forum.vdsworld.com

[Mac]

Here's a popup killer that checks for the IE toolbar.
If there is none, it assumes the window is a popup
and closes it. The popup killer runs as an icon in the
systray.

It keeps a list of opened IE windows, and checks them
against WINLIST for new ones, so it doesn't check the
same windows again. It must activate the windows to
check for the toolbar, so if you open several IE windows
before starting the popup, it's gonna cycle thru all of
them checking for toolbars.

It also updates the IE windows list. Windows that no
longer exist are removed.

The popup menu has options to stop/start the popup
killer routine, since some sites (such as this one) may
notify you of PMs etc. with popups.

NOTE: I use IE4. If IE5+ has a different toolbar class,
you'll have to change that from "ToolbarWindow32".
I'm hoping they're the same...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Garrett]

Ran it through VDS 4.5....

When the program is running, it kills the main IE window which
has toolbars.

Another test, and it killed the main window and left the popup.

Another test and it killed both the popup and the main window.

I think it's because I have my toolbars on only two rows and
not three like the default setup for IE.

I have the address bar to the right of the menu, then I have the
links bar to the right of the buttons bar.

I have a suggestion... How about checking for a status bar
instead? Most popups do not use the status bar either. Another
difference is that popups usually disable the resizing of the
window.. Not sure that is any help though. Many also do not
contain scroll bars. But there are popups that do have toolbars
and scroll bars. Ran into one while testing.

Another thing I would suggest, is since there are going to be
popups that will get by this, how about adding my method of
allowing the title bar to be checked? Basically, my method allows
the user to add a popup's title bar to a list, if that title ever shows
up again, it's killed as quickly as possible. You should also allow
a list of accepted popups instead of having to turn it off via the
menu.

Under such conditions of course, you'd have to check for titles
first to see if it's an accepted popup or not, if not, then send it
through your method to see if it even fits the criteria for a
popup.

Since I have been using my popup killer for a long time now, I
have a list of popups to kill that could be shared. We could
coordinate a universal list amongst ourselves and update the list
every so often and then anyone using the program can update
their list with the culmative list or just an updated list to append
to their own list.

Another version of a popup killer I had was by using the proxy
dll by pgware. I had a list of IP's and domain names that were
known for serving popups and I'd filter them out using the
proxy dll.


-Garrett

[Mac]

The program checks the area approx 13 pixels below the title
bar, so it only checks the top toolbar row.

I changed some WAIT times from ".1" to ".2" to allow more
time for toolbar checking on faster systems (in case that
was a problem). It works well on my system so far...

Did you check to see what the toolbar class is in the version
of IE that you're using? If it's not "ToolbarWindow32", that
will have to be changed (or added). You can use the Window
Spy Tool I posted to find what the class name is.

The only problem with checking the status bar is that users
can disable that in normal IE windows.

If you want to add some of your routines to this, feel free to
do so. While a list of popup windows would be an asset on
frequently visited sites, I designed this for users (like myself)
that visit many different sites, and often only visit them once...

Cheers, Mac

[Mac]

I Added code to restore the active window if the popup
routine leaves another window active. I also added it to
the "Auto position/size any active window" code, which
is the program I use (has the same popup killer routine).

Does this working on anyone's system besides mine?

Cheers, Mac

[SnarlingSheep]

Seems to work for me in Win ME with IE 6, although it closed IE one of the times I went to open it initially.

[Mac]

Thanks Sheep,

I modified the "restore active window" code added
earlier (it needed some WAIT time on my system).
It also now checks to make sure the previously
active window still exists before re-activating it.

Also changed this in the "Auto position/size any active
window" code. I'm using this program constantly, so I'll
try to post improvements if/when I make any.

Cheers, Mac

[Dr. Dread]

Hi Mac!

Nice proggie. One suggestion for ya:

Don't hardcode the browser title part because users may change it - I have, anyway
Look in the registry -

[Mac]

Hiya Dread,

Unfortunately, my Windows 95 reg doesn't have that
value for for IE4. Maybe later IE versions? I dunno.

Anyway, you're on your own on this one....

Cheers, Mac

[Dr. Dread]

Arrrh. Bad luck with the missing reg value

I am on my own Ohh nooo. Not again.

Well, no problemos. But if someone else cannot make it work (like me, initially) they
might be advised to check that they have the correct string for the browser window title.

Greetz
Dread

[Tommy]

At least use it like this so that it'll use a default string in case it doesn't exist:

%%maintitle = @REGREAD(CURUSER,Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,"Window Title",Internet Explorer)

[Mac]

Good idea Tommy,

I added this code using %%IEtitle as the title bar var. Many
thanks to you and Dread.

I also added code to restore a window to its' previous status
(normal, minimized, maximized) after the popup killer activates
and checks it for a toolbar (if it doesn't close it as a popup).

Also added these to the "Auto position/size any active window"
code.

Cheers, Mac

[Dr. Dread]

Hey Mac!

You got the registry thing going - nice!

One more idea for ya:

Instead of

[Mac]

Another nice idea Dread,

Implemented this in both the "Popup Killer for IE" and
the "Auto position/size any active window" code.

Cheers, Mac