A not very weel known feature in IE8 is it's ability to block ads.
By enabling the InPrivate Filtering option in the safety tab (or Ctrl+Shift+F) you can now start to block ads.
You can set the threshold for the amount of times offending content is displayed accross your browsing session before IE decides to block it, and choose whether to automatically block, manually block or allow it.
Over time IE will build the list and will become more and more effective. It won't start to block all content immediately.
However, i came across these xml files based on AdBlocks prefrences that will cut 90% of ads straight up
To install them, download the files and extract to desktop, go to the advanced options in IE and import the xml files
If you want to start IE8 in InPrivate Filtering mode everytime you must modify the registry.
Type regedit in the start menu and navigate to;
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE
In the right hand pane create a new DWORD value called StartMode with a hexidecimal value of 1 (this starts IE in IPF mode everytime)