PopUp - popup window. Creating and using pop-up windows

Popup-window is a pop-up ad, designed to attract web traffic or collect email addresses. Such elements are often forms of Internet advertising in WorldWideWeb. As a rule, these are new windows that open in a web browser to display advertisements. They are usually generated by JavaScript using cross-site scripting (XSS), sometimes with secondary payload and using Adobe Flash.

A kind of popup are pop-up ads that open in a new browser window hidden in the active one.

History of occurrence

The first pop-up ads appeared on the hosting of Tripod.com in the late 1990s. Ethan Zuckerman claims that he wrote a code to launch ads in individual windows in response to complaints about banner ads. Subsequently, the developer repeatedly apologized for the inconvenience that caused his invention.

Opera was the first major browser to include tools for blocking pop-ups. The Mozilla browser later improved these developments by starting to block the popup window generated when the page was loaded. In the early 2000s, all major web browsers, except Internet Explorer, allowed the user to almost completely remove unwanted pop-up ads. In 2004, Microsoft released Windows XP SP2, which added a lock to this browser.

Most modern browsers come with anti-popup tools. Third-party tools usually include other functions, such as filtering ads.

Popup windows

Some types of downloadable content - images, free music and others - can trigger pop-ups. In addition, they sometimes look like regular web pages, and the site name will be displayed in the search bar. Many resources use pop-up windows to display information, without interrupting the currently open page. For example, if you filled out a form on a web page and needed additional guidance, PopUP-window would give you additional information without causing loss of any data already entered in the form. Most pop-up blockers allow this download.

But you need to remember that some web installers, for example, used by McAfee, use a pop-up window to install the software. On many Internet browsers, pressing the Ctrl key when clicking the link will bypass the filter.

In this case, clicking (even random) on one pop-up window can lead to the discovery of others.

Bypassing the Pop-up Blocker

The combination of an advertising banner and a pop-up window is an "ad on hover", which uses DHTML to display the page content on the screen. Using JavaScript, an ad can be superimposed over a web page in a transparent layer. This ad may appear in almost all cases when the author of this advertisement wants it. Such a popup window script can not be noticed in advance. For example, advertising may contain an animation of Adobe Flash, associated with the advertiser's site. It can also look like a normal window. Because advertising is part of a web page, it can not be blocked with a blocker, but you can avoid it by using third-party applications (like AdBlock and AdblockPlus) or customizable style sheets.

PopUNDER

This declaration is similar to the usual PopUP window, but it is displayed hidden behind the main browser window, and does not appear in front of it. When pop-up ads became widespread and began to occupy the whole screen of the computer, many users learned to immediately close them without looking. Therefore, PopUNDER appeared, which does not prevent the user from viewing the content of the site. They tend to go unnoticed until the main browser window is closed or minimized. Studies have shown that users respond better to such advertising than to pop-up ads, because they do not look so intrusive.

Popular advertising technology

The ad uses two very simple JavaScript functions, introduced in 1997 with the Netscape 2.0B3 browser. This methodology is widely used on the Internet. Modern web publishers and advertisers use it to create a window before the content of the page, download advertisements, and then send it off the screen.

Most modern browsers allow you to open the popup popup window only if there is any interaction with the user (for example, clicking a mouse). Any non-interactive calls (timer callback, download events, etc.) will result in the blocking of the new window. To work around this limitation, most pop-up ads are triggered by a mouse event listener attached directly to the document or body of the document. This allows you to capture all mouse clicks on the page that were not used by other event handlers. For example, when a user selects text, the mouse click is seen by the listener attached to the document. As a result, a pop-up window is opened using the above code.

"Sly" popup-windows generator

Users of various sites and web applications are constantly confronted with unwanted pop-up windows when using the browser. Typically, this PopUP window is removed using the "close" or "undo" function. Since this is a typical user response, developers began to apply some tricks. So, when developing advertising messages, screen buttons or controls are created, similar to the option to "close" or "undo". However, when the user selects one of these options, the button performs an unexpected or unauthorized action (for example, opening a new pop-up window or uploading an unwanted file to the user's system).

Because the technologies for web design allow authors to use any "simulation" option, some users refuse to click or interact with any element inside the pop-up window at all.

URL Redirection

Sometimes URLs are redirected to ad pages using the Background URL redirection function. They sometimes open in a new tab, and then the content of the old background tab is replaced with ad pages using a redirect. AdblockPlus, uBlock or NoScript can not block these popup redirects. This feature is increasingly used by advertisers in search of a way to make the PopUP-window the most active.

How to get rid of pop-up windows

How to remove ads in the browser? First, check for updates. Keeping your browser up-to-date will be of great importance in dealing with pop-ups. Most browsers are configured to automatically update, but it can be disabled. This process usually takes only a few minutes.

• Firefox: Click the button with the name of the application in the upper left corner. Hover over the "Help" and select "About Firefox". This will open a window with information about the browser version. If your browser is not updated, the updates will be automatically downloaded and installed.
• Chrome: Click the menu button in the upper right corner. Select "About Chrome" at the bottom, a new tab will open, and the browser will check for updates. If they are, they will be installed automatically.
• Internet Explorer: The update method depends on the version of the browser you are using. For older versions, you will need to log in to Windows Update. For Internet Explorer 10 and 11, you can enable automatic updates by clicking the Gear icon and selecting About Internet Explorer.

If updates do not help

Sometimes PopUP-window for a site and similar software is embedded too deep, so that it can be removed by updating. In such cases, reinstalling or modifying the web browser can help to solve the problem.

First, download the latest version of the browser you want to use. You can find the download links on the main page of each application.

Delete the current browser. You can do this from the control panel, which can be accessed from the Start menu. Open Programs and Features or Add / Remove Programs and find your browser in the list. When you find it, click "Delete" and follow the instructions. But remember that Internet Explorer can not be deleted in Windows.

Be sure to save your bookmarks and user settings so that they can be imported again when you install a new browser. During the deletion, you will be prompted to do so.

Install a new browser. After removing the old browser, run the installation file that you downloaded earlier. Follow the installation instructions and import the old bookmarks. When the message is displayed, whether you want to make the installed browser the default application, select "Yes".

How to use pop-up blockers

There is also a second way how to remove advertising in the browser.

Firefox

By default, the pop-up blocker is enabled in the browser. If this function is not active, you can access the settings in the "Options" menu. How to do it?

Click the "Firefox" button and select "Options".

Click the "Content" tab.

Check the box next to "Block pop-up windows".

Click the "Exceptions" button. Make sure that only trusted sites are included in the list.

Chrome

Pop-up windows are blocked by default in this browser, but sometimes there are other settings. If this is your case, do the following.

Click the menu button in the upper right corner and click Settings.

Click on the link "Show advanced settings" at the bottom of the page.

Click "Content Settings" in the "Privacy" section.

Scroll down to the "Pop-ups" section. Make sure that the option "Do not allow pop-up windows" is selected.

Click the Manage Exceptions button. Make sure that only trusted sites are listed.

InternetExplorer

Pop-up blocking is enabled by default in later versions of the browser. If this is not done, do it yourself.

Open the "Tools" menu or the "Mechanism" icon. Select "Internet Options."

Click on the "Privacy" tab.

Ensure that the Enable Popup Blocker check box is selected.

Click the "Settings" button. Make sure that only trusted sites are included in the list.

Adjust the lock level. From the drop-down menu below, select the security level. Set to High to prevent pop-ups.

Plugins

In addition, install add-ons for your browser. There are several add-ons that you can download on Firefox and Chrome, which will help minimize the number of pop-ups that you encounter. There are many different add-ons available, so be sure to read reviews and download only proven applications.

For Firefox, install AdBlock and NoScript to prevent sites from downloading those pages and content that you do not want. For Chrome NoScript is not available, but the program for blocking ads and pop-up windows called AdBlock is successfully used.