Out Out Damn'd Spot!
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
What is a pop-up?
A pop-up is an advertising page that appears in a new browser window while you are surfing on the Internet. Pop-up windows are an aggressive way to ensure that the web surfer sees an advertisement by opening windows that you must close before you can continue on. The example above should show you how annoying pop-up ads can be! (It is not a real pop-up, so you cannot get rid of it.) Sometimes you need to close two or three windows just to see what you came to the site for. And each time you go back, the windows pop up again, and again. This is very annoying, but easily avoided.
Pop-ups can easily be stopped on three of the most popular browsers.
- Internet Explorer for Windows- the Google Toolbar
- Netscape Navigator 7.01
- Apple's Safari Browser
You will only need to use one of these three methods to block pop-up ads on your computer. Choose the method based on the browser you use.
The Google Toolbar only works on the Internet Explorer browser, in Windows.
What is the Google Toolbar?
The Google Toolbar is two things: a pop-up blocker, and easy access to the Google search engine that stays in your browser. As an add-on to the search engine, it allows you to highlight search phrases in the documents you are viewing, search individual sites, and automatically fill in forms. I feel the Google Toolbar is the most useful pop-up blocker available. When installed, the Google Toolbar looks like this: (Google Toolbar circled in red)
Installing the Google Toolbar.
Installing the Google Toolbar is quick and easy. But first, I recommend that you turn off or uninstall any other toolbar that has been added to your browser. If you currently have the Yahoo! toolbar installed, then you are in luck- it also has the same pop up blocker, and a similar search function. The Yahoo! toolbar is a good alternative to the Google Toolbar.
To get the free Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer on Windows, go to: http://toolbar.google.com/ . On the page you will see a button similar to the one outlined in red here. Click the button.
A new window will open, click the "open" button as shown below.
After hitting "next" on the first screen, you will be asked a question about "advanced features." It is always best to fully read what you are agreeing to, but it is my suggestion that you choose to enable the advanced features.
When the next screen comes up, the "Final Instructions," everything should be left at the default. (Use google.com for search, make it your default search engine, and close all Explorer windows.) Now the Google Toolbar will be installed, and your browser will open to a "help" page.
Pop-ups are now automatically blocked. For information on all of the different features including highlight search phrases, searching individual sites, etc. take a look at their button-by-button explanation.
Blocking Built Right In
Using Netscape version 7, it is very easy to block pop-up ads -- the feature is built right in. While running the Netscape Navigator browser, select: Tools-Popup Manager-About Popup Blocking
After agreeing that yes, you want to block pop-up windows, you will see the preferences for the pop-up blocking.
The two most important things here are: make sure that the "block unrequested pop-up windows" box is checked, and be familiar with the "Allowed Sites" option.
Allowed Sites are sites that you will allow to use pop-up windows in your browser. Typically, you might need to allow pop-up windows for sites like your bank, where they have a separate window open for you to sign-in. Clicking the Allowed Sites button will show you a list of sites that Netscape has already put on your list. You can remove these, and add your own sites.
You're done setting up pop-up blocking using Netscape 7!
Well, Netscape made it look easy, but Apple goes one step further with Safari. Here is a picture of the Safari menu.
You can just hit the command-K combination to turn pop-up blocking on and off.
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