[OT] For those who want to stop the annoying "messenger pop ups" for GOOD!

[EricNoah]

http://www.auburn.edu/oit/security/messengerService.html

That has procedures for stopping messenger spam on all flavors of Windows.

Messenger spam is one kind of pop-up advertising. Disabling Windows Messenger will only stop that one particular type of spam.

 

[RakeRon]

I don't worry too much about Messanger cuz I never reboot my machine! Also to get rid of pesky spyware/adware just download Ad-Aware 6 from Lavasoft.nu. It kept more up to date than ever before and its free (as long as you download the basic version and not the pro version).

 

[Mortaneus]

As for popups when browsing, my response in simple:

www.mozilla.org

The newest version by default blocks popups. Older versions allow to turn them off under the scripts preferences. Unlike popup killer, and similar apps, which nuke the window when it appears, with mozilla they just don't appear to begin with. It's great.

I love the tabbed browsing too.....

 

[Judas]

The method described in the first post does NOT stop pop-ups from webpages or IM clients. It only stops messages from being recieved via the NetBIOS calls in Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. The "messenger" service does not exsist on Win9X systems.

This means that if you are using an IM client such MSN/Windows Messenger, these are actually different programs that have NOTHING to do with the messenger service.

For those of you who like the Internet Explorer interface, there is a very good free browser called Avant Browser that has built in pop-up blocker which works about 96% of the time. I personally can't stand the netscape/mozilla interface, but I'm willing to try the new phoenix browser when it's ready.

 

[MythosaAkira]

The creation and use of pop-ups helped to save that industry. So, while they may be annoying, they have served a very useful purpose these past two years.

I would like to see some factual evidence backing that up. I have no problem with advertising, but if it is done in such a way as to interfere with what you're doing then ultimately it is going to backfire on the advertiser.

Banner ads are fine - they are essentially part of the content of a page, and the user controls whether they go to that page or not. Pop-ups (or pop-unders) violate what I consider to be a sacred rule: never initiate something the user didn't ask for.

I'll second the recommendation for Mozilla. I'm so used to not having to deal with pop-ups and their ilk that it amazes me when I happen to use IE and I *do* see them

 

[TheAuldGrump]

It very much annoys me when I am typing away, watching my fingers do their little dance, only to discover that the last fifty words or so have to be retyped because of a Pop-Up. (Yahoo Mail is the biggest offender here.) I make it a policy never to buy ANYTHING I see advertised with such evil, disgusting methods. I use Netscape, which, being based on Mozilla, also has good Pop-Up blocking.

The Auld Grump, plus being able to have multiple tabs in one window is darned handy....

 

[Impeesa]

Popup windows, and related ads such as the obnoxious Flash ads on Gamespy, do not do anything to raise my awareness of the product. Why? Because my finely-honed reflexes have reached the point where I can find the 'close' button before it finishes loading, even on my broadband connection. It's a fine art. The sad thing is, this is the norm, yet advertising companies still insist on making these obnoxious ads. Penny Arcade once shared some of their numbers... industry average banner click-through rate is something like half a percent. They do advertising on their site, but will not accept so much as even an animated gif - static banners only. Their click-through rate? Seven percent.

--Impeesa--

 

[Silver Moon]

I would like to see some factual evidence backing that up. I have no problem with advertising, but if it is done in such a way as to interfere with what you're doing then ultimately it is going to backfire on the advertiser.

I'll have to refer back to my lecture notes to find the references. I teach classes in Marketing at two different colleges, and this has been a lively topic for the past few years. I use this as a class exercise, assinging students to debate each side of the issue.

Personally, I am not fond of them either. In fact, I even have a pop-up blocker on the PC that I'm writing this from. I just wanted to point out that they first came along at a time when the online marketing industry needed something new to keep it afloat.

 

[Lazybones]

I have a free popup blocker that I got from Download.com which works great on browser popups, but I still get the messenger ones (even in the middle of playing a game sometimes). Thanks to the original poster for the info; I will try implementing it tonight.

 

[Barcode]

Did any of you notice the "future of advertising" theme in Minority Report? It was an interesting vision.

Bottom line is that American culture, and I would imaging English culture or any other generally wealthy culture fundamentally based on commerce, is all about getting people to want (and then buy) crap they don't need. If you are going to proceed from such a wasteful and spiritually bankrupt basis, is the path that you take really that important?

Why are popups any more evil than spam, junk mail, commercials at the beginning of movies, product placements in movies, telemarketing, commercials on TV, corporate names on stadiums, ads in magazines, circulars in newspapers, billboards in front of pine trees, or the millions of other ugly, invasive and coercive propaganda that begin to assail you the moment you wake up in the morning?

Personally, I love popups for finally (for one small subset of the population) going too far. Unfortunately, the reaction/backlash seems to be focused on the one medium, rather than against the fundamental principle on which it is based. I had a similar reaction when legislation went in to limit telemarketing. Why is one method of unwanted invasion prosecuted where other sacred cows (e.g. junk mail) are protected, even subsidized, as "good business"?

I like living in the modern world. I'm no Luddite. I'm not even a Communist. But man, I wish there were some way of keeping these advertising guys out of my face, completely.