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There you were, innocently browsing the Internet, when they appeared: "You could win $1,000,000!" "Need prescription medicine?" "Click here for your free trip!" "Your computer is at risk! Click here for details!" Window after annoying window, materializing without any input from you, all hawking products you don't need or scams you aren't interested in. They're called pop-up windows, and thanks to pop-up blocker utilities, there's something you can do about those annoying pop-up windows.
 Too Much Of A Good Thing?
You'd think that designing a good pop-up blocker is easy. Just program the pop-up blocker to look for the types of code that triggers the pop-up and have it block that code from executing, right? Not quite. Many sites on the Internet use pop-up windows in an intelligent way to let visitors get close-ups of items or access information quickly without having to leave the page they are already viewing. Want to see a bigger picture of those shoes that are on sale? Click the thumbnail picture and a larger image appears in a pop-up window for your perusal.
The best pop-up blockers are able to ignore these "legitimate" pop-up windows while still squashing windows that contain advertising. Most do this by ignoring pop-up windows that appear when you manually click a Web link (as opposed to appearing automatically without your input). At the very least you should only consider pop-up blocker software that lets you create a "white list" of sites that are exempt from pop-up blocking.
Regardless of the pop-up blocker you choose, most let you temporarily override the software by holding down the CTRL key while clicking a link. For example, if Internet Explorer prevents an image pop-up from loading when you click a thumbnail image, press and hold down the CTRL key while you click the image, and the pop-up window should appear.
Integrated Solutions
One of the best ways to avoid pop-ups is to use an alternative Web browser, such as Opera ($39; www.opera.com) or Mozilla Firefox (free; www.mozilla.org/products/firefox), which are not as prone to pop-ups as IE is and come with integrated pop-up blockers. We highly recommend Firefox because it is free, fast, and powerful, and its pop-up blocker works surprisingly well. To enable the utility launch Firefox, expand the Tools menu, select Options, click Web Features, and select the Block Popup Windows checkbox.
If you have Windows XP and have installed WinXP Service Pack 2, Microsoft added a rudimentary pop-up blocker that also works fairly well. To access the pop-up blocker, launch IE, expand the Tools menu, select Pop-up Blocker, and click Turn On Pop-Up Blocker. You also can click the Pop-Up Blocker Settings entry to adjust the aggressiveness of the blocking and to access an exceptions list. We recommend using the Medium Filter Level setting, which blocks most automatic pop-ups but lets legitimate pop-up windows appear.
Pop-Up Blocker Showdown
There are dozens of pop-up blocker programs available, all with different feature sets, prices, and user interfaces. We pitted 10 of what are generally considered to be the best pop-up blockers against one another to see which one was the best at preventing advertising pop-ups while still letting us get maximum use out of the sites that have useful pop-ups.
We tested each product by browsing a number of Web sites that are known to use pop-up windows, and also by running each of the programs through all of the sample links at the useful PopupTest Web site (www.popuptest.com). PopupTest includes typical pop-up windows that appear when you click a link or after a certain amount of time has passed. The site also includes samples of advertisements that float in browser windows, mess with browser settings, and a variety of other annoying things. Finally, it includes samples of "good" pop-ups that the better pop-up blocker programs should ignore.
Alto Software Alto Block All
$19.95 • www.altosoftware.com Alto Software Alto Block All
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Interface: 3
Performance: 4
Feature set: 3
Documentation: 4
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Alto Block All's interface isn't the best, and there are other products with better features.
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Having the ability to create an exclusion list is terrific, but by default Alto Block All takes the concept a little too far by asking for user confirmation or denial each time it detects a pop-up window. After we tired of killing pop-ups on a case-by-case basis, we selected the checkbox that forced the program to block all pop-up windows, and while it was decent for pop-up blocking it didn't do nearly as well as the best programs we tested at stripping other ads from Web sites.
The software did a good job of eliminating pop-ups when the most aggressive setting was selected, but it went about its business differently than most of the other programs we tested. Usually pop-up blockers examine a Web page's source code to determine whether a site will launch a pop-up window and prevent that code from executing, cutting off any chance for the pop-up window to appear at all. In some of the tests we performed, like the Mouseover Popup and Channel Opener tests at PopupTest.com, the pop-up windows actually appeared on-screen before Alto Block All automatically closed them. Technically, this is a legitimate way to eliminate pop-ups, but we prefer software that prevents the windows from appearing at all.
Alto Block All may be relatively cheap, but the interface leaves a lot to be desired, and it doesn't have many features compared to most of the other products in this roundup.
EdenSoft PopUpCop
$19.95 • www.popupcop.com
EdenSoft PopUpCop
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Interface: 5
Performance: 5
Feature set: 4
Documentation: 5
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If you like to customize, PopUpCop is packed with options.
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PopUpCop is a little different than many other pop-up blocking applications in that it installs a small toolbar in the Internet Explorer window that serves as the program's main interface. This provides access to a drop-down menu containing all of the programs advanced features and also displays a small slider bar that lets you customize how aggressive the program is on a site-by-site basis. The default setting suppresses most pop-up windows but leaves everything else alone, while the maximum setting blocks nearly everything, from advertising banners and background sounds to flash movies and animated images. All of these settings are customizable, and you can also create additional settings if you want more control. This is done through the advanced options menu, which gives power users access to dozens of features.
PopUpCop is an effective, powerful, and easy-to-use pop-up blocker, but that's about all it does. Unlike some other programs it does not remove banner advertisements or other ads from Web pages, so if that is important to you, you will want to look elsewhere. The program passed all of our objective tests, but only with the slider in the most aggressive position. PopUpCop also worked well when we browsed the Web. If all you want is blocked pop-ups, this is an excellent program.
InterMute AdSubtract
$29.95 • www.intermute.com
AdSubtract may have failed a few of the objective tests, but it did an excellent job during real-world Web surfing and blocked far more than just pop-ups. Sites that had advertising banners on the top and sides of pages were generally stripped of all ads, leaving nothing but content and legitimate links in the browser window. A Search Sanity feature even let us remove sponsored advertisements from search sites, such as Google (www.google.com), further streamlining our browsing and letting us view more search results in the same amount of space. InterMute AdSubtract
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Interface: 5
Performance: 4
Feature set: 5
Documentation: 5
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AdSubtract has a great interface and can even strip sponsored ads from search Web sites.
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Despite the filtering going on in the background, the software didn't noticeably decrease our Web browsing speed and it is very easy to configure. The interface is clean and colorful; offering beginners basic configuration settings while letting advanced users access more advanced features such as a utility that cleans up the Web browser history. Updating the software is easy, and overall it does a superb job of blocking pop-up windows and other types of annoying pop-up advertisements.
Panicware Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition
Free • www.panicware.com Panicware Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5
Interface: 3
Performance: 3
Feature set: 2
Documentation: 4 Panicware has taken a multitiered approach to pop-up blocking software, offering the same Pop-Up Stopper product in four versions that range in price from free to $39.95 and come with an ever-expanding feature set. We tested the free version to see whether it was worthwhile and discovered that it serves more as an advertisement for the fee-based products than as an effective pop-up blocker.
The main downside to this free variant is that it doesn't come with any technical support, but because there are basically no options to configure, using the Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition is as easy as installing the software and hoping that it works. The program does work, sometimes, but it failed to stop several pop-ups from appearing in our objective and subjective tests and was among the programs that let pop-up windows open before closing them. Sadly enough, although Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition let "bad" pop-ups through, the software frequently refused to allow legitimate pop-ups to open. Installing this software is pointless as IE's built-in and equally free solution works better and has more configuration options.
Pop-Up Sentry
$29.95 • www.popupsentry.com Pop-Up Sentry
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Interface: 5
Performance: 5
Feature set: 5
Documentation: 5
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Pop-Up Sentry is extremely powerful, but beginners will have no trouble tailoring it to their needs.
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Pop-Up Sentry may cost more than some of the products in this roundup, but it earns its keep by mercilessly blocking pop-up windows and all manner of other advertising from Web sites. It is easy to install and configure thanks to a slick interface that provides plenty of explanations via Tooltips, and it uses simple checkboxes to block pop-ups, flash ads, banner ads, and sponsored ads on search sites separately. You can allow pop-ups to appear from secure Web sites (where the address starts with https: instead of http:), which is an incredibly useful feature that makes it easier to shop at sites that use pop-ups.
The program did an outstanding job on our objective tests, blocking everything it should have with no tweaking necessary while allowing the legitimate pop-up requests to process. A variety of notification options are available, a few of which include configuring the program to play a sound, changing the appearance of the pointer, or displaying a small notification window each time the program blocks an ad. You can turn off all of these
notifications for fast, efficient Web browsing. If you want to get rid of all pop-ups and advertisements with minimal configuration hassles this is the software to beat.
StopZilla
$19.95 • www.stopzilla.com StopZilla
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Interface: 5
Performance: 5
Feature set: 4
Documentation: 5
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Don't be fooled by the cheesy graphics
and name; StopZilla works well at stomping pop-ups.
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We had low expectations when the StopZilla Web site resized our browser window to fill the entire screen without our permission, but despite the questionable marketing tactics this is a good product. Practically every aspect of its operation is automated, so power users should look elsewhere, but if you want something that works well at blocking pop-ups immediately after installation, then you should consider giving it a shot. It did a great job at preventing pop-up windows from opening but still let us open pop-ups at legitimate Web sites. It also comes with some rudimentary anti-spyware features, but we recommend using one or more dedicated anti-spyware programs to protect your computer against that type of software. (See the "Watch Out For Spyware" sidebar for more information.)
Tooto Technologies Zero Popup
$24.95 • www.tooto.com Tooto Technologies Zero Popup
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Interface: 4
Performance: 5
Feature set: 5
Documentation: 5
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Don't confuse Zero Popup, an excellent pop-up blocker, with the spyware browser toolbar that shares the same name.
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Zero Popup was almost as efficient as Pop-Up Sentry and Super Ad Blocker in all of our tests, doing a good job of separating bad pop-ups from good pop-ups and removing banners and other ads from Web pages as we surfed. The entire program is managed from a toolbar menu, which may be preferable to some, but we prefer the traditional tabbed program interfaces of Pop-Up Sentry and Super Ad Blocker when configuring the software. Regardless, once we established the initial settings in Zero Popup, we rarely had reason to change them. The program ran unobtrusively in the background. Definitely try this one out for yourself to see if you can live with its streamlined interface because it is an outstanding program.
Webroot Software Pop-Up Washer
$29.95 • www.webroot.com
Pop-Up Washer has arguably the most user-friendly and professional-looking interface of all the products we tested, and it does a superlative job of blocking pop-up ads. It aced our objective tests and was among the best in this head-to-head during our subjective tests, and all with minimal configuration. There are only a few checkboxes to worry about if you want to do such things as allow pop-ups at secure Web sites or automatically check for program updates, but other than that all you have to do is install the software. Webroot Software Pop-Up Washer
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Interface: 5
Performance: 5
Feature set: 4
Documentation: 5
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If all you care about is blocking pop-ups, Pop-Up Washer is a terrific product that
is easy to use.
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Much like Pop-Up Cop, Pop-Up Washer isn't designed to do anything other than block pop-ups. If you want to remove other types of advertising you'll have to go with a more robust product, such as Pop-Up Sentry, but this is the best tool for pure pop-up removal, and it is easy to use.
And The Winner Is: You
Most of the products we looked at, including the free offerings, are good at what they do and make browsing the Web more enjoyable than surfing without a pop-up blocker installed. If you are looking to save some cash and avoid configuration hassles, you should consider using the Firefox Web browser, which is free, fast, and immune to many of the problems that plague IE. Firefox's integrated pop-up blocker did an excellent job at keeping pop-ups at bay, and we didn't have to tweak any settings to make it work properly.
If you want the ultimate in power and control, and want to strip banners and other ads out of your Web browser pages in addition to killing pop-ups, we recommend Pop-Up Sentry. 
by Tracy Baker
Buyer Beware
Everybody wants to get rid of pop-up ads, and scam artists are taking advantage of this fact to dupe people into installing software on their computers that poses as pop-up blockers or other ad-remover but actually is spyware. Spyware is software that tracks your browsing habits and sometimes goes so far as to log your keystrokes to obtain passwords or other personal information. It's not something you want to have on your computer, so use caution when downloading and testing pop-up blocker software and make sure it comes from a legitimate source.
Here's a good example: You may have noticed that the URL for the Zero Popup software we discussed in the main article is www.tooto.com and not www.zeropopup.com. That's because someone else registered the www.zeropopup.com Web site name and uses it to advertise a free tool that ostensibly blocks pop-up advertisements. In reality, it's a scam designed to set your Web browser's home page and default search engine to pages that are associated with the people distributing this free "utility." Always read license agreements closely before installing software, and when you're checking out the software discussed in this article, use the URL we provide instead of clicking a search result link that may lead to a Web site out to scam you.
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Watch Out For Spyware
If your computer is infested with pop-up ads that appear no matter what Web site you visit (or sometimes even when your browser is not loaded at all), the Web sites likely have nothing to do with the problem. Instead, there's a good chance that spyware is installed on your computer that is triggering the annoying ads, and it's important to clear the snoopy software off of your computer. Visit the PC Today Web site (www.pctoday.com) and do a search for "spyware" to learn everything there is to know about preventing, detecting, and eliminating this threat to your privacy. |
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