Wednesday, March 23, 2005

PopUp Blocking Comparison Test

Using PopupTest.com and a couple of sites with Flash related PopUps I performed a basic comparison to see which browser would block the most types of PopUps without interfering with Good PopUps.

Test Operating System = Windows XP SP2

Results

IE+SP2 PopUp Blocker = On (Default)

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
FAIL - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

04 - Failures


IE+SP2 PopUp Blocker = On + Google Toolbar v3.0.119.9

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
FAIL - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

04 - Failures


IE+SP2 PopUp Blocker = Off + Google Toolbar v3.0.119.9

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
FAIL - Come and Go Test (Says it is Blocked?)
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
FAIL - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
FAIL - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

06 - Failures


Firefox v1.0.1 (Default)

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
PASS - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
PASS - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
FAIL - phpnuke.org
FAIL - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

04 - Failures


Firefox v1.0.1 + Flashblock v1.3.0.1

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
PASS - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
PASS - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
FAIL - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

03 - Failures


Opera v8.0 Build 7522 = Block Unwanted PopUps (Default)

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
FAIL - Mouseover PopUp
FAIL - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

05 - Failures


AvantBrowser v10.0 Build 165 (Default)

PASS - Multi-PopUp Test
PASS - Multi-PopUp Test#2
PASS - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
FAIL - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
FAIL - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

05 - Failures


Maxthon (MyIE2) v1.2.00 Standard (Default)

FAIL - Multi-PopUp Test
FAIL - Multi-PopUp Test#2
FAIL - Come and Go Test
PASS - Timed PopUp
PASS - Mouseover PopUp
PASS - Floating PopUp
PASS - Channel Opener
PASS - Modless Window
PASS - Fullscreen Trap
FAIL - Drop down PopUp
FAIL - Floating Banner
PASS - Chromeless
FAIL - Sticky PopUp
PASS - phpnuke.org
PASS - drudgereport.com

PASS - Good PopUp 1
PASS - Good PopUp 2
PASS - Good PopUp 3
PASS - Good PopUp 4

06 - Failures

Note: SP2's PopUp Blocker was disabled during AvantBrowser and Maxthon testing.


Conclusion

IE+SP2 and Firefox v1.0.1 Tie for their Default PopUp Blocking Ability. Firefox v1.0.1 with the FlashBlock extension edges out IE+SP2. Currently there are no Perfect PopUp Blocking Browsers.

5 comments:

Andrew said...

Advertising is not allowed.

karl said...

There are a lot of popup blockers that you didn't try. I find Zone Alarm Pro/Suite works pretty well for IE. For Firefox I use the Adblock extension with a bunch of filters.

Andrew said...

There are numerous third party applications, none of which were reviewed here for good reason.

This comparison test was designed to compare the default Pop-up blocking capabilities of the most popular browsers.

The inclusion of the Google Toolbar was due to its popularity with Popup blocking on non IE+SP2 systems. Adblock was not tested because it removes ads not just the Popups. Zonealarm would be a third party solution, not to mention it is an ad remover not a Popup blocker.

Ryan Jones said...

How about adding he CURRENT version of Firefox? We are at v 1.5.0 not 1.0.1

Ryan Jones

Andrew said...

Look at the date of the story.