POP-UPS, ADS, AND FLASH


POP AWAY POP-UPS

The Annoyance:

Browsing the Web these days feels like cruising a carnival midway, with pop-up ads screaming their messages at me everywhere I turn. If I wanted bright, flashing lights, I'd visit Las Vegas. How can I kill these digital carnival barkers?

The Fix:

The Web's all-time great search tool, the Google Toolbar, kills pop-ups from directly within Internet Explorer. Get it at http://toolbar.google.com. Another good free pop-up killer is EMS Free Surfer mk II, available from http://www.kolumbus.fi/eero.muhonen/FS/fs.htm. Also popular (and, I think, superior) is iHatePopups, available for $9.95 from http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=935. It can distinguish between "good" and "bad" pop-ups, and it lets you add specific pages to a "whitelist" so that it knows which pop-ups you want to let through. (What's "good" and what's "bad"? Any window that opens without your instruction is considered a "bad" pop-up window. A window that opens after you click a link or press Enter is considered a legitimate new window. Pop-up ads typically aren't triggered by clicking a link, but editorial pop-ups generally are.)

If you have Windows XP's Service Pack 2 (SP2), your updated version of Internet Explorer already includes a built-in pop-up killer. To make sure it's working, choose Tools Pop-up Blocker, and make sure that "Turn off Pop-up Blocker is unchecked. Both Opera and Netscape Navigator have built-in pop-up killers, too. In Opera, choose File Preferences Refuse pop-up windows. You can even tell Opera to allow pop-up windows but to open them in the background, instead of on top of your browser.

To enable Netscape's pop-up killer, choose Edit Preferences Privacy & Security Popup Windows and check the "Block unrequested popup windows box.

I WANT MY POP-UPS! (WELL, SOME OF THEM)

The Annoyance:

I use the pop-up blocker in the SP2 version of Internet Explorer, and now I can't log into my favorite web site, because it uses a pop-up box for entering the password and username. I hate pop-ups, but this is one pop-up I need!

The Fix:

Whenever Internet Explorer blocks a pop-up, you hear a little "pop" sound, and the new Information Bar appears underneath the Address Bar, telling you a pop-up was blocked. To let the pop-up through, click the Information Bar and choose "Show Blocked Pop-up" (Figure 5-1). If you'd like all pop-ups from the site to be let through, choose "Allow Pop-ups from This Site."

Figure 5-1. If thereAPOSTs a friendly pop-up youAPOSTd like to let through, click IEAPOSTs new Information Bar and let it know.


You can also tell Internet Explorer to let through pop-ups from other sites, or, conversely, stop them cold in their tracks. To let 'em through, right-click the Information Bar, choose "Pop-up Blocker Settings," and type in the relevant URLs in the "Allowed sites" part of the dialog box (Figure 5-2). Want to stop accepting pop-ups? Select a listed site and click the Remove button.

Figure 5-2. HereAPOSTs where to tell Internet Explorer which sitesAPOST pop-ups to allow.


MAKE THE INTERNET AN AD-FREE ZONE

The Annoyance:

In all my years of web surfing, I figure I've seen approximately 65,438 ads, and I have yet to click a single one. Isn't there some way I can turn off these annoying annoyances?

The Fix:

There are plenty of ad blockers out there. My favorite free one is WebWasher Classic (Figure 5-3), which is available for download from http://www.webwasher.com/client/download/private_use/windows/index.html?lang=de_EN. It lets you block ads on a site-by-site basis; will kill only from specific ad servers; and will kill pop-ups, animations, cookies, and other annoyances.

WebWasher Classic is not the easiest program in the world to use, so check out the tips at http://www.pacificnet.net/~bbruce/workshop.htm. An excellent paid ad blocker is AdSubtract, which kills ads, banners, pop-ups, cookies, JavaScripts, Java applets, animations, and background music. With AdSubtract you can create profiles for different sites, so that, for example, you allow only animations and background music through on one site, and only animations and Java applets on another. A free version is available at http://www.adsubtract.com/se/features.html, but it only blocks web banner ads. For the real deal, pony up the $30 for the full package (a free 30-day trial is available from http://www.adsubtract.com).

Figure 5-3. From WebWasherAPOSTs main configuration screen, you can customize how to block adsthe Partial URL section is the filter list.


Figure 5-4 shows a typical web ad. Figure 5-5 shows what you'll see when you've successfully blocked the ad.

Figure 5-4. Tired of seeing big fat ads across the top of your browser?


Figure 5-5. Ad begone! ItAPOSTs now replaced by a soothing white box.



Tip: The Mozilla and Firefox browsers can also block ads from specific ad servers. In Mozilla, just right-click the ad and select "Block Images From This Server." If blocking the ad causes problems displaying the web page, choose Tools Image Manager, click Manage Image Permissions, select the server to unblock, and click the Remove Site button. In Firefox, right-click the ad and select "Block Images From <adservername>." If blocking the ad causes problems displaying the web page, right-click the ad and take away the checkmark next to "Block Images From <adservername>." You can also choose Tools Options, click the Web Features button, click the Permissions button, select the server to unblock, and click the Remove Site button.
The Fix:

Your first impulse might be to uninstall the Flash player on your PC, but this is easier said than doneFlash isn't listed in the Add or Remove Programs control panel, and there's no uninstall program anywhere else on your hard drive. However, Macromedia has posted an uninstaller at http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/remove_player.htm.

There's one problem with this solution, thoughsometimes you want to see Flash animations. A better solution is TurnFlash, available at http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22947,00.asp. When you visit a site with an annoying Flash animation, click the TurnFlash icon in the Windows System Tray, and the animation will be killed. (If you go to another page on the site and then return to the first page, you'll have to turn off the Flash animation again.)

HOMEGROWN AD KILLER

Want to stop ads the do-it-yourself way? Edit the HOSTS file hiding on your PC. (But before you do, first read "Instant Internet Speedup," later in this chapter, so you know how to use the HOSTS file.) You can use the HOSTS file as a kind of homegrown ad killer: you create separate entries in the file for annoying ad servers and give each entry a special IP address that tells your PC to ignore the servers and not display any information from them.

The special IP address is 127.0.0.1. Sample entries would look like this:

     127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net     127.0.0.1 ads.msn.com     127.0.0.1 ads.switchboard.com     127.0.0.1 ads.doubleclick.net 

How do you find all the ad servers? The site http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html compiles a list every month. Better yet, you can download a ready-to-use HOSTS file from the site with all the ad servers already listed.


That still may not quite solve your problem, though, because you may want to see Flash animations when they're part of the actual content of the page, but not see annoying Flash and animated GIF pop-up ads.

Most pop-up blockers don't block rich media ads, which are often built using Macromedia Flash and sometimes with animated GIFs. One that does is the free Pop-Up No-No!, available at http://www.popupnono.com. It runs in the System Tray and will block Macromedia Flash ads, background sounds, animated GIFs, normal pop-ups, and Windows Messenger Service spam. It works with Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, and Opera, and it lets multiple people using the same computer customize their own settings. To change your settings, right-click its icon in the System Tray and make your choices (Figure 5-6).

For details on WebWasher Classic, AdSubtract, and Pop-Up No-No!, see Table 5-1.

Figure 5-6. Pop-Up No-No! lets you choose which types of rich media ads, pop-ups, and other annoyances to kill, and which to let through.


Table 5-1. Ad-blocking software features
 

WebWasher Classic

AdSubtract Pro

Pop-Up No-No!

Static banners

Animated banners

Pop-ups

Pop-unders

Flash ads

Flashing GIF/other multimedia ads

Messenger Service ads

  


WHO CLICKS RICH MEDIA ADS?

If rich media ads seem to be everywhere these days, that's because they are. In February 2004, the largest distributor of web ads, DoubleClick, said that rich media ads made up almost 40 percent of all of the ads it distributed. That number was up by 60 percent compared to 2003.

Who clicks on rich media ads? Most likely you do, or someone you know. DoubleClick also reported that rich media ads were a whole lot more effective than static ads and banners. The company said that one in 79 Internet users who saw a rich media ad in February 2004 clicked it, compared to only one in 370 for other types of ads. The company even claims that even those who didn't click were more likely to head off to the advertisers' web sites or buy their products.


Proxomitron Kills Flash, Too

Another tool that will kill Flash animations is Proxomitron. When you run it, instead of seeing a Flash element, you see a link. Click the link to play the animation; leave it alone if you don't want to play it. Proxomitron does a lot more as well, including blocking pop-ups. It's no longer in development, but you can still download it from http://www.proxomitron.info.


FIND THAT FLASH FILE!

The Annoyance:

I sometimes come across Flash animations on web sites that I'd like to save, but there doesn't seem to be any way for me to do it. Are the files lurking somewhere on my PC?

The Fix:

You bet they are. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files (where Your Name is your XP account name) and look for the most current files with a .swf extensionthe extension for Flash movies. Copy the SWF files to another location on your PC, and you can play them whenever you want. (Just double-click a file and it will load in your browser.) Another solution is to get Cool Flash Player, which lets you save Flash animations to your PC, turn SWFs into executable files, and convert Flash files to screensavers or Windows wallpaper. Download the program and the first 20 "executions" are free; after that, you'll have to $29.95 if you decide to keep it. Get it from http://www.siskinsoft.com/downloads.html.



    Internet Annoyances
    Internet Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Going Online
    ISBN: 0596007353
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2003
    Pages: 89

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