Free Surfer

[Gail Pamphilon]

I once posted asking for advice on a popup blocker. I was using
something (I forget the name now - its icon is a deep red hand), that
prevented popups and cleaned the browser, while preserving 'good'
cookies. I wasn't prepared to pay for it as it was quite costly
shareware. Just as well too, as it wasn't fully effective.

Someone once posted a list of ad blockers that unfortunately turned
out to be rubbish - no offence of course. Some of these falsely
advertised themselves as freeware, but turned out to be shareware, and
were completely ineffective. So rubbish authors were asking for money
for products that didn't even work a little bit. Others were of the
type that demands the unfortunate user stop surfing to add every popup
they get to a list. Who on earth wants to live like that? (shudder)
Not me.

Well, I finally stumbled across Free Surfer, linked from who knows
where - I think I came across it while researching sites about my game
Catz. :-) Anyway, my attempts at Googling a suitable ad blocker
failed, perhaps I didn't use the right search terms or perhaps I
should have gone to page 2.

The only address I found is http://www.emsproject.com/FS. (Mind the
fullstop). If that doesn't work, you will find it easily anyway. I
don't use this product's cache cleaner as it doesn't preserve the
cookies I want to keep (and their matching entries in Temporary
Internet Files), but I have Easy Temp Cleaner for that.

The point is that this product is free, it doesn't destroy your
surfing experience, and it bloody works, unlike the pile of trash that
is now floating around masquerading as popup blockers. Time was when
you could easily find a popup blocker (an effective one), just by
looking, but now it's much harder - have you noticed?

I'm sure many readers will be too sophisticated and accomplished to
need this tip, but hopefully someone will benefit from it, as I did.
:-)

Gail
c|_|

If you want to email me, use your imagination first.

[Gail Pamphilon]

Quoth Aaron <aarontaycheehsien@yahoo.com>:

>"Some popup blockers.
>All of these are 100% pure freeware, no trial periods. Some of these
>do more than just handle popups.

(list snipped) I have tried some of these. Some of them turned out to
be shareware - after they were installed. None of them worked. I
didn't try all of them. Perhaps they are optimised for Win XP? Not
sure.

>Those blacklists are meant to be a additonal line of defence, ideally the
>popup blocking logic of the program should stop most.

True, but it beats me why anyone would want to live with the misery of
having to stop surfing to manually add yet another popup to their
list. :-) A true popup blocker should do it automatically. Mind you,
things change rapidly, so popup blockers have to change as well.

>Not really, i know dozens that work great. But googling certainty is
>harder because of spamming of search engine. Personally, i would
>look at usenet archives (google groups) to look for reviews of software
>has opposed to google itself, espically if you want freeware.

That is a good idea, and I should have thought of it. I will have to
keep it in mind for the future.

>I'm betting most here use either proxomitron (or perhaps proxvy,webwasher
>etc) and/or the default popup blocking functions of their browsers.

I actually tried Proxomitron, but I didn't like it because I couldn't
turn it off when I wanted to and it stopped the animation of smileys
on my favourite message board. This will not matter to some people, of
course. But I think there is something fundamentally wrong with a
popup blocker that can't work without drastically interfering with the
user's surfing experience. Other people will disagree, which is fine.
Some may want all animations turned off. I just want a very simple
product that does its job simply and well. :-)

Gail
c|_|

If you want to email me, use your imagination first.

[Aaron]

In article <ntibjvgkupfeqtnp1qigq4tggipnlr9cia@4ax.com>,
gail@melbpc.thinkcarefully.org.au says...
> Quoth Aaron <aarontaycheehsien@yahoo.com>:
>
> >"Some popup blockers.
> >All of these are 100% pure freeware, no trial periods. Some of these
> >do more than just handle popups.

> (list snipped) I have tried some of these. Some of them turned out to
> be shareware - after they were installed.

Which ones? I don't do the list mind you, i'm just curious.

None of them worked. I
> didn't try all of them. Perhaps they are optimised for Win XP?

I doubt that. I'm not using XP anyway.

The following i have trialed and AFAIK they work fine

Popup manager
popthis!
adshield 1.2
killad

There are others which i have seen recommended by far too many people to
think that they don't work or are shareware.


> >Those blacklists are meant to be a additonal line of defence, ideally the
> >popup blocking logic of the program should stop most.
>
> True, but it beats me why anyone would want to live with the misery of
> having to stop surfing to manually add yet another popup to their
> list. :-) A true popup blocker should do it automatically.<snip>

They do it automatically, except for those that they don't recognise,
that's the point! If they knew those were popups not wanted by the user
they would hardly need a blacklist would they? Some even offer
whitelists, to let popups through.

> >I'm betting most here use either proxomitron (or perhaps proxvy,webwasher
> >etc) and/or the default popup blocking functions of their browsers.
>
> I actually tried Proxomitron, but I didn't like it because I couldn't
> turn it off when I wanted to and it stopped the animation of smileys
> on my favourite message board. <snip>

On the system tray, click on the icon, then click bypass to temporary
turn off proxomitron. or better yet add the url of your favourite
message board to the bypass list or turn off the filter that stops
animation.


>But I think there is something fundamentally wrong with a
> popup blocker that can't work without drastically interfering with the
> user's surfing experience.

That's because proxomitron is much more then just a popup blocker.
It is far more verstile then any popup blocker espically if you know
enough of proxomitron filtering syntax and http to create your own
filters.

But if you want a popup blocker ONLY then this is not what you need.


> Some may want all animations turned off. I just want a very simple
> product that does its job simply and well. :-)

Proxomitron is not really for beginners or people not willing to spend
some time studying it. But most people here don't fall into that
category. Hence it's popularity.

Proxomitron is more of an all round security software product, then just
merely popup blocking, though it does do that excellently out of the
box.

PS Another good group to ask for freeware alternatives is
alt.comp.freeware


> Gail
> c|_|
--

Aaron
--
Want to learn how to use Winboard and the 200+ free Winboard
Chess engines?Visit http://www.aarontay.per.sg/Winboard/

[tony@well.com]

>> >"Some popup blockers.

Google now offers a free toolbar that blocks popups.

T.
========================
Tony Roder, speaking his mind....

[Gail Pamphilon]

Quoth Aaron <aarontaycheehsien@yahoomail.com>:

>Which ones? I don't do the list mind you, i'm just curious.

I think NoAds and Popup Popper were some of them.

>There are others which i have seen recommended by far too many people to
>think that they don't work or are shareware.

Fair enough. Perhaps they visit different websites, or use a different
operating system. Computers are tricky beasts. I couldn't get Tripeaks
to work in Win 98 SE on my PC, but my dealer has it, and it works
perfectly on his - exactly the same OS. There are too many
imponderables.

>They do it automatically, except for those that they don't recognise,
>that's the point! If they knew those were popups not wanted by the user
>they would hardly need a blacklist would they? Some even offer
>whitelists, to let popups through.

Free Surfer, which I am using now, and the others that I tried before,
do it automatically, without any user intervention. All that is
necessary is to hold down Ctrl or some other key on the odd occasion
when you want to click on a link from a web page that will open a new
IE page instead of going to the link on the same page.

>That's because proxomitron is much more then just a popup blocker.

But all I wanted was a simple popup blocker. Not a whole heap of stuff
that I have to learn and configure and fiddle with constantly in the
middle of my online time - why should I? That's the point that I was
trying to make. :-)

>It is far more verstile then any popup blocker espically if you know

Well, Free Surfer stops every popup that I have come across so far,
and so did the simple popup blockers that I used before. :-) Who needs
versatility, and of what, when the job is being done?

>enough of proxomitron filtering syntax and http to create your own
>filters.

Fair enough if you enjoy that sort of thing.

>Proxomitron is not really for beginners or people not willing to spend
>some time studying it. But most people here don't fall into that
>category. Hence it's popularity.

Perhaps that is the key - most people here, on this newsgroup, not
elsehwere. I had overlooked that point. I know some people here are
extra worried about security, and one or two are downright paranoid. I
think some enjoy tinkering with software, and having to learn it, so
perhaps that is the reason why some people enjoy popup stoppers that
have to be learned, configured and fiddled with. Like Linux people,
only to a far lesser extent of course.

>Proxomitron is more of an all round security software product, then just
>merely popup blocking, though it does do that excellently out of the
>box.

Like Zone Alarm and Tiny Personal Firewall?

>PS Another good group to ask for freeware alternatives is
>alt.comp.freeware

Thanks for that tip, I will make a note of it.

Gail
c|_|

If you want to email me, use your imagination first.

[Gail Pamphilon]

Quoth Jay T. Blocksom <usenet01+SPAMBLOCK@appropriate-tech.net>:

>One of the reasons you're having difficulty with this stuff is, you're
>attempting to treat the symptom, instead of the disease. Or, to use a
>slightly different analogy, you're attempting to use an after-the-fact
>band-aid where major surgery is needed.

Thanks Jay, but it isn't that bad. I'm merely interested in taking
precautions, not paranoid. Free Surfer works very well for me on the
occasions when I need to use it. The long away around that you propose
is fine for those who want to use it, but I am happy (and safe) the
way I am. Everyone has different needs. Thanks for your interest.

Gail
c|_|

If you want to email me, use your imagination first.

[Jay T. Blocksom]

On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 15:09:01 +1000, in <alt.privacy.spyware>, Gail Pamphilon
<gail@melbpc.thinkcarefully.org.au> wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> Thanks Jay, but it isn't that bad. I'm merely interested in taking
> precautions, not paranoid. Free Surfer works very well for me on the
> occasions when I need to use it. The long away around that you propose
> is fine for those who want to use it,
[snip]

It's really not "the long away around" in the... er... long run. <~>

Seriously: By the time you account for all the tapdancing you do with
add-on utilities, after-the-fact cleanups, etc., keeping MSIE/OE is
literally more trouble than it is worth. Once you've properly excised that
crap from you're system, you've *also* permanently side-stepped a large
majority of the various threats out there, thus simplifying your life
forevermore.

> ...but I am happy (and safe) the
> way I am.
[snip]

You may indeed be happy. But you're *not* "safe" -- even if you've deluded
yourself into thinking you are.

> Everyone has different needs.
[snip]

To some extent, yes. But I've yet to see any *real* reason to "need"
MSIE/OE.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet01[at]appropriate-tech.net


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

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