Tech: popups

Subject: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 08:27 PM

Is there such a thing as a FREE popup killer?

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 08:53 AM

I have just downloaded the new google toolbar. Not exactlt a free lunch (Is there such a thing ;-) ) but free from financial costs. What it does is downloads information about your browsing habits with no personal details to Google. Check it out on Google.com

Seems to do the trick with killing popups! I have blocked 3 up to now (1 hour)

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:17 AM

google toolbar? is that what I type in?

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Jim McLean
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:19 AM

There is a free on at panicware.com which works for me.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:25 AM

The Google toolbar can be downloaded from this page. I use it and I'm delighted with it.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:29 AM

Like Jim sez...

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:33 AM

I use the Panicware. Free.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: NicoleC
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 11:17 AM

Webwasher is completely free for personal use.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 12:37 PM

Some people are not happy with Google as a company, or the Google Toolbar. Click here to read Google Watch website. Scroll down to Point 6 for another slant on the Toolbar.
I don't know to what extent we should be concerned by the practices of BIG Internet Companies, but some people out there are definitely worried that these companies do things which they cannot justify as being for OUR benefit.
Quack!
Geoff the Duck

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 01:07 PM

Most of the anti-Google campaign is initiated by people who are pissed off at being unable to spam the search engine. On the other hand Google doesn't exist for Geoff's benefit or mine but for its shareholders.

I got a popup and ad killer bundled with Norton. A bit too efficient at times, as well as taking out popups and most banner ads it takes out the occasional legitimate site graphic as well.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 01:20 PM

Thanks a lot folks. I went to gooigle the other day and all they offered was free trial on stoppers that would eventually require payment. This appears to be totally free. Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 10:54 AM

Now the damn popup stopper is a popup! Everytime I log on, up it pops, and everytime it blocks a popup it pops up to tell me!

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 11:14 AM

No such problems with the google tool bar for me yet! 23 and counting...

:D

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 11:34 AM

If you got the panicware one, there should be an X in the pop up box to close that part. You will still get a red circle but it goes away fairly fast.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 02:16 PM

Like I have been posting for months, I use a couple of programs and browsers that do their work quietly and efficiently. I get NO pop-ups and no little popups telling me how they are stopping popus..*grin*

A forum search on the word "Proxomitron" will find almost everything I have said about it.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Amergin
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 02:28 PM

i never had a problem with popups with opera....instead of popping up on the screen and annoying the hell out of me....they would just show up on the toolbar at the bottom...where i can close them at my leisure...

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 04:38 PM

*nod*..Opera and Mozilla and/or Firebird do quite well with built-in controls, I just use two lines of defense...just in case.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 06:29 PM

All I want is a totally free popup killer that doesn't become a popup itself.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 03 - 07:38 PM

http://www.proxomitron.info/

http://www.webwasher.com/

either one of these will do. I prefer the first.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:08 AM

I downloaded Panicware a week or so ago, and now it not only drives me nust poping up to say it just blocked a popup, but it now allows competing popup killers to popup!

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 03:24 PM

Security and privacy online will continue to be a challenge. Most of us will never be completely private while online. Forty years ago I used to browse at Chicago's Modern Bookstore (AKA the Communist bookstore) on Chicago Ave. near Loyola University's downtown campus. As you left the shop, you could look across the street at a second story window and see a camera mounted on a tripod pointed at the door of the shop. I assume my picture is in an FBI file somewhere showing me smiling and waving at the camera. Privacy is more of a concept than a fact these days.

Still there are some things one can do to make online computer use safer and less irritating.

• First use an operating system with features that allow security measures to be taken. These include Windows XP Professional, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX and a few minor OSs only used by extreem geeks. These OSs may not be secure out of the box but they can be made to operate securely.
  
• Use a firewall product that allows you to specify the filtering rules in detail. I prefer Kerio Personal Firewall because it gives me the ability to compose rules directly, learn its own rules as I work, never interferes with my computer and is free for personal use at home.
  
• Use a highly-rated and well-supported anti-virus program. I use (and recommend) AVG from Grisoft. AVG is a new design and architecture that employs a single powerful detection engine for use by each subsystem being monitored (i.e., email, RAM, boot sector, browser, download, executables, document scripts). Unlike Norton and McAfee, it never interferes with the Windows OS or causes problems with other software. And of course they have a free version for non-commercial use at home.
  
• Use a program designed to monitor your startup settings so Internet sites and trojans can't introduce mischief without your knowledge. I prefer WinPatrol Plus from BillP Studios. This very nifty program stays in the background using very few system resources but quitely barks (woofs) if anyone tries to add or change a startup program. There is a free version available but I paid the USD 19.95 for the Plus version which documents the purpose of everything that's started when you boot your system. It takes care of startup folders, the registry, .BAT files, the works, and lets you easily manage your computing environment for speed and safety.
  
• Run some type of adware/spyware catcher. I've recently replaced my free veresion of Ad-Aware because they seem no longer to be updating the product. If these programs aren't regularly updated, they quickly become useless. I've switched to the very highly recommend Spybot Search & Destroy. Spybot is free but donations are accepted. There is no penalty in function or support if you choose not to donate. The author is passionate about fighting spyware and the program is very thorough.
  
• If you have two or more computers in a network at home, your internet connection should be connected to a router with its own internal firewall. Mine is wireless and made by D-Link.
  

It's not by design but it's interesting to note that all of the security products I use were developed in countries outside the U.S. I don't claim to be immune from every possible attack but I have taken a few steps to minimize risk.

I do use the Google Tool Bar and have no trouble with it. They include, at your option, a program that lets you donate unused CPU cycles to a worldwide supercomputing project. I tried that but found I don't like it running all the time so I've turned it off. It does do a good job of preventing most popups and allows you permit popups on specific sites if they are a desireable part of the content at the site. My other security/privacy tools prevent my being tracked in any personally identifiable way. I'm not as paranoid as some people but I am a computing professional with a good understanding of what is possible and what is reasonable.

It's a pain to have to take all the precautions but once installed and understood, these steps will take much of the worry out of being online.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 04:37 PM

great suggestions! (I know, because they are what *I* use..*grin*)(except for Google toolbar)...but Kerio, AVG and Spybot S&D don't directly deal with pop-up ads...I stand by my suggestions above for those.

Using a browser with anti-popup protections (Opera or Mozilla)is a good start, but nothing beats Proxomitron once it is set up..(as an example, you can choose to not see banner ads on web pages, but if you wish, it will put a little red [ad] where the banner was, to show you it's being blocked)

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 07:10 PM

I dumped panicware and it still pops up!

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 07:11 PM

Right, Bill, those fundamental pieces, Kerio, AVG, WinPatrol and Spybot don't specifically addresses popups. However the Kerio FAQ at Blarp.com offers suggestions for stopping popups before they need detection. You need to understand where they come from but the rule helps.

I'm not sufficiently annoyed by popups to need anything beyond what the Google toolbar provides but, should popups become a problem for me, I'll definately be trying Proxomitron. I tend not to visit sites that are often plagued by popups, only because I usually have no interest in the content on those sites.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 07:40 PM

Windows and Intenet Washer- this is free and has a pop-up killer among lots of other facilities. I only put it up a cpople of days ago, but it seems pretty effective.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: kendall
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:16 PM

I now have webwasher. It is working well.

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:17 PM

I haven't yet researched Winows and Internet Washer but I looked on their site and couldn't find a license document. The program sells for USD 34.95. A lot of software sold this way, with a free version available, include ad-ware and or spy-ware in the free version to recoup costs. Buying the registered version lets you run without the spy-ware. If you run Windows and Internet Washer, you might want to run Spybot Search and Destroy right behind it just to see if it's clean.

Sometimes the license for the free version of software requires that you leave the spy-ware component enabled since that is how the publisher recoups costs. For these programs, if you disable the spy-ware the application may no longer run or, if it does run, you may no longer be entitled to use it.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: popups
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:33 PM

good, Kendall! I have heard it does pretty well!