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Stop Popups! And Internet Explorer Tricks Written by: Dan Daily
Hi Gang! Today you're in for a treat. I'm going to show you a couple of neat tricks in Internet Explorer. After that, I'll show you a free program that will stop all those stupid annoying popup ads that seem to have taken over the Internet. So, let's get to it shall we? . How I Surf the Web Many of you that have AOL, use Aol's front end for surfing. There is an alternative to this method. It's using IE (Internet explorer) directly by just clicking on it's Icon when your on-line.
Advantages There are many: The popup stopper I'm giving you today is one. It won't run through the AOL front end. The reason why is quite simple, AOL uses popup ads themselves and aren't going to let you stop them. Load speed is another plus with using IE directly. By bypassing the AOL pipeline, you aren't stuck in a single tunnel of filters that AOL feels you should have. (see the above)
Disadvantages There is one, AOL favorite places no longer works using IE directly thus causing a little havoc with your AOL email. While IE has it's own favorite places, it's a copy and paste affair, versus simple drag and drop function ability.
My Compromise My work around is quite simple. When I'm reading my mail, I'll check the hotlinks through the AOL front end. If I find a link I want to use for "Danny's Daily's" I just save it into my AOL Fav's. If however, I find a link that I will be visiting often, while it's still up, I copy it directly from the address bar, open IE, paste the address to the IE address bar, and save it to favorites there. IE surfing represents about 70% of all my surfing on the web.
Before you start to groan, let us see what IE can offer you that AOL can't shall we?
A Kewl Trick Open Internet explorer, click on the full screen box. Looks pretty similar to AOL's doesn't it? No larger, tool bars all over the place? OK, try this: Click on view, see the line that says full screen? Click on it and poof, this baby really is full screen now. We're not done yet. As you can now see, the top bar is just one thin bar. OK, right click on it and left click on auto-hide. Then click on the screen, poof, just like your system tray, (assuming you have it set for autohide as well) the top bar is gone. Sticking your cursor at the top brings it back down. Except for the side scroll bar, your screen should now be nothing but a web page! It's just like TV! You can't do that on AOL. You can also right click on it again and choose just what you want on the bar. Completely customizable. AOL's idea of custom is YOU having it AOL's way PERIOD! (Note: to set your system tray the same way, right click on a blank spot of it, click the properties box, and check the auto hide box, don't forget the "apply" button)
There's More OK, now put your cursor up to the top, the bar pops down, see the little folder up there. Holding your cursor over it will cause the dialog Favorite Places to show. See it? Click on it. Poof! The favorite places list pops out on the left side of your screen. And it's an auto-hide as well. Moving the cursor to center screen, it automatically slides back into the left margin. Now that's Kewl! Like AOL's Favorite places, you can right click delete any of them, and make folders for categories to better organize your links.
The Result Is a completely full screen of web page, sliding your cursor up causes the IE bar to pop down. Sliding your cursor down causes your system tray to pop up. Sliding your cursor to the left causes your favorite places to pop right. You can't do this using the AOL front end. This alone will cause you to want to use IE. That's why I do.
Popup Stopper Assuming you'll be using IE for at least some of your surfing nets you another perk as well. This program will now work, and it DOES! I've been using it for a couple of months now and couldn't live without it. Popup stopper will stop any and every popup screen that attempts to load. Period! But some screens you want the popups right? Sure, some sites like bank sites, or store sites use them for additional screens, not ads. This program allows for that. By holding the control key down, it allows the popup. Or you can right click on it in the tray and disable it completely.
The Sound Option There is also a sound option in this program. USE IT!!! It makes a little beep when it stops a popup. When surfing commercial sites your smile will never go away when you hear it doing it's thing. It's also useful as a tell tale. If you do go to a site that has a popup you need, the beep will remind you of that, so you can hold the control key and click it again. This is a great program, once you put it in your startup folder and use it. You won't live without it. It's even earned a place on the "Danny's Junk" CD! Best of All, IT'S FREE!!!! It's a small quick download and is a snap to install. Click on the download button at the site. Or get if from the "Danny's Junk" CD!!! Try it today gang! Just Click Here
I hope this helps you on your road. Your Road? Yes, Your Road To Computer Sanity Danny
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