PopDown

for Microsoft Internet Explorer

PopDown is a free utility that helps to eliminate those annoying popup windows and banner ads you’ll no doubt encounter while surfing the web.  It runs, conveniently, in the Windows system tray and keeps a running count of the number of popups it has eliminated.  It can be easily toggled on and off by double-clicking its icon in the system tray, or by selecting “Pause” from its tray menu (see below).

System Resources

PopDown uses very little system resources.  This is because it really only needs to act when it finds a new popup.  You can safely run PopDown in your system tray even while not surfing, with virtually no effect on your system performance.  If you have Windows NT/2000/XP, you can see just how little CPU Time that PopDown uses by examining the Task Manager.  On the Processes tab of the Task Manager, click the CPU Time column to sort all runnings processes.  PopDown will most likely be at or near the bottom.  Even when things are most demanding for PopDown, such as when multiple popups windows appear simultaneously, PopDown will still not demand more than one or two percent of your CPU.  Compare that to some of the other programs you are running.  PopDown does this by establishing itself as a “low priority” application.  It WILL close those pesky popups (and quickly), but it won’t tax your system at all.

Using PopDown

PopDown is very easy to use.  Most users will add a shortcut to PopDown in their Startup menu, so that it launches automatically when Windows starts, and then forget about it.  However, there are a few options that you may wish to configure.

Right-clicking on PopDown’s tray icon brings up a small menu (shown at right).  From this menu, you are given four options:

When PopDown is running, its tray icon will be green.  When paused, it will change to red.  As popups are eliminated, the number displayed in the icon will increase.  This is a running total of the number of popups that PopDown has closed for you.

When PopDown finds a popup window, a few things may happen.  First and foremost, the popup window will be immediately closed.  Also, the tray icon will flash once, letting you know that PopDown was responsible for closing the window.  Optionally, PopDown may play a short sound and/or add the popup to a log file (see below).

Note that some popups ARE beneficial.  For example, some websites will have you complete a form that appears within a popup window.  If this is the case, simply double-click PopDown to pause it, complete the form, then double-click PopDown again to re-enable it.

PopDown Options

Some popups may be closed so fast that you’re not even aware they were opened in the first place.  How do you know that popup is working if you can’t see it?

The PopDown Options window gives you the choice to enable sound.  PopDown uses a default WAV file, that it plays whenever it closes a popup.  You may choose to play a different WAV file (one of your choice), or disable sound alltogether.

In addition, PopDown can log all the popups it closes.  Along with the name of the popup, it also records the date and time the window was discovered.

Thank you for trying PopDown.  I hope it works well for everyone and creates a better surfing experience.

For questions or comments, please send an e-mail to kevin.cotter@morbark.com.

To download the latest version of PopDown (currently 1.0), click here.

Hosts/Mirrors

PopDown is currently featured on the following website(s):

WebAttack -- http://www.webattack.com/viewapp.php?id=105639&a=7115886

Tidbits

-         When PopDown is initially launched, it will immediately look for any currently-opened popup windows.

-         Your settings (play a sound, log all popups, etc.) will be saved even after you close PopDown and will be restored the next time you run it.

-         PopDown was developed completely in C++ using the Win32 API (no MFC) and Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.