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About
the Pop-up Blocker
The pop-up blocker in the Toolbar Options menu
prevents new windows from automatically opening when you visit a website. Often
times, these new windows display advertising that can interfere with your
ability to see the content on the page you're trying to read. When the pop-up
blocker intercepts an incoming ad, your cursor changes briefly to look like
this: 
.
The pop-up blocker button displays this icon: 
along
with a count of the number of pop-ups blocked since the last Toolbar
installation.
To let a pop-up through on a one-time basis, press
and hold the CTRL key as you click on a link to navigate to a new page.
Sometimes sites communicate useful information via
pop-up windows. The pop-up blocker can be told to remember these sites so
pop-up windows are allowed to launch. This information is stored on your
computer in what's known as a "whitelist"
(as opposed to a "blacklist"). The pop-up blocker uses the whitelist to turn itself off when you visit sites whose
pop-ups you don't mind viewing.
As you find sites that have pop-ups you want to
see, click the pop-up blocker button to add that site to your whitelist. (The whitelist is
never actually displayed.) Repeat this process as you find websites where you
want to see pop-ups.
If you'd like to remove a site from the pop-up
blocker whitelist, simply visit that page and click
the pop-up blocker button. The button text will change from "Site popups allowed" to the count of your blocked ads. This
indicates that the pop-up blocker has been re-activated on this site.
To set the pop-up blocker count back to zero, hold
down the 'Shift' and 'Alt' keys while clicking on the pop-up blocker button.
You can also hide the pop-up count entirely by opening the Options window,
selecting the More tab, and checking the box next to the setting "Hide
popup blocker count."
To completely disable the pop-up blocker, open the
Toolbar Options window and clear the checkbox next to pop-up blocker in the
Accessories section.
The pop-up blocker is available only for Internet
Explorer version 5.5 and later.
Why do pop-ups sometimes appear even when the
pop-up blocker is on?
Some software, including free music-sharing
programs such as BearShare or AudioGalaxy,
display pop-ups at random intervals or based on something you type into a web
page. You may have these programs or others like them installed on your
computer without even being aware of it. You can read a brief description of
how these pop-up launchers work in these articles: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-257592.html
and http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49960,00.html.
If you are experiencing pop-ups generated by one
of these programs, you may want to remove the software from your computer. One
program that attempts to detect and to uninstall pop-up launchers is available
at http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-108-63806.html.
Google has no relationship with the individuals who
created this software and we cannot vouch for it.
If you feel you were deceived when you installed a
program that creates pop-ups, you may want to take action. The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business
practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/
and click on "File a Complaint," call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:
Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
If your complaint is against a company in another
country, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.
©2004 Google