I use firefox, and it does a relatively good job of blocking popups. However, the one popup that consistently gets through is from Netflix.
I am not a Netflix customer, never have been, although my wife did try the 1 month trial (different computer, possibly same IP.)
Does Netflix have a deal with blockers to get through or something?
I don’t know but I have also noticed this - at work, not at home. At home I use a Mac.
Where are you seeing 'em? I’d like to test it myself (and maybe answer your question).
With Firefox and Adblock, I haven’t seen a Netflix popup in forever.
Ditto, and ditto.
It’s hard to keep track of them, since I usually use indexes like Yahoo! Buzz for news (which kicks me to like 20 different sites.)
And click on links down the line. I usually get 1-2 netflix popups per 10 or so links, and every day I go through 5-10 pages of headlines.
Another one I use is www.imdb.com’s movie and TV news lists, which does the same thing as Buzz (links to the full article on another site.)
Opened all the links on the first page of Yahoo buzz and saw nothing… is there a specific one that always generates it for you?
Which browser are you using? Are you running Ablock for it?
I don’t remember, but it seems to be from more than one site I regularly visit.
I just run the popup blocker than comes with firefox.
Just get Adblock Plus then, subscribe to the EasyList filters when it asks you, and pretty much never see another popup or ad again.
Well, I think Firefox has maybe a 80-90% block rate, but of the ones that do manage to get through, they are overwhelmingly (maybe 80%) the Netflix ad.
I’ll try to keep track of site vs popup to see if there’s a relationship.
Typically it has to do with Flash or Java or some obscure Javascript that interacts with the way you click. You can try to figure it out on a per-incident basis, but it’s generally not worth the effort when Adblock will take care of it – along with a whole host of other annoyances – with zero energy expenditure on your part.
Just to be fair to Netflix, those incredibly annoying ads are not being placed or hosted by Netflix. It’s a Netflix affiliate. I personally think it’s really hurting Netflix’s reputation and they should do something to stop it. But it’s not really accurate to say that it’s Netflix causing the popups…
Same, but I’m using linux Mint, so maybe it helps that I’m less likely to have spyware.
For what it’s worth, Netflix ads always seem to pop under my browser - close the browser window and there it is.
Same here. I just checked and the Netflix and Screensavers ads were being served by http://www.optmd.com. They have an “opt out” button there which seems to be working. Of course, they imply that this is stealing from the sites that would be getting paid by their ad revenue. IMHO, if a site wants to in-line some banners or eighths, that’s fine. But taking over my browser to pop up new windows with ads is unacceptable to me.
I have never seen a Netflix popup using Opera. Nothing special added regarding optmd in my hosts file or block list.
Never seen the pop ups and I have Firefox with adblock plus.
Nexflix uses a pop-under technique. It appears “under” the main browser window. Pop-unders have never been aggressively targeted by the pop-up blocking software community. Im not exactly sure why. I always assumed because they werent as annoying as pop-ups, they were left alone. I remember using software way back when that gave me the option to block pop-unders as an option, but am not sure if modern blockers/firefox/ie etc do.
I’ve never understood it either. There is a limited level of legitimate use for a regular popup. But a popunder is always an ad. And to me it seems even more nefarious, as they are intentionally trying to hide themselves.
I don’t understand why popup blockers don’t tend to come with a block everything option anyways. It’s not like it isn’t clear when a popup gets blocked. If I think I really need that popup, I can enable it. I, and many people I know, have no desire to open another window, now that we have tabbed browsers. But, if we were going to, we’d do it ourselves.
I use Safari with no ad blocking whatsoever.
I get A BILLION FREAKING NETFLIX POPUNDERS EVERY DAY. It’s almost freaky. I can pretty much guarantee when I close my browser window I will see one. Or four. I really don’t care, but when I don’t get one, I find it weird.
Hey Netflix - if I had any money I would love to give some to you. But I don’t. So I will continue to close your popunders and never ever click on them. Not until I have money.
Yes, I’m a satisfied Netflix customer so I don’t “hate” them but I’ve wondered how they got past the pop-up blockers. I don’t appreciate the fact that they are able to do it. I’ll do business with them without intrusions.
While I admire their business model I hope they don’t shit in their own nest by unnecessarily annoying their loyal customers.