I use IE7 and occasionally I get a pop-up even though blocking is on and usually works.
How does this blocking work and why does it fail? I am talking about navigating to a web site, and then with no further clicks I get another window open up with an ad, either on top of or underneath my current window. (I am not talking about clicking on a link that opens in a new window.)
My impression is that there are many different ways of causing a new window to occur. Possibly some of them are blocked, and others are akin to spyware in that the new window takes advantage of a bug or flaw in the software?
It doesn’t work because it’s Microsoft crappy IE and it fails because it’s Microsoft crappy IE. Get Firefox.
While this is good advice- I, personally, install Firefox and AdBlock as the first two things I do on a new computer- this doesn’t always help. Even with Firefox and AdBlock, I do occasionally find popups. Or, more frequently, popunders.
Firefox doesn’t fix everything, and IE isn’t always completely worthless.
The pop-ups that come up on [del]Snopes[/del] a website that I go to everyday have managed to get past Firefox, IE, and AVG. They must be using some high-powered dickware.
Web technologies are a lot more complicated than we tend to think they are. You can make pop-up or pop-under windows in javascript in a few different ways. You can also obfuscate code to fool blockers.
On top of it, blockers try to be intelligent. For instance, I may click on something that brings up a pop-up but because its a click-event (or whatever they are called in js) its not considered a pop-up. This makes using the web easier but might be exploited by someone who wants to get past your pop-up defense.
Lastly, I dont think anyone blocks pop-unders. Netflix is notorious for this. Pop-unders dont have the stigma that pop-ups have.
FWIW, I find IE to do just as well as Firefox in this regard.
I am a software development manager. Although I do not have a strong background in web development, I have written some JavaScript, and have done a taste of J2EE and a bunch of PHP (none of it for production systems). I am asking the question because I was looking for a somewhat technical explanation.
Thanks for the opinion but this comes nowhere near to answering the question. :rolleyes:
That may not be possible for someone who doesn’t have all the needed permissions on the computer they’re using.
Some popups are generated by Flash, which isn’t caught by AdBlock, as that only handles primarily Java/Javascript-based pop-ups. Get FlashBlock in addition to AdBlock and you’ll be good to go. FlashBlock requires you to give permission either on a case-by-case basis, or on a whitelist-basis to sites with Flash content. Using these two plugins, I haven’t gotten a popup in ages.
If you want a more technical answer, can you post a link to a page or a site that does this for you? One of us can check out the Javascript and tell you what it’s doing.
Could be that it’s not the web sites - your browser is infected and the pop ups are coming from that.
The Cincinnati Enquirer website always manages to get Netflix popups right by Firefox. I think ESPN’s website has it too. I never can block Netflix popups.
Do you have Adblock Plus installed in Firefox? I don’t get any popups from Snopes.
I have gotten them on Snopes but am unable to reproduce the situation at the moment, will get back. It surprised me because I think of them as a device used on less scrupulous sites.
The following link caused a pop-behind for Netflix
http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner/episode-1
The pop-behind window had the following URL
I was unable to reproduce this, though, so it may be generated randomly.