PopupDummy! Help Pages Open in web browser
What does this do?
Easy to use and no setup needed. Clean your PC of popups, adware, spyware, harmful web browser plug-ins, harmful activex installers, drive-by downloads, web browser hijackers, and keep them out for good!
How to Allow Good Popups You can allow popup windows to display using 3 methods:
1. Hold down the CTRL key as you click a link to bypass PopupDummy!. 2. Enable the option Allow Manual Popups to let PopupDummy! display popup links that you manually click on. 3. Enter part of this website's URL in the Safe Sites and PopupDummy! will always remember not to block popups from this site. Example entries are: mail.yahoo.com mail.lycos.com 4. Netscape Users Enter a substring of the web page's TITLE in the Safe Sites and PopupDummy! will always remember not to block popups from this site. If a popup-producing adware module, such as Gator or SaveNow!, is running on your system, it will be blocked to prevent it from displaying popups. To disable this feature, simply turn off the checkmark for Enable Ad-ware Protection.
Managing the Block List
PopupDummy! already blocks 90% of all popups without adding any window titles and without you even seeing a single flash. It does this by monitoring Microsoft Internet Explorer. However, many programs also produce popups on their own. These programs are also called Ad-ware programs. PopupDummy! can not automatically catch these popups, but it certainly can kill them! For instance KaZaa, Grokster, LimeWire, BearShare, iMesh, NetZero, and AudioGalaxy users will find frequent popups quite annoying. Following the steps below each time you receive a popup, will quickly eliminate all popups coming from those programs. For the shortcut to blocking Ad-Ware popups using the tray-icon next to your clock, see Adding Popups to your Block List. For the standard procedure of steps, read below: 1. When the popup appears, do not close it. Leave it open.2. Click the Block List button to open the screen of window titles.
3. Click Add to insert a new window title. You can also enter a window title using 3 methods: 1. Click Browse to select a currently displayed popup window title. 2. Enter an exact window title to have blocked. For example: Instant Offer 3. Enter a sub-string of a window title and include * at the end of the string. This is like adding a wildcard so any window title than contains the string you entered will be blocked. For example: Instant Offer* 4. Click Browse to display all the window titles currently open on your desktop. You should see the popup window title in this list. Select it and click OK. 5. Upon clicking OK and having the new window title entered in the list, the original popup window that you saw should now be closed by PopupDummy! and you should not see it again in the future (except for a brief flash before it is closed again by PopupDummy!). If the popup window does not close automatically after clicking OK, you may not have typed the window title exactly as it appears. Click REMOVE to erase the entry, and re-try it again.
The Response Rate feature lets you set how fast you want PopupDummy! to react and close popup windows that it detects from the Filters list. Setting it to the fastest may take up more CPU time. Note, when you change the response rate, you will need to restart the program or wait until the next time you run it to see the changes.
Adding Popups to your Block List:
1. When you see a popup, don't close it. Leave it open.
2. Right-click on the PopupDummy! tray icon next to your clock and select the menu item Add to Block List to bring
up the block list.
3. You can block the popup using 3 methods:
1. Click Browse to select a currently displayed popup window title.
2. Enter an exact window title to have blocked.
For example: Instant Offer
3. Enter a sub-string of a window title and include * at the end of the string.
This is like adding a wildcard so any window title than contains the string you entered
will be blocked.
For example: Instant Offer*
4. Click OK.
5. Click OK. The popup will now be killed and will not appear again.
Repeat the above steps each time a new popup appears. Ad-Ware programs typically only display between 5-6
different Ad-ware popup types. This means, after blocking 5-6 of the popups, you should have most of them blocked.
Test out PopupDummy! with our Popup Test Page
Clicking the following link will open a new window to test popups on:
http://www.dummysoftware.com/popupdummy_testpage.html
Warning, this page will bring up many popup ads. PopupDummy! will
block these ads. To see the actual ads, hold down your hotkey (CONTROL or SHIFT)
while loading the page in your browser. Be sure to hold down the hotkey for
the entire duration of the page load.
Installing for Multiple Users
If you have multiple users on your single
computer and the other accounts did not fully activate or install, you
can manually install PopupDummy! by following these directions:
1. Log in as the user you wish to install the software for.
2. Download the install PopupDummy! from http://www.popupdummy.com
You could also copy the install program from another user's account.
3. Click Register in the software, enter your same registration code, and
click register to validate the code for this new user's account.
When installing the software under each user's account, you will
also need to enter your registration code for those users as well. Note, a
registration code may only be shared by direct family members within a household.
How to Disarm PopupDummy!
To temporarily disarm PopupDummy!:
1. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard as you click a link to allow a popup to display. or
1. Right-click the PopupDummy! tray icon located next to your system time in the lower right corner
of your Windows start bar.
2. Click on the menu item Enabled. Currently, it will have a checkmark indicating PopupDummy! is ON.3. If you look again, the checkmark should now be a red X indicating PopupDummy! is OFF.
The PopupDummy! tray-icon will also turn gray in color.
4. Browse the web, all popups will be allowed through until PopupDummy! is turned back on by following
the above steps again.I still see popups! Why?
1. Verify you have entered your registration code for PopupDummy! by clicking the Register
button in the main screen, enter your code, and click register to validate the code. If you
see an Upgrade button, then you are already fully registered. For trial users, verify you
have time remaining in your 10-day free trial. Click the register button and the window title
will display how many days you have remaining. You can purchase a registration code here.
2. Upgrade your software to the latest version by clicking the UPGRADE button in the software or
manually by: 2.1. Exit PopupDummy! by right-clicking the PopupDummy! icon next to your clock and selecting EXIT.
2.2. Uninstall by clicking Start->Programs->PopupDummy!->Uninstall.
2.3. Download the latest version. Your registration code will be remembered between installs.
3. To verify the software is installed correctly, click the Popup Test button and verify all popups are
blocked in the test.
4. Clean your PC of spyware by running the free tool Microsoft AntiSpyware or Ad-aware or Spybot S&D.
After downloading and installing, click the update button in the software to verify you have the latest
reference files. Then scan your computer. Be sure to checkmark any results the tools may find
to clean them from your computer. These tools will clean out any popup-generating programs on
your computer, allowing PopupDummy! to continue protecting your computer in the future.
5. After cleaning your PC, if you still see occasional popups, you can add them to your Block List
by following the directions at Adding Popups to your Block List.6. After following the above steps, if you still have stubborn popups and spyware, download our product called Startup Select. This will allow you to identify and disable the hidden programs which run on your PC each time your PC turns on, including spyware, viruses, and hijackers. When running Startup Select, look in the list for any suspicious programs. You can find descriptions of each one in the right-most column or by clicking the identify button. Disable any suspicious programs. Once satisfied, restart your PC for changes to take effect.
What does Normalize mean? Some web pages try to be nasty. They appear with no way for you to close them. They hide their menu bar and tool bar leaving you to the old control-alt-delete to kill them.Normalizing means making a web page always have a Menu bar, Tool Bar, Address Bar, and Resizable. This allows you to always have control of your web browser.
Where are my Favorites, Search, History bars in Internet Explorer?
If you normally have the Favorites, Search, or History bars displayed on the left-hand side of Internet Explorer when you open a new browser, and now you do not see them anymore while running PopupDummy!, this is because you have Normalize Windows enabled. Solution: Disable Normalize Windows by un-checking the box for this feature.
A similar effect may also happen in the Windows Explorer. Some users who have their default folder views set to display in explorer mode, may see the folders look different than usual because of the Normalize feature. Again, disabling the Normalize feature will solve this.
Normalizing windows makes sure your browsers always have an address bar, tool bar, and are resizable. However, it also has the side effect of forcing your browsers to be "basic". If you normally use a Favorites bar, for instance, then this will not appear anymore with Normalize Windows enabled.
What is Integration with Microsoft Internet Explorer?
When you enable the option Integrate with Microsoft Internet Explorer, a PopupDummy! button and menu item (in the "tools" menu) will appear in the Microsoft Internet Explorer toolbar. Clicking the toolbar button or selecting the menu item will open the PopupDummy! options screen or launch the program. This provides you with easy access to the PopupDummy!'s options.
When you enable the Integrate option, you will need to open a new web browser to see the changes take effect. If you have enabled the Integrate option, opened a new web browser, and you still do not see the PopupDummy! "globe" icon in Internet Explorer, you will need to manually select the icon to be shown. Here's how: 1. In Internet Explorer, click VIEW->TOOLBARS->CUSTOMIZE. 2. Find the PopupDummy! icon in the list of icons on the left and move it to the right. 3. Close the window, you should see the icon appear.
All About Safe Sites
Safe Sites allow you to specify sub-phrases of URLs that you want to allow popups from. In most cases, you can look at the address bar in your web browser, and see the URL such as, http://www.dummysoftware.com/ftpdummy.html From this, if you wanted to allow all popups from this web site, you would open the PopupDummy! options (double-click the PopupDummy! icon or the tray-icon next to your time). Then click on the Safe Sites button. You would enter the phrase: dummysoftware.com This allows all popups from any url containing "dummysoftware.com". Netscape Users should enter a sub-string from the web page TITLE of the popup. If the popup window title was "My Inbox - Netscape", then entering the text "My Inbox" would be enough to keep PopupDummy! from blocking it.
This works in 90% of all cases. However, sometimes this still does not allow the popup. This is because some sites use semi-tricky javascript to display the popup. In that case, this is how you catch the safe site for it:
1. Click the link to produce the desired popup. It will get blocked, and listed in the PopupDummy! block
history list. View the web address of this popup that was blocked by opening the PopupDummy! options
and looking at the "Popups Blocked From" list for the last entry.
2. Click the Safe Sites button and enter a sub-phrase from the web address. Examples are:
mail.yahoo.com
mail.lycos.com
3. You may also need to enter a second entry: about:blank
This is the trick to catch some safe sites.
Summary: Enter the sub-phrase of the URL as a safe site keyword.
Enter about:blank as a safe site keyword.How do I turn off Runtime Errors and JavaScript/Debug Errors?
Some web sites which spawn popup windows expect to communicate with the popup windows. When PopupDummy! blocks these popups, the web sites occasionally yell back by displaying a JavaScript debug error. This is like the web site saying, "Hey, I expected an annoying popup window to appear, but where is it?" since PopupDummy! killed it for you.
This is fine, but those Runtime or JavaScript Debug errors may get annoying. You can easily turn these messages off in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Follow these steps:
1. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, click on the menu item TOOLS. 2. In the tools menu, select the menu item INTERNET OPTIONS. 3. In the Internet Options window, click on the ADVANCED tab at the top. 4. Checkmark the item Disable Script Debugging (see image below). 5. Un-checkmark the item Disable a notification about every script error (see image below).
Allowing Manual Popups
1. Double-click the PopupDummy! icon on your desktop to open the options screen. 2. Checkmark the option Allow Manual Popups. Now, when you click on a link that displays in a new window, PopupDummy! will allow the popup window to open. By default, this is off and you must hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard in order to allow a popup to go through. There are some links that PopupDummy! can not determine if it is a popup, for those you can simply hold down CTRL as you click the link.
When this option is enabled, there is also more possibility for unwanted popups to slip through. This is because PopupDummy! is no longer blocking all popups. Any unwanted popups should be quite rare even with this option enabled. If you find there are too many coming through for you liking, simply disable this feature.
Blocking Popups from Netscape
By enabling the Netscape Protection option, PopupDummy! can block all popup windows in Netscape and Mozilla web browsers. Due to the differences between Internet Explorer and Netscape, certain features are not available for Netscape browsers. Features not included with Netscape are: Normalize, Allow Manual Popups, and Integrate into Toolbar. To allow a popup to appear in Netscape, simply hold down the bypass key such as the CTRL key. You can also add Safe Sites by clicking the Safe Sites button and typing in a substring of the window title you want to allow. For example if PopupDummy! is blocking a page, look in the "Popups Blocked From" list. Suppose you see "My Inbox - Netscape" being blocked. You can click the Safe Sites button, and type in "My Inbox" to have PopupDummy! ignore blocking this page in the future.
All about the Cookie Cutter / What is a Cookie?
What is a cookie? A cookie is a file on your computer that was created by a web site that you have visited. Web sites store cookies on your computer so they can remember information about you. This information may include your likes, dislikes, advertisements you have already seen, items you have purchased, links you have clicked, date and time, preferences, etc. Why is a cookie bad? It is no wonder there is such an uproar about web sites storing cookies on your computer. People feel violated when a web site can simply store a file on your computer for its own use, often in advertising. It's bad enough users have to see advertisements and popups all day, but why should you let them use your computer to store their data?
Why is a cookie good? The idea of cookies isn't all bad. It does have purpose. Some web sites use cookies to store your login information so you don't have to type it in every time you visit the site. Other web sites store your name and purchase preferences so they can instantly show you what you may be looking for on their site. Cookies were originally designed to bring convenience to the web. However, today many cookies are misused.
Should I remove all my cookies? Probably not. If you remove all your cookies, you will save disk space and privacy. However, certain web sites that use the cookie for things like remembering your username and password, will not remember them anymore. You may have to enter specific settings again when you visit the site.
Which cookies should I remove? This depends on what web sites you visit. When you view the Cookie Cutter window, take a look at the most used cookies (the ones near the top with the large Times Used value). See if there are cookie names from web sites that you do not wish to be associated with. If so, these are probably safe to remove. The cookies with names from web sites that you frequently visit should probably be left alone. How did the cookie named [some_cookie_name] get on my computer? You may be surprised when you first view the Cookie Cutter screen. It is amazing that all these web sites can store data about you on your own machine. Often you will see cookies from adult sites, advertisers, and sites you never even visited. This is because some advertisements built into web sites can actually create cookies on your computer too. These are the ones you probably want to remove.
Managing Your Internet Explorer Plug-ins
What is an IE plug-in? A plug-in is a small program which attaches itself to your Internet Explorer web browser and provides enhanced features such as tool bars, added menus, side panes, spell checking, and other features. Internet Explorer plug-ins are also called Browser Helper Objects or BHO for short. Unfortunately, IE plug-ins are more commonly used to spy on your web surfing habits and promote popup advertisements. Most IE plug-ins can be considered spyware or adware.
How did I get these IE plug-ins? Plug-ins are most commonly installed via drive-by-downloads. This happens when you visit a web site and a small window displays asking you to click Yes to install a program. Many users do not read the details of these windows and simply click Yes to close the window. This is when the plug-in is installed in your web browser. IE plug-ins may also come packaged with other free programs you have installed such as Kazaa, Grokster, and other file-sharing tools.
Should I disable all of my IE plug-ins? Probably not. PopupDummy! scans your IE plug-ins and disables those which it deems as harmful to your computer so there is usually no need to enable or disable other IE plug-ins.
How do I remove an IE plug-in rather than just disable it? PopupDummy! disables harmful IE plug-ins, but it does not remove them from your computer. To remove harmful plug-ins requires a complete scanning and cleaning of your computer for adware and spyware. Please see the topic Removing Adware/Spyware for links to download free tools to clean your computer.
Fixing Hijacked Internet Explorer Start Pages
What is an Internet Explorer Start Page? This is the web page that initially displays when you open a new web browser on your computer. You can change this to any web site you wish through the Internet Explorer options. However, some spyware hijackers will change your start page on their own, often to a site with popups or other malicious content. They may also deny you the ability to reset your start page so that you are forced to view their advertisements.
Why did PopupDummy! tell me my Internet Explorer start page was hijacked by spyware? PopupDummy! can detect changes in your Internet Explorer start page and ask you to confirm them. If specific data in your Internet Explorer start page indicates a possible hijacking, PopupDummy! allows you to either keep your start page as-is, change it to a safe start page (which will be a blank start page), or you can set the URL yourself.
When PopupDummy! prompts me to confirm my start page, what should I do? If you are not familiar with the start page presented to you, we strongly recommend that you click Yes to allow PopupDummy! to reset your start page to a safe one. The safe start page will be a blank one, so the next time you open a new web browser, there will simply be a blank page to start at. Or you can type in your own URL to start at, such as www.comcast.com or www.google.com, etc. PopupDummy! said my start page might be spyware, but I want to keep it. What should I do? If you are asked to confirm your Internet Explorer start page, simply click No to resetting it. This will leave your start page as-is and PopupDummy! will not ask you again. How can I manually change my Internet Explorer start page? Open a Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser. In the menu bar, click Tools, click Internet Options, change your Homepage Address and click OK.
PopupDummy! License Agreement PopupDummy! has a trial period of 10 days, after which the software will stop functioning and must be activated with a registration code. When you purchase a registration code, you are purchasing a single-PC license for the software. A non-commercial user may install and register the software only on the PCs he personally owns within his household. If you require to register the software for additional PCs other than those you personally own within your household, you must purchase multiple registration codes - one registration code for each additional PC. Commercial, business, and government institutions must purchase a single license for each PC they install the software on. A registered user may receive technical support for the period of one year from the time of purchase. This includes support for new registration codes. After this period, no additional registration codes may be issued. Policy Regarding Third Party Applications k.soft has provided you, the end user, with a software product that will suppress popup advertisements on your system. We have also provided you with the means to review, exclude, and/or adjust blocking preferences within PopupDummy!. It is therefore important for you, the user, to understand and abide by the EULA (End User License) agreements provided by the developers of any applications on your computer, which may be affected by the suppressing of popup advertisements from their software. k.soft does not condone, support, nor endorse the use of any host application after the targeted popup advertisements have been blocked. We also hold that to do so may not only be a violation of the applicable EULA, it could be considered illegal and/or unethical. As a result, we strongly recommend that you uninstall these programs producing popup advertisements prior to using PopupDummy!, as this may be a condition of their continued use.
Why should I register?In the trial version you have a trial period of 10 days. After this time popups will no longer be blocked. PopupDummy! will remind you on your 5th and last day that the trial period is about to expire. Registering removes the 10 day trial period. Registering keeps popup advertisements off of your computer. Registering gives you preferred customer support status. Registering allows you to receive FREE upgrades of the software. Please read the License Agreement about users and registering PopupDummy!.
or 1-800-414-4268 or orders@bmtmicro.com After clicking the Buy Now link, a new window will open where you can purchase the software. Or register today by clicking the register button in the software.
Support
We pride ourselves on having one of the best customer support systems on the market. Please feel free to email us with any questions, or comments and you will often get a response the same day.
PopupDummy! was written by: k.soft. For support, please contact: Email Support Visit us online: www.dummysoftware.com
