Internet Tips: The Knock-Down Pop-Ups 2003 Compendium

You don't need me to tell you how hateful pop-ups and their evil twins, pop-unders, are. But I need to do it anyway, just to get it out of my system. These unwanted advertising browser windows are annoying and often crass. They waste time, interfere with browsing, and generally deserve to be annihilated.

There, I feel better.

Yes, I know, even wonderful sites like PCWorld.com sometimes use pop-ups. Nevertheless, they must die. Pop-up habitu?? X-10, you're gonna miss me.

If pop-ups afflict you, I'm willing to bet that you use Internet Explorer. That's because the current versions of every major Windows-compatible browser--except Microsoft's--offer settings (often hard to find) that block pop-ups and pop-unders.

Mozilla 1.3b and Netscape 7.02: The latest versions of the Mozilla and Netscape browsers include a Popup Manager that permits you to block pop-ups from some (but not all) sites. To block all pop-up and pop-under ads, choose Edit, Preferences, double-click the Privacy & Security category, select Popup Windows, choose Suppress popups, and then click OK. Note that this change disables the program's Popup Manager tool, as well.

Unfortunately, blocking all pop-ups can prevent some desirable Web content--such as streaming video playback or log-in dialogs--from opening. To block pop-ups at some sites but not at others, you have two options. The first is to suppress pop-ups as described above, but choose Exceptions to enter a list of sites you'll allow pop-ups from (see FIGURE 1). The second is to leave the Popup Windows setting on the default 'Allow popups'; then, whenever you encounter an obnoxious pop-up, choose Tools, Popup Manager, Suppress Popups from this Site.

Opera 7.0x: Opera is no slouch at blocking pop-up ads, though it doesn't quite match Mozilla's Popup Manager in flexibility. To block all pop-ups, choose File, Quick preferences, Refuse pop-up windows. Another setting, File, Quick preferences, Open requested pop-up windows only, lets some desirable pop-ups open as expected; but in my experience, the setting also blocks some video-playback windows.