PopUp Blockers

[XGlow]

I've finally HAD IT with the Floating popups and the Drop Down popups I'm running into them all over the internet. They are completely annoying and distracting! I went on a quest to find the Ultimate PopUp blocker. I found a test page for popups which was pretty cool. It told me that my blocker was basically "useless". Try out YOUR blocker here and let me know if you've found a blocker that stops all 13 of them. I'm having a hard time blocking the Floating, Dropdown and Sticky Note type popups. The Floating Popups have to go!!

I've tried POPUP STOPPER free (the worst), POPUPSTOPPER Basic and Companion. POPUP WASHER isn't too bad, but it won't kill the Floating or the Sticky Note versions. The Dropdown "displayed" the popup and then killed it when it opened fully. That's better than nothing.

Here's a list of those annoying pains. Take the Test HERE (http://www.popuptest.com) and let me know if YOU can kill the Floaters and Dropdowns. I'm ready to BUY a program at this point! We have all got to get TOGETHER on this before it goes any further. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx…


01) Multi-PopUp Test #1
02) Multi-PopUp Test #2
03) Come & Go Test
04) Timed PopUp
05) Mouseover PopUp
06) Floating popup (This is the one on my last nerve..)
07) Channel Opener
08) Modeless Window
09) Full screen trap
10) Drop down Popup (This one was on the nerve BEFORE the last one..)
11) Floating banner
12) Chromeless
13) Sticky popup


SPOILER: You may find this message posted at various other websites also. I'm telling you, I've really had it! I'm on a "Quest" for the ULTIMATE blocker……

Can't we do anything about this??

[Homie S]

Did the test, Firefox embedded pop-up blocker blocked every single popup of the tests except ONE.


And people wonder why I use Firefox.

www.mozilla.org my friend. That's all I have to say.

EDIT: I think someone should point out that any pop-up blocker will never really be able to defeat every single pop-up or ad that a website throws at you. But I think the main purpose of of pop-up blockers is to minimize your chances of seeing one to the point where you forget they exist. That's where I'm at right now, I never get pop-ups any more, but I'm sure eventually some hokey weirdo script will show up and get around my pop-up blocker, in which case mozilla will come out with an update to combat it....See where I'm going? Just find one that seems to do the best.

[maceyr]

AGREED. Firefox. I am amazed at the number of people who are still using Internet Explorer and complaining about spyware, pop ups, trojans, and all kinds of nasty stuff installed on their computer.

Get Firefox. And also get the Adblock extension and you can easily block out many ads, especially the annoying Flash ads that don't stop. Life has been so nice ever since I started using Firefox a few years ago.

[PatrickS]

I have a pretty darn good web experience these days. I use the combination of Mozilla (not Firefox) together with Privoxy (http://www.privoxy.org). Highly, highly recommended. Only the drop-down pop-up was let through for me.

[alsa]

Safari or Firefox. Those are my two words for you. And a third (might as well) -- Mac

[XGlow]

Thanx for the replies.

I suppose I will give firefox a try. It doesn't look like a behemoth like IE6. I tried the test using the AOL browser (yea, I know... FlameTyme) and it failed miserably for 6 of them! :eek:

And YES, I would expect my popup blocker to catch all of the popups. I expect Norton AntiVirus to catch all my viruses, don't you? If they update regularly I would only expect to see a popup very few times. Would you want to get a virus a few times a session while you're depending on your AntiVirus prog?

I would assume there must be a product out there whose developers take it seriously enough to keep abreast of the latest popups. I mean, isn't that their bread and butter if the program was actually being sold? Wouldn't they strive to be the "Best"?? I dunno... Maybe it's just me....

Ok, off to mozilla... Thanx.

[SamuraiCatJB]

Popups, like viruses are a constant battle. If an anti-virus program caught all viruses, all the time, there would never need upgrades. Same with popups, if there was one solution that did everything every time, we'd never need anything else. Although nice to think about, its about as realistic as a car that drives forever on one tank of gas. Even electric cars require fossile fuels to make the electricity to power the vehicle.

The question comes down to how responsive is your product to new advances? It is a constant battle on multiple fronts. Virus and spyware writers try to improve their products while anti-virus and anti-spyware products try to fight them, same with popups. But that is a "reaction" battle, the popup blocker cannot block a popup that has not been written. Therefore a popup type must be known first, then a program taught to detect it, and to block it. It is that response time that judges a good product, wether it be anti-virus, anti-spyware, or popup-blockers, they all suffer from response time in product effectiveness.

[Cyker]

It's very odd what you guys say,

I tried FireFox and it was letting in about half of the popups in that test (This is admittedly v1.01 'tho, and without any add-ons. The AdBlocker extension would probably make it perform better, but I find it slows things down substantially...)

IE... well... we'll ignore that,

Konqurer let in a few, although a lot didn't get in because the JavaScript is a bit broken on this one.

Opera 7.54 only let in ones I physically triggered (e.g. the on-mouse over), although if I set it to Block All mode instead of Block Unwanted it blocked every single one.

Man I love Opera :D

[Homie S]

And YES, I would expect my popup blocker to catch all of the popups. I expect Norton AntiVirus to catch all my viruses, don't you? If they update regularly I would only expect to see a popup very few times. Would you want to get a virus a few times a session while you're depending on your AntiVirus prog?


While this would be optimal, if you're going to depend on any program like Anti-virus software or spyware removal to be able to remove any virus or malicious program you throw at it, you've got another thing comin' my friend. These programs help us combat those types of nasty things to the best of their ability, but you can't always be perfectly protected 110% of the time.

EDIT:

Perfect example: Right now there's an AIM worm making rounds by sending messages that say "Hey check out this" with a hyperlink to the malicious code. It's called the SDBOT worm. What's interesting is that TotalVirus says that says that BitDefender and Nod32 are the only ones that actually caught it, so if you thought you got this virus and ran Norton you'd be thinking you're a ok, but not have a clue.

[lesliefranke]

While this would be optimal, if you're going to depend on any program like Anti-virus software or spyware removal to be able to remove any virus or malicious program you throw at it, you've got another thing comin' my friend. These programs help us combat those types of nasty things to the best of their ability, but you can't always be perfectly protected 110% of the time.

I agree entirely. Anti-virus software, spyware removal programs, etc., are reactive in nature. Virus writers or those who create popup programs are always going to be one step ahead of those who are trying to stop them. The best thing to do is to rely on these programs along with smart browsing techniques. Relying only on these programs will bring you nothing but trouble.

[lesliefranke]

I tried FireFox and it was letting in about half of the popups in that test (This is admittedly v1.01 'tho, and without any add-ons. The AdBlocker extension would probably make it perform better, but I find it slows things down substantially...)

I am not sure what you are doing but I do not see how this is the case. Using or not using the AdBlocker extension is not going to make a difference in this case. I am not sure about 1.01 but 1.0 did not block plug-in triggered pop-ups and pop-unders. It was not enabled by default in 1.0 because of concerns dealing with websites that use these techniques for legitimate functionality. With 1.02 and above Firefox will block every true popup without needing any extensions.

The two it will miss, from the mentioned site, are Drop Down and Sticky, but these are not popups. They are layers, not popups, and thus should not be handled by a popup blocker. If you want to get rid of these you will need to use the adblock extension in Firefox. Opera 8 will not block these, either, and rightfully so.

[athlon64]

Another for Firefox.