pop up adds

“I know Matt is making $$ by having these pop up adds and I wish him luck but DANG these things stack up quick at the bottom! It takes a while to get rid of them all.”

“I just block it out!

8)”

“I added pop up stopper on the recommendation of somebody here. It works.”

“The free Pop-Up Stopper really does work. I've had it for a year now and have no pop-ups anymore.

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page for the free version.”

“Yeahg, I ment to do that too and got lazy and never did.”

“A person should not have to sit through this many pop ups without there being some kind of porn involved!”

“I agree!”

“I just got it and it works!

Oh joy!!!!!!

8)”

“THANKS Steve Hiker!!
You da Man!!”

“i've been annoyed with pop ups my entire life, this better work ;)”

“I've heard that matt doesn't make money if we don't see the add, but hell as a busnesman, webmaster he should know that these pop ups are getting abusive. Ever move around TT today other then the home page I get one of those evil capitiol one adds, you can be sure that I will NEVER buy from Capitiol One because they are poping up.

I don't like telliphone soliters, E-mail advertising, IM adds, and Pop ups, all of them are wrong. I don't want to be disterbed if by a salesman why I'm at home. This is true for the computer too. I'm sure that all those pop up adds are the cause of computer crashes for some TTers. THink about it, if you surf TT for an hour, you just foudn yourself like 50 ads, then you don't know it and start to do work, but now your puter crashes because of the 50 ads.

POP UP ADS ARE JUST AS EVIL AS TELEPHONE SOLICITERS”

“There is another free pop-up stopper at www.panicware.com. Blocks the ads but I think the site still gets the bucks.”

“I try not to b!ch too much and simply rather choose to not spend as much time here. Why the hell should I add yet another program to my computer just so I don't have have a billion ads in my face. If all the ugly billboards along the road to work make me sick I just find another way to work.”

“I see free download stuff all the time here and then open the page and it says to read all this stuff and I just want to download and get back to TT. If I just note which of you posted it and go ahead and download w/o reading am I just looking for trouble? I get real skeered of all the crashing and virus talk and just don't know whats safe anymore.”

“Tourism Quebec though, how low can it get?”

“I know that Matt usually tries to keep the popups from being overly annoying. I wonder if he is even aware that the Capital One popup multiplies like a frickin rabbit?”

“I have removed the Capital One campaigns since they were going overboard. But the Quebec Tourism ad will be with us for a while (that one ad will help pay my bills for a month or so). I had to allow some pop-ups lately because regular ads haven't been enough to pay my bills. But things are looking a little better now.”

“Just added panicware's free stuff yesterday. I was really getting pissed off at capital one and classmates. You guys ever clean out your temporary internet files? You'd be amazed at how much crap and how many cookies these things store in your computer. Some days I'll end up with a kb of garbage in my system. Out it goes!”

“Gracias, Matteo!”

“Thank you Matt!”

“Re my last post - meant to type gb ipo kb. Also, just got back from deleting the crap and discovered that whether the ad pops up or not, it still leaves its slimy trail in your system!

Ditto on the thank you, Matt.”

“Thanks matt.”

“Being one of the biggest beeatchers and moaners about pop ups when they are going crazy I think I needed to tell Matt a big huge THANKS when they are not around.”

“You're right nigal; we always take it for granted when something irritating is not around. Thank you Spock!”

“Perhaps to thank Matt, it wouldn't hurt if we clicked on a few of the banners posted on the site. In most cases, that's how webmasters make their money, when people click on the banners. I'm going to click on a few now!”

“You're right Artex. I clicked on a couple. I'll do it at least once a day.

Thanks Matt!”

“Now you did it, I clicked the REI banner, I'll see you at the "Is there a cure?" thread.

I need a multiday but light backpack.”

“Yep, I clicked on the REI ad. I still have a rebate to use.”

“STP has Osprey Aethers on sale right now Pathman. I just picked up an Aether 60 for $182.”

“Pathman, I've clicked on the REI one too many times! I posted over on the gear addiction thread that I just bought some pants! Matt once said he gets some credit if we click on and buy something directly from that link.”

“I asked Matt about that REI banner ad at Christmas time. He said he doesn't get anything if you just click on it. He does get a commission from everything that you buy after you clicked on it, though. So, if you need to make an REI or REI Outlet purchase, enter through TT. That way Matt gets some cash.”

“Hmmm...that reminds me...I think I need some new raingear...”

“Thanks bitpusher, that's the one I think I want! You enabler, you...”

“Oooh, thanks skully! I'll remember that the next time I buy something from REI.

Just as long as we don't get hooked into a codependent relationship, Pathman......”

“Matt's like Big Tobacco only he's getting us addicted to gear! He must be putting some subliminal message on the site that says " must buy gear, must buy gear"”

“They start by pushing "soft" gear to kids--pup tents; flashlights; mess kits.

The next thing you know, it's Biblers, Zipkas, and titanium sporks.

All part of the Matrix.”

“Don't worry bitpusher, I'm codependent with my alter ego.”

“I wonder if I can get REI to ship my stuff in a plain, brown wrapper instead of the plastic bag that says "REI GEAR INSIDE!!!", so my wife won't find out!”

“Aero,
ALWAYS ship to work address, then smuggle gear into house a little at a time.”

“It helps to have REI in town. I can leave it in the truck and smuggle it into the garage.”

“I keep telling you guys. The way to get your wife to not b!tch about your gear purchases is to take her down to a boat show. Tell her you've been thinking about it for a while, then only look at models which are obviously out of your price range. She will quickly accept your backpacking gear habit as harmless.

I know there's some parallel to junkie behavior here, but I can't think of it.”

“boat :: a hole in the water that you pour money into”

“exactly, HOI. Any woman with sense will quickly realize that backpacking is cheap in comparison.”

“Yesterday I got a pop-up ad for a pop-up blocker (no kidding). It was a really annoying one too that was hard to close. I treat them like I do phone solicitations - I'll never buy from either.”

“Pathman - Don't jump on the sierratradingpost Aether 60 too quickly. They are the 2001 model. The 2002 model is significantly improved and they dropped the price from $259 to $229. I got 10% off mine so at $206 it was ~$25 more for a better pack. I spent some time in a side-by-side comparison. The new one is a couple of ounces heavier but they added sleeping pad straps, enlarged the collar and flap, improved the hipbelt, added a Delrin rod between the top of the stays to create a head cup and make the pack ride better, changed the front & side pockets to mesh (made them better as water bottle holders too) and switched to a rip-stop fabric. Both are sweet though.”

“Well, the IT guys at my company finally caught on to the craze. They've got a pop-up ad for a big event we're having this summer on our internal web page. Anytime you open the internet, you get a big gorilla picture (we're throwing a party at the zoo!). Its time to install that pop-up stopper....”

“yep, sounds like a job for a cold shower ;-)”

“LMFAO!!! Those pop up windows are a severe pain in the butt though. Maybe someday companies will learn that most people don't even read them. I know I just close them as soon as they come up. I get 4+ windows popping up on some sites. My computer can't handle all of that activity!

.........ahhhhhh.......

Whining completed. Have a nice day!”

“I'd turned off Windows Messenger before only to have it come back. I missed the second step Windows guru Jim Coates outlines in his column:

Microsoft Windows XP... permits disguised ads (and sometimes outright hack attacks) to pop up on one's computer.

The schemes exploit what is called the Windows Messenger service, a module built in to the operating system that is meant to handle tasks like letting a network administrator communicate with people at different workstations.

Hustlers, however, work the Web, sniffing out the Internet signals sent out by most computers, and then automatically send a Windows Message to pop up on unprotected screens. Clicking on these messages can load hostile programs and cause other woes.

Here is how to protect against this dangerous annoyance:

Click on Start and Control Panel and then select Administrative Tools. In the window this opens, pick Services. When Services opens, scroll down the long alphabetical list to Messenger and select it. Then look in the upper left of the Services window for the Start/Stop icon. Select Stop.

Now, with Messenger still selected, right-click with the mouse and choose Properties. Here, look for the little box that says Automatic and click the arrow alongside it to change the setting to Manual or Disable to prevent the nasty thing from rising back from the dead during the next bootup.

chicagotribune.com”