Re: Double popup not blocked?

From: Vanguardx (see_signature)
Date: 09/03/04 

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 20:21:02 -0500

"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com>
wrote in news:uU3FUIUkEHA.3392@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl:
> I have been telling people here the same thing for a year! (-:
>
> But, many are cheap and don't want to pay $19.95 for an excellent
> product!

Yeah, amazing. Same for shareware that the users continue to use way
past the trial period. They use something like IE SP-2's popup blocker
or the ones in the freebie Google or Yahoo toolbars and wonder:

- Why they cannot block Flash content, or replay it after it was
blocked.
- How to replay that last blocked popup (since a refresh of the next
page won't show it as it was initiated from the prior page).
- How to list what all got blocked by the popup blocker, whether as a
list of URLs or in the form of statistics.
- How to bypass the useless warning dialogs.
- How to disable script timers or mouse tricks without totally disabling
scripting.
- How to whitelist some sites to popups are allowed (and without having
to resort to trusting them in the Trusted Sites security zone, if their
popup blocker even honors the Trusted Sites security zone).
- How to get rid of those pesky Geocities ad-squares or InVue ads.
- How to prevent changes to their home page (from unsolicited/unclicked
dialogs).
- How long to leave the popup on the screen before automatically closing
it (so you can choose between almost immediate to long enough to let you
know what might've been in it but still get it out of the way).
- What was it that it all blocked on that page.
- Disable or just warn on the use of meta-refresh.
- How to, in general, allow popups on a domain (by whitelisting it) but
still block some popups that appear (like farking surveys).
- What additional product they need for cookie management.
- What other product they need to clean up after closing the browser
(history, recent doc list, temp files [which IE's option is flaky to
perform], favicons, and typed URLs).
- Why do I need a separate cookie manager and all these other tools
constantly running when the only time their use is applicable is when
the browser is loaded?

It's pretty handy to have a whole bunch of features rolled into one
product which unfortunately sounds by its name as though all it handles
is popups. Guess we're getting to sound too much like "affiliates"
spamming the product here. :-o

I remember testing over a dozen different popup blockers and chose this
one but didn't buy it until near the end of its trial period since I had
lots of questions to ask and found the author very responsive. I
remember having to work on the Links toolbar working for javascripted
shortcuts (to allow them since YOU have to click on them). However, if
blocking only some of the popups is good enough and you don't want all
the extras in PopUp Cop and prefer a simpler and less featured product
(mostly because you don't want to invest the time to figure out what a
more powerful product will do so you know how to tailor it to your needs
mostly because you prefer not to take the time to define your needs)
then PopUp Cop would be overkill. I'm sure there are lots of users out
there that think the Windows XP firewall (SP-1 or SP-2 versions) is good
enough for them, or an anti-virus product shown in independent testing
to catch only 87% to 95% of real in-the-wild viruses is good enough.
And not everyone wants to devote the time and effort in trialing several
similar products and then restore a disk image (to wipe out all
pollution gets left by uninstalls) to then decide and install the one
that they liked best. Some just want a quick, easy, and weak solution.
It's hard to beat free if all you want is bare minimal functionality and
are willing to endure irregular results.

If anyone comes up with a better popup blocker that also incorporates
all the other functions of PopUp Cop, or more, and at that price then
I'll surely go check it out. Unfortunately popup blockers don't get the
same level of *independent* review and testing as do anti-virus,
anti-spam, and anti-spyware products. They're just not as glitzy or
cause overall as much trouble as viruses and malware. It would be handy
if even Edensoft came up with their "compare us to them" web page. From
my communications with the author, he seems the type that would even
point out any deficiencies of his product when compared to others.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How can I get rid of the popup blocker with SP2???
    ... > javascript popup link qualify as "active content"... ... those website that I have built and saved in my PC. ... >>> expand an image in a new window and there it goes again. ... >>> shouldn't have to since the popup blocker is supposed to be OFF... ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser)
  • Re: Double popup not blocked?
    ... Or people who visit web sites, thus making the owner pay money to give you the page, yet insist on depriving the web site of any revenue. ... > past the trial period. ... They use something like IE SP-2's popup blocker ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: How can I get rid of the popup blocker with SP2???
    ... open one of the sites from C:// the status bar does not show the popup ... expand an image in a new window and there it goes again. ... can't add local addresses to the safelist of websites... ... shouldn't have to since the popup blocker is supposed to be OFF... ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser)
  • Re: Popups - AOL
    ... I don't know or care whether AOL have their own popup blocker, ... >> I disabled Windows Messenger Service many months ago, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: How can I get rid of the popup blocker with SP2???
    ... I know what you're saying, and true, an icon does appear on the status bar ... on websites with automatic popups... ... open one of the sites from C:// the status bar does not show the popup thing, ... shouldn't have to since the popup blocker is supposed to be OFF... ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser)