I had a fairly smart popup swatter (I think that was what it was called) but it installed spyware on my computer. What’s the point in saving time by eliminating popups if the program allows strangers to use your bandwidth to slow you down anyway? And doesn’t tell you either? :rolleyes: I deleted it.
I’m looking for a popup killer program (freeware only – no “free for 30 days” stuff). What’s out there that doesn’t gobble up masses of memory, but is smart enough to recognize the difference between “open in a new window” and the real McCoy? Where can I find it?
SSgtBaloo: Big suggestion, when asking computer questions, give as much info as you can about your computer. In this case, you have to tell us at least the OS and browser.
You really should be using a good browser like Opera. If for some reason you have been forced to use MS-IE, get the Google tool bar.
And never, ever download any random piece of software off the Net ever again.
If I knew enough to know I should tell you the OS and browser in the first place, I might have known enough not to D/L that software. My sister’s been using it for years, but she only uses her computer for email and to send people silly, sometimes amusing pictures. I suspect she never notices the creeping anemia of her slowly decreasing (usable) bandwidth. To give an idea of how computer illiterate my family is, they all consider ME an alpha-geek!
My OS: Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Browser: IE 6.0.2800.1106
ftg: If you were a doctor your bedside manner would be subject to no little criticism. I ask the stupid questions stupidly because I need the stupid answers (and the stupid prompts from more knowledgeable people so I can ask the smarter questions).
Now do you have enough information to provide a relevant answer?
Get firefox. Blocks EVERYTHING, quick as heck, and allows you to block ads from a source= if you go to a website with annoying banner ads, i.e. fox news, you can read without being assaulted by doubleclick.
Not to mention that with the release of a fairly large chunk of Micro$oft’s source code, and the current virus wars being waged, I.E. is about the worst thing to be running.
Baloo, ya big lug, I ain’t gonna slap ya down with my response…
If you’re willing to switch browsers, Mozilla will kill popups, cookies, manage passwords, and do all kinds of neat shtuff for you, with built-in capablities and no charge to boot.
t looks a lot like Nutscrape, but then AOHell takes working Mozilla code, hoses it up, and distributes it as Netscape.
I third the nomination of mozilla. I had a popup blocker when I was using an old version of Netscape, but it was a pain. Mozilla is much better, faster, smaller (a fairly small download and a real simple installation) and I haven’t seen a popup since.
Plus you’ll feel good about not supporting the Beast from Redmond.
Another vote for Mozilla…not least beacuse you can speed things up by the “Block images from this server” right-click option…so all those banner ads which insist on loading no longer take up bandwidth and time.
Switching browsers is a pain. The only way I know how to transfer the contents of my favorites/bookmarks list is to manually use the old browser to go to each bookmarked site in turn and cut-n-paste the URL from the Nav bar into the other browser’s nav bar, then (once the new browser’s on the same page) add it to the faves list for that browser. It’s more cumbersome than it sounds, if that’s possible ;). I’m still recovering web addresses from my flirtation with Navigator and stuffing them into IE’s Favorites folder.
If there were an automated way to do this with Mozilla, then I would have no objection to switching. I could then delete Nav and tell IE to go back to sleep unless I wanted a “MalSoft” upgrade.
I’ve bookmarked the Google toolbar site pending further responses. I don’t like anything that makes the viewing area for my browser smaller. That’s part of why I switched back to IE from Netscape. Those @#$% big buttons were blocking my view! At least with IE I know how to make the text on the toolbars go away & I make the icons reeeally small to maximize the “View v.s. Tool” ratio.
I’d write more but it’s time to take the garlic bread out of the oven (YUM!)
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of of losing all your settings, there’s yet another option. I’ve been using Avant Browser for quite a while and have nothing but good things to say about it. It runs on top of IE, so your favorites should survive. It’s just that you’ll have smart pop-up protection and a few other much-needed improvements.
Like GorillaMan says, your Favorites can be imported painlessly. Having just made the switch from IE to Mozilla Firefox myself, I can tell you it’s quite easy to do - and a much more satisfying browsing experience.
Built in pop-up killer and ad-blocking, and tabbed browsing - it’s a beautiful thing.
google offers a pop-up blocker along with the google toolbar (which is very helpful for searching). It is what I use and is effective, painless, and practically invisible.
Since you obviously haven’t had enough of my help, here’s more:
You an turn off the icons in toolbars, giving just the text, or kill the toolbars completely. Look for “Options” or “View” in the menus.
Exporting/importing bookmarks between browsers is easy even if it’s not done automatically. Look for those terms in the menu or help. I export my main PC’s bookmarks to other PCs I use all the time. No big deal at all.
If you think something is hard, there probably is a much easier way to do it. (Unless Bill Gates has declared it a “feature”.)
Ah-HA! I thought something of the sort (not about the doctor part, that was just a lucky guess). Experts do every day what most of us never think of, and can get impatient with people who don’t understand the things they take for granted as being “elementary”. I’m guilty of that myself, but I’m canny enough not to offer examples.
That is a true statement. The hard part is when you’re so out of practice you can’t remember how to do something, or worse, can remember only part of how to get from A to B in a process, especially if it’s "from here to “B”. (But how do I get from “A to here”? And where is A anyway?)
Thanks. At least now I have some Idea where to root around in the menus to find those features. It doesn’t help that I’m using much newer versions of software I was once familiar with and that they use different terms to refer to the same/similar operations.
(Follows instructions for importing/exporting bookmarks.)
Hey! It worked! Thanks large, ftg! Now I can delete Netscape, download Mozilla, etc., etc! I’ll have to reread this thread to figure out how to get Mozilla to swat dem pesky popups, but at least I am (incrementally) smarter than when I started!
I love my Google toolbar… One because I’m a Google freak and two because… as of this moment it has blocked 849 pop ups since the last time I installed it - which was about a month ago.
Ever go to the lyrics sites and get a million and one pop ups? Google takes care of that for me. (Also a lyric freak, I am)
On a side note there are some insidious spyware programs that actually execute popups outside of IE that the popup blockers I’ve tried won’t block. After a four week battle to get the stupid computer back under my control I installed a firewall and run Adaware constantly… Technology is such a double edged sword.
