there are many forms of solutions to the javascript/pop-up/cookie problem....one of which is to use a browser with built in help. One of these is Phoenix Browser, an offshoot of the Mozilla project. (Of course, you have to USE the settings and read a bit to tailor it to your needs!)

(It is fine if you "prefer" to have Shockwave installed & working...my complaint is with those who just assume that everyone will blindly accept whatever is installed/suggested, and thus offer no explanation of why the page you click on does nothing!)
....Microsoft's "Active-X" is another case...they get lots of people to write for it, but sort of sidestep the issue that it ONLY works with Internet Explorer. This is simply one more link in their push to herd all the sheep into THEIR corral and control all the product, access, security, privacy aspects of the WWW/internet.

If you think I am being paranoid and excessively critical, you should see me trying to work out the switch to broadband access! I was looking at Comcast cable and doing searches on stuff ...and came upon several comments that say that Comcast requires you to use Outlook Express for email!!! Right!..and if I had signed up without knowing this, what would I do with my Eudora program? Or Pegasus?.....

anyway, I shall be contacting Comcast to double-check this and looking at DSL and other possibilities before I dig myself into a hole I can't climb out of.