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Author/Publisher:
fofcheek (Vladimir Ibatulin?)
Contact/Address:
wwwwin.wplus.net/pp/fsc/ www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/apple/759/ fofcheek@hotmail.com fofcheek@mail.wplus.net These addresses could be outdated by now, for all I know. They were OK in 2000 when I downloaded KillAd; and since the program works seamlessly, I've never had the need to contact the author, or even look for updates (I am perfectly content with the first and only version I've ever downloaded, namely v0.11. Now, that's a compliment I can't give to much other software I've used).
Software Review - Description
A surfer's must. It kills those fastidious, nasty popup ads that some sites - like mine :P - just won't stop using. I think popups should really be one of the first things banned by netiquette rules... Actually, maybe they are banned, but I'm regretfully not that familiar with netiquette ;P
Software Review - Pros
There's a whole bunch of similar programs now, lots of them free, too. Which goes to show just how essential it's become to be able to kill those nasty popup windows on the spot, before they steal you any more bandwith than they already have. As you all know, the problem with popups is not just in that they are a real nag to watch, they also make all your worthwhile Internet information load that much slower! Since I've never used any of these programs before, I can't say anything about them. It's just that when the need arose to get a popup killer, I proceeded as always when I need new software: I began by reading some (independent! which is to say user) reviews about freeware / shareware / nagware / homepageware popup killers, selected the one which seemed the right one for my needs, and then set out to find a download website with the most recent version. That's how my choice fell on KillAd. My choice was based on it being written in assembler (which makes it tiny in size - a ridiculous 30 kB! - fast as lightning and barely perceptible in terms of RAM and resources consumption) and on it being totally free, with absolutely no strings attached. I've never regretted my choice since - which is a lot more than I can say about any commercial software and, sadly enough, even hardware. A nice extra is the possibility to chose your own wav file(s) to be played when a popup is successfully closed. I've assembled a bunch of breaking-glass, belching and farting sounds and, according to my mood, I just select which set of sounds I would like to listen to in the current browser session. Now, seriously: a more serious and essential feature is the possibility to simply, unobtrusively - by dragging and dropping the finder tool - add new popup window titles to the list which comes with the program. Moreover, besides the (editable) to-kill popups list, you get an (editable) to-let-live list as well. Needless to say, the other primary method, namely killing popups based on their size rather than on their title, is available as well. In short, a reasonably complete solution to an ever increasing Internet problem in merely 30 kB of code. Hats-off.
Software Review - Cons
Some glitches when used with Internet Explorer 4.x. If no pre-kill delay was set, the browser would crash every once in a while and would have to be closed. According to the author of KillAd the incompatibilities were due to Microsoft's illegal code. Nothing I couldn't correct just by setting a longer pre-kill delay, to be sure. Anyway, the problem has completely disappeared since I've installed Internet Explorer 5.0.
Doesn't always recognize a popup window, even if it's listed in the to-kill list. This occurs extremely rarely, though.
User Report - Tips, Tricks and Tweaks
General
Nothing special to say. I could post the wav files and the batch file which I wrote to automate the whole process of changing KillAd sounds. If anybody's interested, that is. The only problem could be that I've gathered the wav files from all over the Net and I may be violating some copyright rules by posting them, I assume. On the other hand, I've downloaded them exclusively from freeware sites, so I reckon they may be re-distributed, right?
