How to prevent Drudge from generating popups?

June 20, 2005 2:06 AM

Drudge seems to have figured out a way around the Firefox popup blocker. I'm guessing it has to do with Java, but I'd rather not disable java or javascript, since that would reduce the functionality of the browser. Any less drastic way to prevent this?
posted by Manjusri to computers & internet (11 comments total)

I only see a blocked popup notification, not the popup itself. I'm using Firefox without any special blocking, but I also don't have Flash installed, which FF tells me the Drudge page is using.

FF 1.0.4, running under Knoppix. (And only the Chatzilla and MetaFilthy extensions, no Ad Block or anything else.)

So try either uninstalling Flash, or getting the "Click to view Flash" extension.

Also, if it is Javascript that's making the popup happen, try getting the javascript whitelisting extension.
posted by orthogonality at 2:45 AM on June 20, 2005

This claims to solve the problem.
posted by rjt at 3:22 AM on June 20, 2005

The site has exceeded its bandsidth right now, but I use this (hopefully it will come back soon). It's a lengthy block list for the adblock extension, and I haven't seen a popup since I started using it, even with Java/Javascript/Flash enabled, and even from jerkass Drudge ;)
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:07 AM on June 20, 2005

The excellent Proxomitron Web proxy blocks all the popups and ads displayed on the Drudge Report. In general, I find it to be a much better solution than Firefox's built-in protection.

Though it's brilliant, Proxomitron is closed-source, Windows-only, and sadly, abandonware. A similar cross-platform solution is Privoxy, and a new open-source clone of Proxomitron called Proximodo is here.

All of these will block pretty much every ad and every popup known to man.
posted by killdevil at 6:53 AM on June 20, 2005

A lot of sites are now using Flash to create popups, because Firefox can't block them. The click to view flash extension sounds really neat. Thanks for the tip ortho.
posted by knave at 6:57 AM on June 20, 2005

knave: "A lot of sites are now using Flash to create popups, because Firefox can't block them."

That's untrue. Firefox can block them, it just doesn't by default in 1.0.x. Using the directions in rjt's link, you can turn it on. There also a thread on Asa's blog with an extension and a lot of discussion about the problems behind plugin-based popup blocking.
posted by Plutor at 7:25 AM on June 20, 2005

Thanks, rjt!
posted by iconomy at 8:47 AM on June 20, 2005

I don't get any popups or ads of any kind on Drudge. I use Firefox + Adblock + Click To View Flash.

An important feature in Adblock is the wildcard operator. Be sure to block *.annoyingadserver.com/* rather than just ad21.annoyingadserver.com/ads/shock_the_monkey, or else the extension really isn't doing you any good.
posted by Hildago at 9:20 AM on June 20, 2005

I have had luck using a hosts file that blocks traffic from all ad sites. It's updated reguarly to include new hosts.

Mike's Ad Blocking Hosts file
posted by zymurgy at 10:36 AM on June 20, 2005

I use the excellent FlashBlock extention and it not only does the trick but makes all browsing more pleasant. Nice working system too - flash shows as a box with a play button and you can click it to run the flash as normal.
posted by phearlez at 11:06 AM on June 20, 2005

I don't see anything. Firefox, no Flashblock extensions, and a Kerio firewall.
posted by taz at 10:10 PM on June 20, 2005