popSmarts is distributed in a single ZIP file, which is a popular type of file compression. This file should be saved to a location on your hard drive, and the ZIP file should be decompressed to the folder of your choice. The decompression of the ZIP file will produce a single file, setup.exe. Double-clicking this file will begin the installation process.

The installation process is in the form of a familiar-feeling wizard tool. There are several steps to the installation, which you can navigate through (forward and backward) using the buttons on the bottom. It is here that you can chose the directory to install popSmarts into, and whether or not you want to create Start Menu items. The new directory will be created (if necessary) and filled with a few popSmarts essential files. The Start Menu folder will be created (if requested) and filled with a few popSmarts shortcuts. After this is complete, the installation process is completed and it's time to activate the software!

popSmarts is what is knows as an "Explorer Bar", which you probably seen before, even if you didn't know it! Have you ever used the "History" feature in Internet Explorer? This feature is one of several Explorer Bars that ship with Internet Explorer, and opens a side-window in your browser. popSmarts also opens a window inside the browser, but at the bottom instead of the side. To activate any browser bar, including popSmarts, go to the View menu in Internet Explorer. The third option down (in most cases!) is an item called "Explorer Bars", which will open a sub-menu on the side. In this sub-menu you will see a list of all Explorer Bars you have installed on your system -- and popSmarts should be one of them (if your installation was successful). If it's not, perhaps you didn't remember to close all Internet Explorer windows and restart the browser. It is NOT necessary to restart your computer. To activate popSmarts, simply click the name in the Explorer Bar sub-menu (if it doesn't already have a check beside it!). popSmarts will appear in the bottom of your browser window, and if you return to the Explorer Bar sub-menu you will see that popSmarts has a check beside it.

Remember, popSmarts is only available for Internet Explorer for Windows. Don't try to activate popSmarts in Netscape -- it won't be there!

Once you've activated popSmarts, you should see it in the bottom of the window. Now you're ready to surf the web with NO ANNOYING POPUPS! You can verify that popSmarts is turned on by looking at the on/off button in the bottom-right of the popSmarts window - this is the first of the four buttons on the bottom-right, on the far-left. If the button is green, popSmarts is on! If the button is gray, you can click the button to turn it on.

You might have noticed when you use popSmarts that there is a message on the popSmarts bar telling you how many popups your software has 'left' before it expires! This is set to 120 popups. When this number runs out, popSmarts partially diables itself. It will block approximately 1/3 of popups from opening, it will allow approximately 1/3 of popups to open normally, and the final 1/3 of the popups will be replaced by a friendly reminder to register popSmarts.

In order to register and purchase popSmarts, simply click on the link in one of the reminder-popups once your trial version has expired. You will be guided through the registration process from there.

No unauthorized distribution is allowed. When popSmarts is purchased, it is meant to be installed on one, and only one, computer. Please contact Birnam Labs at support@birnamlabs.com for information on discounts reguarding volume purchases for companies or school.

We at Birnam Labs can't understand why, but we realize that at some point some people might want to deactivate or even uninstall popSmarts. We've tried to make this as easy as possible but hopefully you'll never want to do this. Deactivating the software is simple -- just click the X button on the bottom right-hand area of the popSmarts window. Although it is seemingly possible to close popSmarts through the Explorer Bars sub-menu, thanks to a (Microsoft-acknowledged!) bug in Internet Explorer, this is not the case. If you close popSmarts through the Explorer Bars sub-menu (by unchecking the popSmarts menu item) it will pop right back up when you navigate to a new page. This is actually a security feature, and exists to cause the least amount of confusion. popSmarts follows one simple rule when it comes to activation -- if you can see it, it's on and running. But Internet Explorer, when instructed to close an Explorer Bar through the Explorer Bars sub-menu, only makes the window invisible, even though IT IS STILL RUNNING. This means that popSmarts would still block popups, even though you wouldn't know it was still on. To actually deactivate popSmarts, please use the X button!

There are two ways to uninstall the software. First, the Uninstall.exe file can be run either from the directory in which popSmarts was installed to, or if a Start Menu folder was created, through the shortcut to the Uninstall file that was put into the Start Menu. The second method involves opening the Control Panel (typically through Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel) and opening the "Add and Remove New Software" item. When this loads you will see popSmarts listed as "Birnam Labs popSmarts". When you click on this, you will see a "Remove" button appear beneath it. You can click this button to activate the Uninstall.exe file. The un-installation process is quick and simple, and when run, popSmarts will leave no trace on your computer.

To put it in the simplest terms: popSmarts will stop every new window that is opening due to an automated process. This normally means advertisements, but it could be any type of window that tries to open without your consent. This includes popups and pop-unders that open automatically when:

• you enter a site
• you leave a site
• a mouseover/rollover triggers a script
• a timer set by the site completes, and triggers a script

popSmarts is designed with the user experience as a top priority. This means that we have done everything we can to preserve your normal web expectations, and that means allowing popup windows to proceed when you want them to. popSmarts will allow a popup to open when:

• you click on a link that is set to open in a new window
• you click on a link that activates script that will launch a new window
• you shift-click on a link (which, even without popSmarts, directs IE to open the link in a new window)
• you right-click on the link to select Open in New Window
• you use a flash movie or other applet to open a new window
• using the Ctrl-N key combination to open a new window

It should also be noted that popSmarts doesn't stop any ad-windows that DON'T ORIGINATE FROM INTERNET EXPLORER. Many pieces of software that are distributed these days also install (without your permission or, in most cases, awareness) a type of third party software called adware. The adware will occasionally popup windows with advertisements in them on your system, and the software author will get paid for showing advertisements in a similar way that a website gets paid for advertising. The catch is, these windows popup outside of internet explorer and therefore are not stopped by popSmarts. This isn't a bug, it's just that popSmarts isn't designed to stop them. That's ok though, there's good news.

The good news is, while popup windows are an integrated part of a website that you want to view, adware is a separate application and is not actually integrated with the software that installed it. What that means is, you can safely uninstall the adware software with no negative side-effects.

If you are having problems with popup windows even after installing popSmarts, you may have unknowingly installed a piece of adware on your computer. There is a wonderful application that is recommended by Birnam Labs to uninstall all traces of adware on your computer, it is called Ad-Aware, by Lavasoft, and is 100% free. This software is available at http://www.lavasoft.de/ and is constantly being updated.

The fourth button from the right, on the bottom-right hand of the popSmarts screen, is slightly distanced from the other three buttons. It has a small dot in the middle of it which is green when popSmarts is set to block popup windows, and gray when popSmarts is set to allow popup windows. When popSmarts allows popup windows, it will still record their presence, giving you some options that are mentioned below.

The popSmarts window at the bottom can take up useful space in your screen. To help, popSmarts operates at two levels, minimized and maximized. When popSmarts first starts, you will see it in the maximized format. This format is around 100 pixels tall and you can use the tabbed buttons at the bottom to switch between three different screens: Popup Windows, Tools, and Preferences. In the Maximized version, you can also drag the top of the popSmarts window up to make it even larger. The Minimized layout collapses the entire window to it's minimum size, and is about the size of the status bar at the bottom of the Internet Explorer window, or, roughly 18 pixels (not including the frame width). This allows you to use, very nearly, your normal screen area.

There are two ways to switch between the Minimized an Maximized layouts. The first and most obvious is the Minimize/Maximize button. In the small cluster of buttons on the lower-right hand side of the popSmarts window, the third one from the right, on the other side of the question mark, is the Minimize/Maximize button. When then window is in its Maximized layout, this button shows a small flat line and will minimize popSmarts. If popSmarts is already Minimized, then the button shows a larger box, and will maximize the layout. The second method is by using the three area tabs on the left hand side of the screen. If popSmarts is Minimized, then clicking on any of these tabs will Maximize popSmarts into the area corresponding with the tab you have clicked. If popSmarts is Maximized, then clicking on the tab corresponding to the area which is already visible (that is, clicking on a tab for the second time in a row) will minimize the layout.

The first of the three tabs on the bottom-left hand side of the popSmarts window will display an area that stores all popup that have been captured by this session. (this does not include popups that have been captured in prior sessions, or popups that have been captured in other Internet Explorer windows that have been opened simultaneously) They can be viewed in Large Icon, Small Icon, List, or Report viewing styles, which mimics the viewing styles used in other software packages such as Windows Explorer. The Report view is the default one, and shows the most detail, giving you the title and URL, as well as any additional information that was sent to the popup window to determine its size and location. Any of these icons, in any view, can be double-clicked to open the window that is listed. So if there is ever a window that was blocked, that you did not intend to be blocked, you can open the Popup Windows area and double click the popup's icon to re-open the window. You can also right-click on any of the icons to get more options. This includes clearing the Popup Windows area, changing the view (mentioned above), or adding the popup's information to the White List or Black List.

To further enhance popSmart's criteria, you may add popup rules to popSmarts in either the White List or the Black List, available in the Tools area (the second tab). Popup windows that follow rules set in the White List are opened regardless of if they would normally be blocked. The Black List is used similarly, to help refine the White List or to create new rules that will allow popups that would normally be allowed, to be blocked. List Rules may be added either by hand, or by right-clicking an icon in the Popup Windows area to send that popup's information to the List Rule generator. List Rules will allow windows to be either ALLOWED (White List) or DENIED (Black List) based on 1) the URL of the popup window, 2) the domain of the popup window, 3) the URL of the originating window, and 4) the domain of the originating window. The icon preceding the rule name will give you at-a-glance information about the specifications of the rule, and whether it is on or off. Buttons in the White List / Black List area allow the addition of new rules by hand, editing existing rules (such as activating / deactivating an existing rule), or deleting a rule.

Every window that popSmarts either Stops or Records is sent to the log. To see this log, use the View Log button in the Tools area (on the far-left). A dialog box will open and will display all of the logged windows. Any of these logged items can be clicked to view extensive information, which will appear in the box on the right. The icon preceding each item will give you at-a-glance information about if the window was stopped, or only recorded. A short summary of the log statistics is available on the bottom, along with an "OK" button to exit, and a "Clear log" button which will wipe your existing log file.

A Log Options button found below the View Log button will open a small dialog that allows you to define several options regarding how popSmarts will log its windows. You can decide whether or not popSmarts should log stopped windows, and whether or not popSmarts should log windows that were only recorded. You can also chose the maximum size of your log file (in Kb), as well as what action should be taken to make sure the log file is within that file size. The three options are 1) Remove oldest log entries first, 2) Stop recording new log entries, and 3) Clear entire log and start a new record. The first option will remove only the oldest items from the log, when new items are added, to keep the filesize under the maximum. The second option will simply stop any new logs from being recorded, and therefore staying within the maximum file size. The third option will delete all logged windows when the filesize reaches the maximum size, and starts over again.

The third tab on the bottom-left hand side is the Preferences tab. You will see three sections in the Preferences area. The first determines the level of protection. You can chose 1) No Protection, 2) Record Only, and 3) Stop Popups!. Choosing "No Protection" will deactivate all popSmarts features (without actually exiting the software) completely. Choosing "Record Only" will allow all popups to behave normally, but will record their activation and log them. The information retrieved from a Record-Only window can be used like information from a stopped window, and can help you create List Rules and are available in the logs. Choosing Stop Popups! is the default, and will allow popSmarts to behave normally. The on/off button on the bottom-right of the popSmarts screen will toggle popSmarts between the "Record-Only" and "Stop Popups!" options. There is a fourth option, available as a check-box, that will completely block every window. Nothing will be recorded, and nothing will be allowed to open. This should only be used if a page is giving you specific problems and you don't have time to create a rule to fix the situation.

The second section allows for special guarding features. The first checkbox will let you choose if you want popSmarts to cancel any scripts that are scheduled to run when a site is closed. The is called an "Unload script" and can be extremely annoying! popSmarts will typically catch any unload script popup, but in some instances (such as when you are closing Internet Explorer entirely) popSmarts will be unloaded before the unload script runs! To prevent this from happening, popSmarts can turn off all unload scripts. This is recommended, because it is in our opinion that a site should never use an unload script anyway -- if a user closes a website it is because they are through looking at that website! For a script to continue after a website is closed is almost always contrary to the user's desires. The second option on the Special Guard Features is "Allow flash movies to load new windows". Since a flash movie MUST use script to open any new window, there are times when popSmarts might block a window that was opened by flash because it looked like it was opened automatically. To prevent this, check this option. When this option is checked, any script-based window will be allowed to open if the user is currently working in a flash movie. It is the same as if you were to switch popSmarts to "Record-Only" mode yourself, but is switched automatically, and for only as long as you are operating a flash movie.

The third and final section is called "Miscellaneous Features" and contains a few extra options. The first "Minimal load of blocked windows" refers to popSmarts' collection of information about a popup window. popSmarts will only the bare necessities of a popup window, invisibly, to retrieve information about the window. This is the information that goes into the log file and is given in the Popup Windows area. When popSmarts loads only the bare necessities of a page, it downloads only the text of a webpage. No images, sounds, applets, flash movies, etc. will be loaded, and no scripts will be run. But sometimes this will block useful information about a popup, which might be necessary to create a rule. If this is the case, uncheck the "Minimal load of blocked windows" box. For most circumstances and most users, it is highly recommended that this be checked at all times. The second item in the Miscellaneous Features section is a "Flash window when a popup is blocked" check. If you do not want the popSmarts window to flash when it has stopped or logged a popup window, unchecking this will turn this feature off.