52. Block Pop-ups with the Pop-up Blocker

BEFORE YOU BEGIN	SEE ALSO
Use the Google Toolbar to Search from Anywhere	Customize the Google Toolbar

Among the countless things that drive most people crazy about the Internet are pop-ups, those annoying small ads in browser windows that appear when you visit certain websites. Google Toolbar includes a pop-up killer, so it's a great, free way to kill these ads. Here's how to use the Google Toolbar's Pop-up Blocker.

Make Sure the Pop-up Blocker Is Turned On

The Pop-up Blocker should be automatically turned on when you use the Google Toolbar. However, you might have accidentally turned it off, or it might be turned off for another reason. To turn it on, click the Google icon at the far left of the Google Toolbar, and choose Options from the menu that opens. From the Toolbar Options dialog box that appears, make sure that you are on the Browsing tab. Then check the box next to Popup Blocker.

Customize Pop-up Blocker Settings

You can control the behavior of the Pop-up Blocker. To do it, click the Popup Blocker Settings button in the Toolbar Options dialog box. To make the Pop-up Blocker play a sound whenever it blocks a pop-up, enable the Play a sound when blocking popups option. You can't change the sound Google plays when blocking pop-ups.

The Pop-up Blocker displays the number of pop-ups it has blocked. Whenever it blocks another pop-up, the number increases by one. If you don't want that number displayed, enable the Hide Popup Blocker count option.

When you're done, click OK.

Block Pop-ups

With the Pop-up Blocker turned on, you don't have to do anything to block pop-upsthe blocker automatically blocks pop-ups for you. When you visit a site that has a pop-up ad, you hear a click (if you've allowed sounds to play), and for a moment you get a message that the Pop-up Blocker has blocked a pop-up. The icon for the Pop-up Blocker changes and displays a red exclamation point inside a yellow starburst.

Allow Pop-ups from a Site

In some instances, you want pop-ups to be displayed. For example, some sites use pop-ups to give you extra information, such as more details about the site. To always allow pop-ups from a particular site, click the Pop-up Blocker icon in the Google Toolbar; from now on, the Pop-up Blocker allows all pop-ups from this site and also allows the last pop-up it blocked. To turn pop-ups off for the site, click the Pop-up Blocker icon again.

Allow Individual Pop-ups

Sometimes, a link leads to a pop-up, and you might want to let only that pop-up throughfor example, if the link pops up a page in which you're interested. To allow that single pop-up, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the link on the web page.