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IE To Block Pop-Ups

smd4985 writes "Next year MS will release a XP service pack that enables IE to block pop-up ads. Only a few years late. Maybe Mozilla.org/Opera should patent the technology to make it hard for Bill 'embrace and extend' Gates to kill those XCam ads...."

36 of 719 comments (clear)

  1. Bring on the software links by Davak · · Score: 4, Informative

    My favorite pop-up blocker is google's toolbar.,

    If I'm going to have some stupid something sitting my windows toolbar section, it might as well do some useful stuff--search google, block pop-ups, and give me pagerank.

    I love free software.

    Davak

    1. Re:Bring on the software links by Hypocritical+Guy · · Score: 1, Informative

      My favorite pop-up blocker is google's toolbar.,

      Uh, that's nice.. But it doesn't work in my browser or even my operating system.

      I love free software.

      That's why you use IE/Windows, eh? I guess Windows is free when you warez it...

      --
      If you liked licking my balls, add me to your foes list!
  2. Re:Vote with money by black+mariah · · Score: 4, Informative

    Or, MS just uses the same "Allow requested popups" option that Opera has.

    --
    'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
  3. How popup blocking works by MikeCapone · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mozilla and Opera block automatic popups.

    The shopping carts you describe prompted by the user clicking somewhere.

    And in case you are afraid of false-positives, Mozilla alerts you whenever it blocks a popup (small icon at the left of the browser status bar) and you can unblock it.

  4. Re:not the first time by art123 · · Score: 2, Informative

    MS has had virtual desktop since NT 3.5 with the PowerToys add-on.

  5. Re:Bad for users of alternative browsers? by Carnildo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Mozilla and Proxomitron can both respond quickly to any new ways of putting up popups, and I bet Opera won't be too far behind.

    --
    "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  6. Use Privoxy by FsG · · Score: 3, Informative

    Privoxy is an open-source web proxy that blocks ads of all kinds, and is highly customizable. It'll run on Linux, Windows, OS X, and god-knows-what-else, and will block all those annoying banners with a high degree of effectiveness. Better yet, it's been available since 2001; once again Microsoft is offering too little, too late.

    --
    I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
  7. Re:not the first time by psykocrime · · Score: 3, Informative

    it wouldn't be the first time microsoft stole a feature... i hear longhorn is gonna have virtual desktops...linux has had it for years... a lot of their interface is...shall we say...Mac Inspired (ex. the trash can)...

    And the part that isn't Mac inspired is OS/2 inspired (right-click context menu, anyone?)

    --
    // TODO: Insert Cool Sig
  8. Re:not the first time by johndoesovich · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can actually download a *powertoy* from Microsoft that will allow for up tp 4 virtual desktops in XP

    --
    alias dir='rm -rf /'
  9. Re:Proxomitron? by edwdig · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ever install a version of Netscape with popup blocking?

    By default, it whitelists netscape.com, aol.com, cnn.com, and a bunch of other sites associated with AOL and Time Warner.

    MS could very easily do the same in IE.

  10. Re:What about popups embeded in wmv files? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Nothing pisses me off more then watching porn in a wmv format and having f'in pops open

    Use ZoneAlarm restrict Media Player's access the internet.

  11. Re:Not entirely... by MikeCapone · · Score: 2, Informative

    Some on-click popups are still controlled through javascript, which Mozilla (I dunno about Opera) will often still block.

    That sometimes happen, true, but clicking on the link again will solve the problem in Mozilla.

    I'd wager that most users don't even know what happens and just assume that they didn't click properly the first time. Heh.

  12. Re:Proxomitron? by Gherald · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yeah but its windows only. Check out Privoxy. Its open source and runs on all these OSs

    I like it better than Proxomitron.

  13. Re:This is funny by laird · · Score: 2, Informative

    The kind of "pop up" that these tools block is a pretty specific thing. They don't block every JavaScript that opens a window. They allow "pop ups" that are triggered by user actions, and block "pop ups" that are triggered by system events. So if you click on a "more info" button that pops up a window to tell you about a product while shopping, for example, you'll see the info. But if you browse a pr0n site (who would do that?!) that triggers a script whenever the page is closed that opens a new pop-up, that'll be blocked.

    This sounds simple, but the impact is immense. With a browser that blocks pop-ups (i.e. anything by IE), the intenet is a pleasant place. With IE, the internet is a horrible maze of X10 camera ads and pr0n spam.

    If IE finally catches up to the other browsers, and implements a good pop-up blocker that is on by default, everyone will benefit.

  14. Avant for IE does this already by stewartj · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you want popup blocking in IE you can do it already using the Avant browser. It uses the IE engine to render pages, but provides its own front-end with tabbed browsing and popup blocking.

    I've been using it at work since they changed out work proxy so that Mozilla wouldn't work here anymore.

  15. Re:Bad news by JFMulder · · Score: 3, Informative

    You should try Avant browser then. I'm looking right now at my "allow/block flash animations" on my toolbar, right next to the "allow/block pictures" and "allow/block popup" buttons. It's built on top of IE so it's pretty good and it has many features that I love about Mozilla like tabbed browsing. And it's free, though you are encouraged the first time you start it to donate a few bucks via PayPal to the author. I've been using it for a few months now and it works great.

  16. MYIE2 by DongleFondle · · Score: 4, Informative

    MYIE2 is a 3.3 MB download addon to Internet Explorer that adds pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, super drag and drop, customized searches from the address bar, aliases, and is highly customizable, so in a way, you already can get those things in IE.

    I understand that it doesn't fix CSS or any of the security flaws, but it is a nice option for the hopelessly addicted IE user. Oh, and its free.

  17. Re:Bad for users of alternative browsers? by Cecil · · Score: 2, Informative

    I guess you've never heard of Privoxy (a fork of the long-unmaintained Internet Junkbuster proxy). It blocks ad banners, ad popups, ad tracking cookies, ad iframes, referrer strings and keeps the site intact and viewable. Although sometimes it messes around with webpages' javascript code a little too much for my liking. It is completely configurable using regular expressions and filtering rules.

    Thanks to it, I only rarely see ads of any sort. Including here. To those of you who are going to suggest this is stealing: shut up, I don't care about your tirade.

  18. Re:Vote with money by critter_hunter · · Score: 4, Informative

    Requested popup: a popup that is triggered by an OnClick or similar JS event, as opposed to popups that are triggered onUnload, OnLoad, OnHover and timed events triggered from those events. There used to be an excellent test for popup killers, but it appears down at the moment. This one isn't nearly as good, but it'll have to do I guess.

    --
    Karma: Could be worse (could be raining)
  19. Re:Wow!!! by red+floyd · · Score: 2, Informative

    Probably because PNGs were designed by those Evil UnAmerican Communist Open-Sourcers(tm).

    --
    The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  20. Re:Vote with money by NightSpots · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google's toolbar is better.

    Blocks popups, fills in forms when requested without sending the information back to the vendor, and the search box and news buttons are always nice.

  21. Re:Who the what now? by dastrike · · Score: 2, Informative

    Internet Explorer can only display RGBA PNG images properly when using an ugly hack that violates CSS specifications and this method is very slow too (noticed when having a page with lots of RGBA PNG images).

    If that hack is not applied, Internet Explorer will not show the transparancy, instead it will show either the background colour specified in the image or the browser's default background colour (usually gray), which is fully opaque.

    --
    while true; do eject; eject -t; done
  22. Re:Bad news by antiMStroll · · Score: 3, Informative
    Mozilla has a relatively fine grained set of controls regarding Java script covering

    moving or resizing of windows

    raise or lower windows

    hide the status bar

    change the status bar text

    change images

    create or change icons

    read cookies

    for the browser and mail independently. Until MS releases ActiveX for Gentoo, I won't be worrying about that either. ;)

  23. Re:spyware by syrinx · · Score: 2, Informative

    It would be nice to be able to turn on/off Flash/ on a per-site basis.

    You mean like in Firebird with the click to view flash extension?

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
  24. Don't worry about the advertisers . . . by SEE · · Score: 4, Informative

    They'll still be able to make Notepad Popups

  25. FYI by Versix · · Score: 2, Informative
    Firebird has a little icon in the bottom left (i.e. the status bar) that lets you know if it has blocked a pop-up. Double-click this and you can enable pop-ups for the current site.

    Didn't that bell sound get annoying?

  26. Re:Prediction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It was done by Netscape, and, yes, they immediately used the feature for popup ads on their homepage.

  27. Re:Patents good or bad? by Pendersempai · · Score: 2, Informative
    If software patents are going to exist, then it makes sense to patent things you invent in order to protect yourself. If not, and your invention is worth anything significant, some other dweeb will come along, patent the thing you invented, then sue you for using it.

    No it doesn't. All you need to do to protect yourself is:

    1. Wait until you get sued
    2. Invalidate the patent with proof of prior art.

    Getting a patent is a long, expensive process. Defensive patenting doesn't work so well for the little guy.

    That becomes a problem if said dweeb has deep pockets (e.g. Eolas, Microsoft, ...) and you don't.

    That's a problem WHENEVER you get sued, not just when you have a patent. Hell, you're in trouble if Microsoft sues you even if you DO have a patent. This is a structural problem with the U.S. legal system: it's not specific to patent cases. If Microsoft REALLY wants to burn you in court, you'll get burned.

  28. Re:Vote with money by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Informative
    Mozilla bives you a choice between playing the noise of your choice or an icon in the statusbar.

    The icon is enough for me, though. I prefer programs to work as quietly as possible.

  29. Re:This is funny by FCKGW · · Score: 4, Informative

    If IE blocks popups like Mozilla, Opera, Konqueror, and everyone else, then advertisers will just use much more invasive, hard-to-block ads. It will accelerate the arms race between marketroids and Internet users. Maybe ads will use Flash, Java, or some random security hole. As long as the unwashed masses are vulnerable to popup ads, they will be advertised to with popups and those of us who use good web browsers (read: not IE) won't see much invasive advertising.

    --
    It's an operating system, not a religion.
  30. Re:Wow!!! by evrybodygonsurfin · · Score: 4, Informative

    The PNG transparency issue is one that has been addressed by Microsoft, albeit in a way that is so fucking ugly it can only have come from them.

  31. Re:This is funny by Alien54 · · Score: 2, Informative
    in this light:

    Prarie dogs: Be gone (not for people with sensitive stomachs.)

    film footage of the use of high power high velocity rifles on "vermin"

    Entertaining if you are into it. Quite sickening if you are not

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  32. Better PowerToy by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2, Informative

    > You can actually download a *powertoy* from Microsoft...

    Try Virtual Dimension instead. It's GPL'ed and it's quite spiffy. :)

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  33. Re:Vote with money by vena · · Score: 2, Informative

    some of the tests the not-nearly-good one performs are not *really* pop-up tests. you would need to either disable javascript entirely and disable CSS, use custom filters in a proxy like proxomitron to disable the CSS and javascript, or be god.

  34. Re:Bad for users of alternative browsers? by 00420 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ummm... I which version are you thinking of?
    Personally I have used 98, 2000, ME, and XP, and all of them started me as root by default.

  35. Re:Turn it all off... by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2, Informative

    > Just having toggles to enable/disable javascript and java near the address bar would be excellent. Same with disabling plugins like flash. Just so you don't have to go through menus and preference boxes to do it every time...

    Mozilla + PrefBar = just that.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.