Download Version 4.0.0.28 Released 2-7-2003
[view version history]

About

Pop This! is a small, effective, and intelligent anti-popup software product that can kill annoying popup windows automatically. The software is completely free, easy to install and easy to use. Pop This! was developed by Jim Mathies, an independent Windows software developer. Some key features of Pop This!:

• It's free software
• Easy to use
• Lightweight (a single file)
• Does not include any spyware
• Does not create annoying Windows tray icons or toolbars
• Stops 99% of all popups
• Support for site exclusions
• Works within Internet Explorer, preventing popups before they load, and unload
• Prevents browser window resizing and movement
• Does not interfere with normal web surfing
• Support for sound notifications
• New in version 3.0 - pop-up protection improvements
• New in version 4.0 - pop-up protection improvements

Recent News

Sorry for the Bandwidth Exceeded errors on my site. Folks seem to like Pop This! more than I anticipated. I moved the installer over to a new file hosting service so hopefully it won't happen again. Note, hosting this site and the files costs me about 50.00 per month, so if you like Pop This! please donate!

Feedback

Curoius how well PopThis! pop-up protection works? Read some user feedback:

"Good God, man - if you were to sell your PopThis! for $5 a copy, you could retire a millionaire!
Easily the BEST product of its kind."

"I just wanted to say thank you for Pop This!"

"Thanks for such a great tool!"

"I really appreciate this app. It just plain works!"

"I can't believe your just giving Pop This! away!"

"Hi Jim,
I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you what an excellent program you have created. My wife and I use
Earthlink. I was using the trial of their popup blocker, which ran out. So, I went searching for an alternative.
Boy, I'm glad I did!"

"Thanks very much for the excellent popup--it works great, especially the latest versions!"

"I have not had any popups since doing the Messenger procedure in your FAQ.  Thanks so so much.  You get another ringing endorsement from me!"

"popthis - I love it!"

"Hi, Jim. I really like your pop-up stopper. I've tried a few, and yours is the best I've used."

Thanks for all the feedback folks, I appreciate it very much.

Download

If you would like to try Pop This!, you can download the installer here. The installer will copy and install Pop This! into your Program Files directory, and will add a Remove Programs entry in the Windows Add/Removed control panel. If you have any trouble with Pop This!, or if you have a comment, feel free to email popthis 'at' mathies.com.

Misc

Note - Pop This! does not disable image animations, or Flash advertising within a web page. I believe content providers have a right to earn income through advertising, and to stipulate how their content is displayed. What they do not have the right to do is cross over on to your desktop. The content provider's domain is within the browser window containing their content, it should not reach beyond it.

FAQ

I've also put together a FAQ with answers to common questions and issues related to Pop This!

Configure

A new hot-key feature was added to 2.01. If you happen to run into a link that Pop This! interferes with, just hold the shift key down to momentarily disable Pop This! popup protection.

To configure Pop This! select the "Pop This! Options..." menu under Internet Explorer's Tools menu -

Enable Pop This!

Turns Pop This! protection on or off

Load into Explorer Option

Pop This! can optionally work in Windows Explorer views. Explorer views are commonly used for navigating through your local file system, but can also accept URLs to web sites. Most users do not surf the web using these windows, so by default Pop This! does not load into these windows. If however you do surf via these file windows, check the Load into Explorer options to add Pop This! protection.

In some cases on older Windows 98 systems, all browser views are actually Explorer views. If you experience trouble preventing pop-ups with Pop This! on Windows 98, enable this feature.

Prevent Resize

Prevents sites from resizing or fullscreening your browser window.

Prevent Repositioning

Prevents sites from repositioning you browser window. Sites will often move windows off your desktop so you can't see them, and then use these windows to launch additional advertisements and links.

Page Load Timer

Displays the amount of time a page takes to fully load in the status bar text. A friend of mine, Dru, asked me to add this.

Web Site Filtering

In certain circumstances you might want to disable Pop This! for a particular site. The last site you navigated to will be in the domain text entry. Simply click "Disable Protection" to disable Pop This! functionality for the domain.

Example domains: google.com, yahoo.com or be specific: mail.yahoo.com, www.bankofamerica.com

Beeps

Turns sound notification on or off. A beep will sound when a site attempts to create a pop window.

Statistics

The Statistics window entry shows the total number of malicious actions Pop This! has prevented since you installed the software.

Q & A

Some answers to common questions about Pop This! and this site -

• Who's that little guy on the top of your site?
  A: That's Kokopelli, He's dancing and playing his flute because he doesn't have to deal with popups anymore.
  
  
• Where did the name Pop This! come from?
  A: One day I received a popup from Yahoo! Mail which gave me this idea. I was thinking.. "yeah, Yahoo!, pop this!"
  
  
• How does Pop This! work?
  A: You work for which advertising company?
  
  
• What are automatic update checks?
  A: Every 50th load of the Pop This! software, the software will download this file from my web site. It will compare the versions, and if there is a new release available, it will prompt you with a small dialog that looks like this -
  
  
  Clicking "Web Site" will simply open a browser window to this web site, allowing you to download the latest version of Pop This!. Clicking "OK" will simply reset the load counter, and close the dialog. Clicking "Disable Checks" will disable this update check functionality forever. Note, I do not collect any information from Pop This!. Where you surf, what you do, who you are, that's your business. My business is killing popups.
  
  
• Wondering who I am?
  A: My name is Jim Mathies, I'm a Windows software developer. Here's a link to my web site if your interested in finding out more about who's behind this.

 

If you like Pop This!, please link to my site and help stop popups! Happy popup free Surfing!

Version History

• 1.00 : First release, basic beta functionality
• 1.02 : Some bug fixes on sites with multiple frames
• 1.03 : Improved User vs. JavaScript new window detection and added update checks functionality
• 1.04 : Totally revamped close window popup detection.
• 1.05 : Added a bug fix for sub frame onbeforeclose events and improved the installer a little bit.
• 1.06 : Added Dru's Load Timer switch to options panel, and removed some "overkill" configurations. Also made some improvements to the installer related to upgrading from older versions. This is probably the last upgrade for a while. Things seem pretty solid.
• 2.00 : Ditched the cheezy beeps and went with a small, quite popup alert sound. Plugged a little hole in the popup protection. Fixed the "hotmail bug" in 1.06 involving form posts that generate popups. Decreased the update check frequency. General overall improvements after a great deal of feedback from very helpful users. Thanks!
• 2.01 : Added a nice feature a user suggested: to momentarily override PopThis! popup protection, hold the shift key down while you click on a link. This addresses an issue with a few web sites which "normalize" their web links after they are clicked.
• 2.02 : Minor bug fix.
• 2.1 : Added form buttons to the "generate popups ok list". Loosened up the resize and reposition protection which people felt was too restrictive. A couple minor tweaks based on user feedback.
• 3.0 : Fixed crash on close bug some folks experienced. Improved popup protection, added filter list editor, load into Explorer option in settings panel. Added automatic Windows Messenger pop-up disabling. New, much more reliable Install Shield installer.
• 4.0 : Fixed the Hot keys bug and added a few more hot keys. Improved the pop-up protection. Added a better white list editor.

PopThis! is free for personal use. Commercial organizations interested in selling, re-branding or publically distributing Pop This! should contact the author. Internal network distribution is ok. Please see the FAQ for more information.