+Getting Rid of Pop-up Menus

Information Connection: Getting rid of pop-up menus

We all hate those pesky, intrusive pop-up menus. The programmers who use them think they are forcing us to visit some site or another, but in reality these things are as functional as mosquitoes--and just as irritating. Here's how to swat them:

If you are a Netscape user, you can get rid of the pop-up windows and such by just turning off your JavaScript.
Just go to Options---->Network Preferences---->Click on the Languages Tab on the top and then Uncheck the
check box that says JavaScript.
With Internet Explorer you can go into Internet options, chose security, chose expert settings, and then find Java and disable it.

These tech tips were contributed by Professor Jody.

The above tip was donated circa 1999. Much has changed, since then. Netscape is in the dustbin of history, many people hate Internet Explorer and refuse to use it, most browsers now automatically control pop-ups, etc.

The pop-ups that caused the anti pop-up sentiments were the ones that did nothing but amass advertising traffic on sites most people would not normally visit. The problem went past the point of absurdity when these were programmed to keep opening new pop-ups.

This was a chain reaction, and it quickly got out of control. It was common to have dozens of pop-up windows with more on the way, making your computer unusable. And this was over a POTS modem connection which was typically 40K or so of bandwidth.

You had to unplug your modem to stop the new pop-ups, then click each remaining window closed or go into Windows Task Manager to shut them all down. As the spammers figured out this is what people were doing, they changed the pop-ups so that the process would start up the chain reaction again. They they made it even worse by loading the crapware at bootup.

These things are, like Netscape, a distant memory now. The browsers kept closing security loopholes. When IE6 dominated, other browsers toppled it by not having the security loopholes to begin with. This obviated the need for patches, and made for a faster, cleaner browser. Other features left IE6 behind. Microsoft's answer was to release IE7, which left many users so underwhelmed they uninstalled it and went back to IE6 or some other browser.

Microsoft, under Ballmer, still doesn't "get it" and still produces a crappy browser. Instead of improving its product, Microsoft tries to force it on end-users. For example, the Bing search engine advertiser interface does not work with the Chrome browser. And that's a deliberate move by Microsoft. They figure that advertisers will just give in and use IE, but what's been happening instead is they just refuse to work with the Bing advertiser interface. It's common that advertisers spend 15 times as much on Google because Bing just drives them away.

If you think we are anti-Ballmer, you are right. This kind of stupidity with browsers is one reason why.

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Working the Windows Desktop

The whole desktop approach ignores the fact that a computer's hard drive(s) are the electronic version of a paper filing cabinet. It also ignores the fact that people store a huge amount of files in that system. And it ignores a few dozen other facts relevant to using a computer. It's just a bad approach.

The desktop assumes you don't care what files you actually work on. It opens apps, not files, and this is the pathway to problems. You can inadvertently be revising the wrong thing, if you can even find it in the first place.

What you should do instead is use Windows Explorer. Microsoft tends to hide this, but it should be your standard interface with your computer, unless you don't mind working blind.

You can always right mouse click the Start button to invoke it, but you should add Windows Explorer to your Quick Launch bar and several other menus in Windows.

The default settings for Windows Explorer defy logic. Change these so you can actually see what files you are looking at. Enable it to show you the file extensions (unclick the insane "Hide extensions" box that is, stupidly enough, checked by default though actually there is never any reason to ever check this box). Select the option to show details. Now, you will be able to see your file size, file date, and other useful information. If you right click around a bit, you can find quite a bit of functionality in Windows Explorer.

If you haven't been using this interface previously, make a point of using it now. If you always open files from within Windows Explorer, you will always be able to see all available files and select the right one.

Use Windows Explorer to set up your filing system as if it's a paper filing cabinet. Save all files either on the data drive (dual hard drive machine) or in a folder on a single hard drive machine. Do NOT save files to the default locations. These never make any sense. They are typically within your applications, which is a dumb place to save them. That's how you end up with corrupted data files and it also makes file backups difficult.

For single-drive users, an easy solution is to create a folder called 0files as your top-level data folder. The zero means it will show up at the top of your file list, making things easy for you. Below this folder, create you filing structure. Never store anything at the root of this folder. Think of it as the shell of a five-drawer filing cabinet and don't toss stuff in the bottom. Always put files in folders that are in drawers.

With a good filing structure in place, you will always be able to find your files by simply clicking right to them. So think this out as you go and follow a good taxonomy. It's a much more effective way to work than how the zombies at Microsoft envision people working.

Recovering hard drive space

Even with today's huge drives, people sometimes run out of hard drive space. The steps below can recover wasted space.

Do a search for *.tmp files. Delete all of them. Then defrag your drive.

Do a search for *.bak files. Delete all of them. Then defrag your drive.

If you have any *.bmp files, change the format to *.jpg. This will result in radically smaller files. You need an image tool for this; if you don't have one installed already, then skip this step.
Set the Properties for the drive to compress files. In Windows Explorer, right mouse click the drive name. Then select Properties. Then select Compress to Save Drive Space. This could take a while, so unless you want your machine tied up for a few hours do this process one folder at a time and then do it for the whole drive.
If this issue is for your programs drive, then remove any programs you aren't using. Go to Control Panel | Remove Programs.
On your data drive, zip files you aren't using.

There are other steps you can take, but if, at this point, you are still low on disk space you really need to add another hard drive or upgrade one that's in your system. Or, another very cool option, is to add a My Ditto system. See our Review of the Dane my Ditto network server.