I'm more active over on the "other side" these days, where I'm the photography guide.
A...
I'm more active over on the "other side" these days, where I'm the photography guide.
A tenner this month, and a fiver last month in the PF almost tempts me to write more here though!
Member since:04.03.2003
Reviews:99
Members who trust:43
Being the 10th person to review this software, there's probably not a lot else I can say, although I'll do it in my own little way anyway. As a heavy user of the internet, pop-ups are a real burden. I'm aware we could ditch Internet Explorer and use something pop-up-less, but let's face it, that'll cause it's own set of problems, and chose not to go down that route. So a pop-up stopper was required, and I believe I actually read about it originally on Ciao - wow I finally find a use for this site!
Being one who very rarely pays for software, particularly utilities, I was immediately drawn to the fact the Pop Up Stopper was free. Well I really can't see why I should pay to get rid of adverts that I never asked for in the first place. The company who wrote this software, Panicware produce the software in various guises, including a pro version which works with all web browsers. The free version however only works with IE and Netscape.
I'm using IE6 with all the Service Packs and patches I can get, and it's worked hitch free since it was installed.
To download, go to http://www.panicware.com, and click "Pop-Up Stopper FREE". The current version is 3.1.1012 and is less than half a megabyte download, so even those on an antiquated modemdial-up shouldn't fuss too much. Installation is easy, just a couple of clicks and your "protected" against pop-ups. A little hand will appear on the icon bar - white if it's turned on and grey when turned off. You can pretty much forget about it now, just surf as you were before. Each time you access a page with ad pop-ups, you'll see the hand symbol change to a symbol with a red circle around it - you won't however see the pop-up itself.
I never knew what a difference it could make....the software is very good at what it does, and made surfing a lot more enjoyable. The downfall is that certain links you can no longer open, unless you hold down the CTRL key at the same time as clicking. This is because the software can't always tell whether it's a good popup or not. Whilst this first seems annoying, it's less annoying than all the pop-ups you had before.
Pop-up stopper will automatically load onto your PC at start-up, unless you tell it otherwise. You'll see a brief splash screen, which can only be taken away by upgrading to a paid version - it never bothered me though. There are a few simple options available, by right clicking the icon.
Firstly, you can turn it off - but keep the software running - useful if you are surfing some particular sites where you do actually want to see pop-ups.
Play a sound when pop-up is blocked - hmm, not sure why anyone would want this - best leave it off. For information though, there are two sounds you can choose from, and if that's not enough for you, the company even sell extra "sound packs" such as horror and sci-fi for a couple of dollars - crazy.
Display pop-up bubble next to system clock - This will display a fairly large message to tell you a pop-up has been blocked. I can sort of see the point of this, as you can often miss things that would otherwise appear without a pop-up stopper being present.
Change mouse-pointer - this will also change the mouse pointer from the standard shape to a red circle with a line through it. The length of time this is displayed for can be adjusted. I'm sure in the pro-versions you can change this symbol too, but it's not really important.
Privacy Report - Apparently this takes "up to one minute"...on my ultra fast PC it took about 2, but it told me I was at medium risk, with 580 cookies and nearly 30,000 cached items. Nothing too scarey. What this leads to though is an advert to Panicwares own "SureClean Secure Delete" software which removes a lot of this clutter - but it's really nothing to do with Pop-up stopper.
Check for updates - This will either tell you there are no updates, or download the latest version for you. Within the preferences option, there is also an option to automatically check for updates, so as long as you leave this on, there's no need to manually update.
There are various ways to "show your support", by donating via paypal or buying a "stylish pop-up stopper T-shirt". I'll personally donate my earnings from this review to anyone who has actually bought one.
Help is available to answer all those questions you may have - but there's really nothing complicated about it.
If you don't get on with it, you can always uninstall it, using Control Panel, Add/Remove programs. I'm about to uninstall this as I've been trialling the Google Toolbar pop-up blocker feature for the last month or so, and it seems to be doing the same job, and I don't seem to have to press the CTRL-key quite so often. If I hadn't discovered this feature within google toolbar, I'd be happy to continue using Pop-up stopper.
All in all a useful program, works well and for no cost, you can't knock it.
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Yep, I'm a popup stopper user, and no.... I didn't buy a Tshirt :-)
mookiepunk 30.04.2004 14:12
Very informative. I've actually started to use the Mozzilla Firefox browser which blocks those blasted pop ups automatically, I've not had any problems with it so far so fingers crossed. Cheers
rosillew 28.04.2004 20:54
I have got the google toolbar with this on, there is also something inatalled on my computer called Norton, which also has a pop up stopper, great review though, Heatherx
Advantages: Stops pop-up adverts. Freeware for the light version. Disadvantages: Only allows one example of IE but a simple getaround is described in the op
alflavor 02.01.2002 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pop-Up Stopper
Advantages: Easy to use, Install and configure Disadvantages: Slightly too minimilist for some, some types of advert can't be blocked, revenue probs for sites
Del_Boy 16.01.2002 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pop-Up Stopper
Advantages: Stops pop-up adverts. Freeware for the light version. Disadvantages: Only allows one example of IE but a simple getaround is described in the op
alflavor 02.01.2002 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pop-Up Stopper
Apr 25th, 2004
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
