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Information Technology Services

Pop-up Blockers

What is a Pop-up Blocker?

A "Pop-up Blocker" is computer software that, once installed on your computer will prevent unwanted windows from appearing on your screen.  This means, as you browse the internet, the pop-up blocker prevents new browser windows from opening.   In most cases pop-ups are not wanted; however, in some cases such as Blackboard Virtual Classroom, pop-up windows are used to do something extra like open up the JAVA window in the Virtual Classroom.

Is there a way to permanently allow access to the Virtual Classroom without having to disable my pop-up blocker?

Yes. The instructions will vary depending on the browser and operating system you are using. When adding Blackboard to your list of allowed sites, please enter the internet address as blackboard.bethel.edu or bethel.edu

Internet Explorer (when using with WindowsXP SP2)


Open the Tools Menu 		C1

Address of Web site to allow: blackboard.bethel.edu

Click Add. You will see *blackboard.bethel.edu appear down in the Allowed sites box.

Click Close

Set up is now complete.

 C2
Netscape 

Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.

Under the Privacy & Security Preferences, click Popup Windows. (If no subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy & Security to expand the list.)

Select 'Block unrequested popup windows' to prevent popups from appearing in Navigator.

Click 'Allowed Sites' to view and edit the list of web sites that you want to allow to display popups.

 C3

Enter blackboard.bethel.edu and click 'Add'. blackboard.bethel.edu should now appear in the box below in the list of your allowed web sites.

Set up is now complete.

 C4

Mozilla Firefox

Open the Tools menu and choose Options.

C5
In the Options Window select the Web Features choice and then uncheck the Block Popup Windows to turn off the Popup blocker entirely otherwise click on the Allowed Sites button to the right of Block Popup Windows and skip down to the next section. C6

In the Allowed Sites window enter blackboard.bethel.edu and click 'Add'. blackboard.bethel.edu will now appear in the box below in the list of your allowed web sites.

Set up is now complete.

 C7
Open the Tools menu and choose Options.

AOL: The Pop-Up Controls icon will appear at the bottom of every Web page, so you can turn them on or off with a single click or set them to specifically allow pop-ups from individual sites. AOL provides 5 different options with regard to how you want to handle pop-ups on your computer. They are:

A. Block AOL member-only special offer pop-ups
B. Block pop-ups from web sites you visit using AOL
C. View pop-ups that were blocked
D. Enable or disable sounds when a pop up has been blocked
E. Allow pop-ups from specific sites (suppress all others)

To enable access specifically to Blackboard, we suggest you select option E - Allow pop-ups from specific sites. The steps to do this are as follows:

  1. On the AOL toolbar, click SETTINGS, and then select PREFERENCES.
  2. Click the POP-UPS link.
  3. In the Pop-Up Preferences window, Select Suppress pop-ups from Web sites I visit using AOL software.
  4. Type blackboard.bethel.edu in the box under Allow only these sites (suppress all others), then click ADD.
  5. Click SAVE.

Are there any Pop-up blocking software options that won't interfere with Blackboard?

It is possible that the Google toolbar pop-up blocker may not interfere with Blackboard. To find out more about the Google toolbar, please visit Google's website for more information. http://toolbar.google.com/.