Blocking Pop-ups, Cookies, and Other Unwanted Behaviours

As the popularity of the World Wide Web has grown, so has the use of advertising and monitoring in the form of pop-ups, cookies, and graphics. Although there are many situations in which these features are desirable, they can often be intrusive and annoying.

Netscape Browser includes numerous options and methods for blocking such intrusions, as well as ways for you to choose which web sites are allowed to use them. In general, you can set Netscape Browser to block the items that you don't want to see, and then allow specific sites to use them when you find that they're needed.

Note: For more detailed information on privacy-related features in Netscape Browser, refer to Protecting Your Privacy on the Internet.

What Are Pop-ups?

Pop-up windows (or pop-ups) are windows that appear automatically and without your permission. They vary in size, but usually they don't cover the whole screen. Some pop-ups open on top of the current Netscape Browser window (pop-ups) while others appear underneath Netscape Browser (pop-unders).

Netscape Browser allows you to control both pop-ups and pop-unders through the Site Controls options panel. Since pop-up blocking is turned off by default, you must enable it if you want to prevent pop-ups from appearing in Netscape Browser. When blocking a pop-up, the pop-up toolbar button changes to "Blocked" (as shown above) and Netscape Browser (optionally) plays a sound. If you want to allow this site to display pop-ups (without changing your overall default), you can use the pull-down menu on the pop-up blocker button to specify that pop-ups are allowed for this site.

The following table shows what the pop-up toolbar button looks like, depending on your settings for the current site:

	Pop-up blocker on (no pop-ups allowed)
	Pop-up blocker off (pop-ups are allowed)

Notes:

• Blocking pop-ups may interfere with some web sites. Some web sites, for example banking and other sites that require secure logins, use pop-ups for important features. Blocking all pop-ups disables such features. To allow specific web sites to use pop-ups, while blocking all others, you can add these sites to your list of allowed sites. For more information, refer to Setting Site Controls .
• Blocking pop-ups doesn't always work. Although Netscape Browser blocks most pop-ups, some web sites, even when blocked, may use other methods to show pop-ups.

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small file created by an Internet site to store information on your computer. For example, cookies are used by sites to store the preferences that you set when using that site: this saves you from having to set your preferences each time you visit the site.

When you access a web site that uses cookies, the site requests that your browser place one or more of its cookies on your hard disk. Later, when you return to the site, Netscape Browser sends back the cookies that belong to the site. This allows the site to present you with information customized to fit your needs. It also enables that site to keep track of statistics such as how often you visit that site.

Web sites may also use cookies to store personally identifiable information that you provide to the web site when you are browsing there. Personally identifiable information is information that can be used to identify or contact you, such as your name, e-mail address, home or work address, or telephone number. (Again, this information cannot be determined by a web site unless you provide it to them. Also, a web site cannot gain access to other information on your computer.)

Setting Your Default Behaviours

As mentioned in the overview to this chapter, the basic strategy for controlling pop-ups, cookies, and other behaviours is to block them entirely, and then allow them on a site-by-site basis as required. For example, if you block all pop-ups, but then find that your bank requires a pop-up in order to sign-in to online services, then you can specifically allow pop-ups for your bank's site.

This section briefly describe how you can set your general options for blocking unwanted behaviours. For details on how to to allow these (and other) behaviours on a site-by-site basis, refer to Setting Site Controls.

Blocking Cookies and Pop-ups

To set Netscape Browser to block cookies and pop-ups by default, it's helpful to understand how trust settings are used to set security options. Trust settings are security-related options that Netscape Browser allows you to modify on a site-by-site basis, as described in Setting Site Controls. In brief, to block cookies and pop-ups, you need to turn off these option for each trust level.

1. Select Tools>Options and then select the Site Controls panel. (Note: You can also access this window by clicking the Manage Site List button from the Site Controls window.)



2. In the Master Settings list, select the trust level that you want to modify. When you select a trust level, the settings for that level are displayed in the Web Features and Rendering Engine fields at the right of the window.
3. To block cookies, pop-ups, images, and other behaviours at the trust level you have selected, make sure that those options are de-selected (as shown above).

   Tip: In many cases, advertisers on a given web site will set their own cookies and use their own images—these cookies and images will originate from a different site than the one you are currently viewing. To block these types of cookies and images while still accepting cookies and images that originate from the site you are visiting, allow these options, but also select from the originating Web site only. For more information on how these fields are used, refer to the help for this window.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each trust level.

Accepting "Session-Only" Cookies

Since many sites require cookies in order for you to use them properly, an alternative strategy for cookies is to accept them as "session-only" cookies. This means that Netscape Browser will accept the cookie, but will always delete it once you close your browser. (The next time you visit a particular web site using cookies, it will appear to that site as if you were visiting it for the first time.) To enable this setting:

1. Select Tools>Options and then select the Privacy panel.
2. In the Privacy panel, click on the Cookies category to display options for that category:
3. In the Keep Cookies field, select until I close Netscape. This option accepts cookies but deletes them once you exit your browser:
   
   

For more detailed information on the fields and buttons on this window, refer to the help for cookie options. For step-by-step descriptions of various tasks related to cookies, see Managing Cookies.

Blocking Pop-ups Using the Netscape Browser Toolbar

allow pop-ups	block pop-ups

You can use the Allow/Block button on the Netscape Browser Toolbar to block pop-up windows, and to set your default preferences for how this feature works. This button alerts you whenever it blocks a pop-up, and can display a running tally of the number of windows blocked. Click the button arrow to display the drop-down menu options for this feature.

	Hover your mouse over the pop-ups icon to display the options drop-down menu:
	Enable/Disable Pop-up Blocker	Check this option to toggle between allowing and not allowing pop-ups. Tip: you can also click the icon on the toolbar to switch between the two options.
	Display Number of Pop-ups Blocked	Check this option to have Netscape Browser display a running tally of the number of pop-ups blocked.
	Play sound when Pop-up is blocked	Check this option to have Netscape Browser play a sound every time it blocks a pop-up.
	Display list of blocked Pop-ups	Check this option to display a list of blocked pop-ups in a separate window.
	Manage Pop-ups for Current Site	When you check this option, Netscape Browser displays the Site Controls panel on the Options window. You can use this panel to define site-specific controls.
	Reset Blocked Pop-ups Counter	This option resets your blocked pop-ups counter back to zero.

Displaying pop-ups in a tab

You can set certain options which will allow you to display pop-ups on their own 'pop-ups' tab. When you do this, each time a pop-up is displayed, it over-writes the previous one, so you will have only one pop-up tab displaying the most recent pop-up.

For requested pop-ups:

• On the Site Controls panel, for the specific site, check Open pop-ups in a new tab.

For non-requested pop-ups:

• On the Site Controls panel, for the specific site, check Open pop-ups in a new tab.
• On the Tab Browsing panel, check Open non-requested pop-ups in a new tab.

Allowing Behaviours For a Specific Site

If you have blocked browser features such as pop-ups, cookies, and so on, you may discover that you would like to enable these features for certain sites. There are two ways that you can do this:

• By using the tab bar to set options while you are viewing the site. This approach is generally easier, since you can allow or block specific features for a site as you view it, however, it only enables you to select a few of the most common site controls (such as pop-ups and cookies). For more information on how to do this, refer to Setting Site Controls.
• By specifying options on a site-by-site basis using the Site Controls option panel. Using this window, you can list specific sites and then set your preferences for each site accordingly.

April, 2005

Copyright 1994-2005 Netscape Communications Corporation.