# Pop-Up Ad Stoppers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969 "2003-07-03T06:40:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/1 "2003-07-03T06:40:28Z")
OK, I’m getting tired of dealing with pop ups ads. There was a time when the only time I had to deal with them was when I was surfing for free porn. Back then I used a program called _Pop-Up Stopper_. It wasn’t too bad, you turned it on and it blocked all javascript pop-up windows. This was just fine, however it wasn’t really practical for day-to-day use since alot of reputable sites use pop-up ads as a part of typical operation, especially dealing with polls, and registrations and such. Kinda annoying, but not something I want blocked, and it’s really not practical to turn the program on and off as needed. Nowadays, there’s alot of websites that I visit daily that have pop up ads. ESPN, Yahoo!, and CNN all use them. So, I’m wondering what new programs are out there that have addressed this issue. Comcast is advertising a “Pop-up stopper” software free with their broadband service. So, I come to you guys, who I’m sure have already crossed this bridge. What pop-up stoppers have you guys tried? Whats the best? Which ones allow you to create a “block list” or a “allow list”? Share your knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/2 "2003-07-03T06:51:08Z")
Download the Opera Browser. It has a built in pop up blocker. Purchase Zone Alarm Pro and get a pop up blocker, cookie control, and control over what programs access the Net from your computer. It is a good product. You may be able to overide the block on the Javascript boxes by holding the Control key when you want to see the pop up box. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/3 "2003-07-03T07:08:30Z")
Netscape also has a built-in popup blocker. I was afraid at first that it would disable things like webmail compose windows, but I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently it only disables “unrequested” popups. I don’t know how it knows the difference, but it does a great job. And if you want to explicitly enable popups for any particular site, that’s also very easy to do. ---
**Author:** ![tastycorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@tastycorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tastycorn)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/4 "2003-07-03T08:21:44Z")
I use Pup Up Killer. Works decently, although nothing is perfect. You can include or exclude domains to make it more effective. Those DHTML floaters are driving me bonkers though. F\*\*K! ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/5 "2003-07-03T13:26:25Z")
I reccomend getting Mozilla Firebird as a new browser. The built in pop up blocking and tabbed browsing, as well as not having an ad bar like Opera make it really sweet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/6 "2003-07-03T16:02:18Z")
The latest Google Toolbar beta has a popup blocker. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/7 "2003-07-03T16:34:20Z")
One word. _ **The Proxomitron** _ It doesn’t just kill pop-up ads, it kills _every_ ad–banners, everything. ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/8 "2003-07-03T17:17:23Z")
I use PopUpCop. It has all the features you are looking for, plus it can also prevent other annoyances like screens that try to maximize themselves, etc. I heartily recommend it. [http://www.PopUpCop.com](http://www.PopUpCop.com) ---
**Author:** ![siberia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/siberia/32/9129_2.png) [@siberia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/siberia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/9 "2003-07-03T17:49:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Controvert \* > \*\*The latest Google Toolbar beta has a popup blocker. \*\* I have tried many pop up blocker programs and Google’s Toolbar beta is by far the best. I haven’t had one popup since I installed it. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/10 "2003-07-03T18:52:16Z")
Another vote for the new Google Toolbar. It hasn’t interfered with anything yet, and it just quietly does its job. If you’re on a site that generates intentional and desirable popups, CTRL-reload or something like that will let them through for that page. Best part is it’s free! I’m using the “no advanced features” version which means it’s not telling the Google servers what you’re looking at. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/11 "2003-07-03T22:01:34Z")
Another vote for **The Proxomitron**. It stops ads and you can customize it to modify all aspects of the web page before it’s rendered to the screen. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/12 "2003-07-03T22:39:28Z")
“Netscape also has a built-in popup blocker.” I have V.7 & I don’t have that in my preference selections… [download.com](http://download.com) must have tons you can try ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/13 "2003-07-03T22:55:23Z")
[Safari](http://www.apple.com/safari/) blocks pop-up windows by default, and it’s fast and lean, too. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/14 "2003-07-03T23:16:14Z")
**handy** : Go to Edit, Preferences, Privacy & Security, Popup Window Controls. If it’s not there, I don’t know. Are you running it under Windows? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/15 "2003-07-04T01:03:30Z")
AOL Time Warner may have removed some features from Netscape. Use Mozilla; Netscape is based on it anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/16 "2003-07-04T01:27:02Z")
The latest release of Netscape is version 7.1, and [it does feature the popup blocker](http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/browsing.jsp#br1). So if you download Netscape now, you’ll get the popup blocker. But I agree that Mozilla is also a good browser. In fact, as best as I can tell, they’re identical. Mozilla’s target audience is developers, but normal users like you and me will probably do well with it, too. ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/17 "2003-07-04T08:07:15Z")
I’ve been using The Proxomitron for about a year now and I haven’t seen a pop up since. I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/18 "2003-07-04T11:00:19Z")
We use Norton Internet Security on the home computer, and have it configured to block popups and banner ads. It works quite well. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/19 "2003-07-04T15:11:02Z")
“handy: Go to Edit, Preferences, Privacy & Security, Popup Window Controls. If it’s not there, I don’t know. Are you running it under Windows?” Yep. XP. I got the netscape 7 from netscape on a cd too…Are you sure that is 7 & not 7.01? Or whatever one they are using now. ---
**Author:** ![RawkStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@RawkStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RawkStah)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-ad-stoppers/185969/20 "2003-07-04T18:22:54Z")
I use the AnalogX POW! It’s free, it’s small, and it works. Except on pop-ups for Internet Washer Pro. For that, it closes EVERY BROWSER WINDOW EXCEPT THE POP-UP.