Partial solution to Firefox pop-ups

Factual Questions
1

sigh

I guess it was too good to last.

As a couple of posters have recently pointed out, the scum-suckers who create pop-ups have recently managed to get at least a few of them to work within Firefox.

But, I ran across at least a partial solution using Adblock, a popular extension which can block graphics from any specified source from appearing within the Firefox window. Pretty cool, but every time you find an ad you want to block you have to add it to Adblock’s list – just a matter of wrong-side clicking, but the same ad located on different pages can have a different source string, etc. Sort of a pain.

BUT, someone has gone and done a lot of the work for us, by creating and keeping current a set of Adblock filters that block almost all of the most obnoxious Web nuisances, including those few pop-ups that have managed to sneak through.

So, download and install the Adblock extension (if you havn’t already done so), and do the following:

  1. Go to the Filterset.G page (http://www.geocities.com/pierceive/adblock/), and locate the most recent update (it’s at the bottom of the list, just above changelog.txt).

  2. Wrong-side click on the link and select “Copy Link Location”.

  3. Open Adblock preferences, and select “Import Filters” from Adblock Options.

  4. Paste the URL of the filter set into the “File Name” field and click Open.

Done!
After I did this, I went out to InstaPundit, which carries BlogAds on its page. With the Fileset.G filters in place, BlogAds are GONE, as are a huge amount of other Web advertising, including the pop-ups.

I plan to go back and get the most recent updates frequently.

2

Is there a question here?

I went to the InstaPundit site, and I don’t see any popups. I never see add popups with Firefox.

3

There isn’t really a question, I suppose. I put it here because it is factual information that may be of use to somebody. I could have put it MPIMS, but it isn’t pointless. shrug

I didn’t make myself clear with respect to Instapundit. No, I don’t get popups there, but they do have an entire margin filled with BlogAds, which makes it a good test. The BlogAds are now gone, thanks to AdBlock and Filterset.G!

4

This would be a great addition to the “Have a computer question?” sticky at the top of the forum.

5

It’s not a computer-sticky issue, nor is it one to ignore. There’s definitely sites finding their way around Firefox and creating popups. Snopes is one offender.

6

You won’t get any argument from me - I started thisthread the other day lamenting the very fact. I’m just saying it would be a good addition to the sticky thread - not that it should exist on its own.

7

Of course, that should have said:

…not that it shouldn’t exist on its own.

8

I’ve never seen a popup on snopes. What do you have to do to see one?

9

I get popups on Snopes with either Firefox or IE- and recently had a Spyware attack from one of them. Snopes is a great site, but they seem to not care who they sell their space to. :frowning:

10

I’ve started using Firefox, and I’m getting pop-unders (pop-ups that appear underneath your current window, so you don’t notice them right away). The advertizing gremlins have definitely been working on Firefox. A shame. It’s a nice browser.

11

Actually, the pop-ups I’ve seen in Firefox have all been pop unders. I havn’t seen any since I started using the filter set. It may not be a complete solution, but it certainly improves the overall browsing experience. The people who compile and update filterset.G are to be commended.

TellMeI’mNotCrazy, your thread inspired me to search for solutions. I had origiinally thought I had some spyware running, until seeing that you and others had seen the same thing.

If a mod wants to add this info to the sticky, I’d have no objections.

12

Anyone else have to read that a few times before figuring out it means “right-click”?
Anyway, I use Firefox, with Adblock (and a downloaded filter string list) and still haven’t seen a pop-up, pop-under (or any other ad really) in months.

For good measure I just went to Snopes, clicked around to 6 or 7 pages and still aren’t getting an ad of any kind.

13

To clarify - the Snopes ones only break through very occassionally. Most of the time, it’s as you found.

14

There’s a long list over at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=253831 of sites that manage to sneak popups or whatever past Firefox.

15

Whoops! Let’s try that link again.
Bugzilla

16

“right-click” is correct only for mice set up for right-handed operation. We have left-handed users, so I use the more generic term.

17

I think the lefty Dopers who mouse lefty (most of the lefties I’ve known mouse right-handed because that’s the way they were taught, unfair as it is) can figure out the difference. “Wrong-side click” is just confusing. There’s right and left, and they’re both right (as in correct) depending on what you’re doing, so where the heck is the WRONG side? The bottom of the house?

I admire your attempt, but I think this isn’t the best term.

18

I’m a lefty, but my Commodore 1351 mouse wouldn’t let me swap buttons. Then my Macs only had a single button, so swapping was pointless. Now, swapping seems pointless altogether. Middle finger = left click; index finger = right click and scroll and scroll-click. Doing it any other way is just so wrong! I wonder if only those lefties that curl their hands over the top when they write change their mouse buttons in Windows? I’m not sure if the Mac even lets you, since right-click is only a shortcut for control-click….

19

Macs (OSX) definitely do let you swap the buttons on your mouse (or configure them any other way you’d like), and right-click is not exactly synonymous with control-click any more (in some applications, particularly games, right-click and control-click will have different effects).

20

Dopers can probably figure it out. The users I support, however, include a lawyers and politicians, so I have to use baby talk to get them to understand.