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Pop-Up Stoppers (Get One!)
I get asked fairly regularly about all these darn pop-up windows that show up
on so many sites. Of course, you can, usually hit Alt/F4 when they are on top
and highlighted to get rid of them. But, did you know they make little programs
that stop that stuff?
I have used several over the years, most available online for free. Go to
Download.com and at the top right hand
side in 'Search' type 'pop up' and then nest to that lower the little window
with the arrow that defaults to 'in Windows' and change it to 'in Downloads'
then click 'Go!' You'll see many versions on their. I personally used Pop Up
Killer, Pop up Cleaner and Pop Up Stopper Pro, which is my
current favorite. Most of these are small, effective, and intelligent
anti-pop-up software products that can kill annoying pop-up windows without your
intervention by using artificial intelligence and intelligent agent
technologies. They are light on your system's resources and either reside in the
system tray, or in the case of Stopper, at the top of your Internet Explorer
with a little toggle button to quickly turn it off. This is important because
sometimes sites will not let you continue working as you click on their buttons
since they may contain little confirmation screens like 'Ok/No/Cancel' that
require your answer before moving on. You may simply switch it back on after
that and keep going. These are very handy, as many sites, like free ones, often
force these popups to view them. I generally prefer banners when using free site
servers. Most of us are use to them everywhere, and they usually load fast and
don't get in the way to much.
Update: I was sent this column by a friend concerning this issue. It's got
some very useful info and reviews. Enjoy.
How to control Web pop-up ads
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Question: How can I avoid all those nasty pop-up
windows when surfing the Internet?
-- G.D.G.
Answer: There are a couple of ways to suppress popup Web browser
windows - which are also known as "interstitials" or "daughter windows". The
problem is each solution comes with a downside.
First a clarification of what a popup window is. A Web site will sometimes
automatically open another window on top of the main Web browser window you
are using. The secondary, usually smaller, window can contain any content
the site owner believes is appropriate.
Often though, it's used as an advertising vehicle, but sometimes it can ask
a surfer to fill out a survey, or will provide alert information. Web sites
containing adult content are frequent abusers of popup window technology.
Pop-ups are triggered by programming code embedded inside a Web page using a
Web scripting language called JavaScript, VBScript or some other in-line web
language.
To see an example of pop-up window
click here. To kill off the windows, hit your space bar because your
browser may crash. The web site host company Geocities.com also uses pop-up
windows to display advertising.
The first line of defense against this evil technology is to disable
scripting in your browser. This isn't practical, because scripting languages
enable useful web functions like buttons that change when you mouse over
them and the ability to remember log-in information on some membership-based
Web sites.
What you might consider is one of a series of software programs that are
dedicated to killing pop-ups as they are triggered.
The most impressive is PopUp Killer, a free Windows 95/98 program that
watches for pop-ups from the System Tray on the bottom right of your Windows
screen. When they occur it closes them automatically (all you see is a brief
flash). It also logs the pop-up activity to prevent them from occurring the
next time you visit the Web site.
One of this program's clever features is the ability to download a catalog
of known popup windows from the program creator's Web site so the software
knows to suppress them before you even get to a Web site. You can
reciprocate by uploading a list of pop-ups that Popup Killer has found
during your Web surfing sessions.
There's one small downside. The program sits in your System Tray (though
this can be disabled) and sucks up a little memory.
The software is free, though the author will take donations (he suggests $7
US) on his Web site. Download Popup Killer from:
http://software.xfx.net/.
If you really hate both pop-ups and banner ads and are willing to spend some
money, Advertising Filter may be more your style. It's downloadable software
with a 15-day free trial that kills pop-ups and removes banner ads from Web
pages as you surf. The paid version of the software also screens out adult
content and hides your Web activity from Web site marketers. A built-in
function in Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet can reveal the site
you have just visited to a site you just a arrived at. Advertising Filter
suppresses that information.
This program also works from the Windows 95/98/NT System Tray. The demo
version I tried was a little temperamental, because it acts as proxy
software. An Internet proxy is software that fetches Web data for you and
then passes it to your Web browser after filtering it. Occasionally my
browser would error out, suggesting a problem with the Ad Filter proxy. The
product costs $24.95 US at
http://www.adfilter.com/.
Advertising Killer is another free program for the Windows platform, though
each window has to be configured manually in the program's black list. It's
available from
http://www.buypin.com/. Source code is also available for curious
developers.
There's also software called the Junkbuster Proxy. It runs on Windows, Linux
and a couple of other operating systems. It's free: get it here:
http://www.junkbusters.com/.
Another Windows ad-busting product called AdSubtract also has a trial and
pay version. It's available from
www.adsubtract.com.
If you have a Macintosh computer, try WebWasher, a shareware program that
you pay for if you like it.
Click here.
Ironically, a Web advertising company spokesman said pop-ups are popular
with Web surfers. Christopher Parente, VP corporate communications, at
Advertising.com, said the ads "get
very high click-through rates. Customers are ambivalent. They might say they
don't like them but they click on them."
Advertising.com pays Web publishers a fee when their readers click on ads
displayed on their site.
For those that disagree with Parente and want more information on the
ongoing revolt against the evil pop-up, check out Pop Ups Must Die! At
http://www.paradigm.nu/popupsmustdie/. Or, ahem, "Pop-up Ads Suck" at
http://www.eccentrica.org/MikeysGrrl/popup.html.
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