Ron Popeil, the patron saint of gadget vendors, has a saying: "Set it and forget it." And, as with so many of Saint Ron's utterances, we sometimes miss how deep and meaningful these lessons are in our daily lives. Take Safari 3 for example. After switching to the new beta, I suddenly started seeing pop-up ads. Lots and lots of those annoying little windows. And this was, of course, because I had so long ago set my Safari pop-up blocker and then forgotten about it.
Now that I had upgraded, it was time for another "set it and forget it" moment. I opened my Safari menu and sure enough, "Block Pop-Up Windows" was unchecked. So I selected it and my pop-ups went away. Hopefully this post will help some of you to do the same.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-15-2007 @ 1:13PM
Shunnabunich said...
That's weird, it seemed to remember that preference for me when I upgraded.
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6-15-2007 @ 1:22PM
frou said...
brain surgery
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6-15-2007 @ 1:32PM
Sabon said...
Now if it just came with an AD blocker. I run PithHelmet to block ads because, to be honest, TOO MANY ADS on websites. I know you guys are trying to make money through these but the big and animated ads drive me away from those companies and your website (if I wasn't using an Ad blocker.) Since PithHelmet doesn't have a version for Safari 3 I had to uninstall it and go back to Safari 2.
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6-15-2007 @ 1:41PM
artifex said...
weird. When I tried the SfW beta, it was already checked by default. Wonder how it lost yours.
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6-15-2007 @ 1:48PM
Ricosuave said...
This was there for ages. What's next, discover the built in search bar to the right?
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6-15-2007 @ 1:59PM
DrWho said...
#5 Dude it's a tip ok, some people already know the tip, some don't, thats the nature of a tip. There's no need to be snarky.
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6-15-2007 @ 2:14PM
Bojangles said...
Are you fu#$ing kidding me??? What kind of story is this. Why don't you instruct your readers how to plug their iMac in while you are at it. Ladies and Gents, the shark has officially been jumped.
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6-15-2007 @ 2:26PM
Jamus said...
This is probably the biggest reason I use Firefox over Safari... Safari will not let you SELECTIVELY block pop-ups. It is all or nothing. So if you have webmail or some other web gui that uses a popup window you never see it unless you turn off the blocker.
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6-15-2007 @ 2:30PM
joe said...
Next on TUAW, The shutdown option on the Apple Menu. Who knew?
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6-15-2007 @ 2:46PM
Ricosuave said...
DrWho, did YOU know you can refresh the screen using cmd+R? Next week I will show you how to download a Widget. I don't want to fill your brain with too much info right now.
Stay tuned...
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6-15-2007 @ 2:53PM
Luigi193 said...
Ladies (being all you whiney commenters) he (or she) was just trying to remind you to recheck it if you haven't cause when you reinstall it can get unchecked, Its not about the actual feature, but instead a reminder. Lets not all freak out now K?
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6-15-2007 @ 3:18PM
Fritz Laurel said...
Settle down, kids. I, for one, like to hear reports of how Apple's latest and greatest will destroy my life (or at least my computing enjoyment). And this counts.
As an aside, I've found that maintaining my own hosts file is the best way for me to destroy ads. I have a fairly constant set of sites I surf, so I don't need to block 9000 sites.
Cheers,
FL
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6-15-2007 @ 3:24PM
DrWho said...
Ricosuave - been taking patronising lessons recently?
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6-15-2007 @ 3:45PM
Ricosuave said...
Yes
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6-15-2007 @ 7:33PM
l33t H4CKz said...
I'm in ur Safari, breakin' your computerz.
Be careful beta users!
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6-15-2007 @ 9:41PM
Kevin said...
shift-command-k
Safari pop-up blocker shortcut, Finder network shortcut. Sometimes I'm in Safari, mash shift-command-k to browse my network and boom, pop-ups return to my browser, like they've traveled forward in time from the late nineties. Is it really necessary for the pop-up blocker in Safari to have a keyboard shortcut?
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6-16-2007 @ 6:06PM
Kalessin said...
I always assumed that it had a hotkey assigned so that users could switch it off to use sites which *need* popups, before switching it back on again afterwards.
I could be wrong, but wasn't the keyboard shortcut [CMD]-K in Safari 2? I'm not about to revert to the previous version to check it out, but I use [CMD]-K in several other apps and have been known to accidentally turn off the popup blocker, so if it *has* changed, I'm glad to see it ;)
@ Ricosuave et al: Your sarcasm is brilliant, but pulls a faceplant by being completely unwarranted. This post was not "Popup-Blocking 101", but rather, "Watch Out: Safari 3 May Not Keep Your Preferences". Otherwise, well played.
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6-17-2007 @ 9:14PM
VanillaSpice said...
Ricosuave, Bojangles, joe and Alan, in your desperation to cry foul, you completely missed the fact that this post was not explaining the existence of the pop-up blocker at all, it was discussing the disabling of it from the upgrade to the Beta.
I hope you all feel as stupid as you look right now.
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6-17-2007 @ 10:22PM
Ben the Dog said...
Upgrading to beta or v2.0 software is often going to hit snags, and Erica's tip is a good one.
As for the idiots who felt the need to anonymously attack Erica - her piece was a million times more readable than your drivel. Get a life and grow up, or just leave us all alone.
(Note to TUAW - enforce a minimum IQ for thread comments; it'd get rid of the likes of 5, 7, 8 and 10 for starters)
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6-19-2007 @ 12:27AM
Alan said...
VanillaSpice, I can't tell if you're trolling or just misinformed, but
I think that any self-respecting mac user (especially those who read
TUAW) who is noticing pop-up ads would check to see if their pop-up
blocker was turned on or not. As far as I know (a quick search
verifies this), no one besides Erica has reported the pop-up blocking
being turned off as a result of the upgrade. Erica should have done
some research before posting to check if ANYONE else had the same
experience upgrading. Who knows? Maybe Erica turned off her blocker
and then forgot about it. Would that make for a good news story?
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