a different address.
[1] Places to get good Hosts files: [
1 ] [
2 ]