Pop-Up Blockers

Pop-up windows are annoying, and seemingly everywhere. "Pop-up blockers" are a type of software designed to prevent pop-up windows from appearing while you surf the web. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like AOL provide free pop-up blockers, and you can download free pop-up blockers from sites like www.google.com or www.yahoo.com. Microsoft has also put a pop-up blocker into Internet Explorer for those people who upgrade to Microsoft XP Service Pack 2. These pop-up blockers can tremendously improve your Internet experience on most web sites. Unfortunately, these pop-up blockers can cause problems with Minute Menu WebKids.

When you use a pop-up blocker to block all pop-ups, WebKids will not work. The pop-up blocker will prevent the WebKids Main Menu from loading.
How To Prevent Your Pop-Up Blocker From Causing Problems with WebKids

Pop-up blockers are installed as plug-in components to Microsoft Internet Explorer. As such, they are typically integrated with the gray toolbar menus that appear at the top of your screen while using Internet Explorer. These toolbars are highly configureable, and their appearance changes depending upon the software you have installed.

There are over 150 different types of pop-up blockers, so it's hard for us to provide precise written instructions that are specific to your computer. But we have attempted to identify six popular pop-up blockers below, to show you how to disable or re-configure the pop-up blocker you have so you can login to WebKids. If your pop-up blocker isn't one of the six featured below, there are more instructions below that to help you resolve your problem.



Pop-Up Blocker #1: Microsoft Internet Explorer Pop-Up Blocker



If you have upgraded to Microsoft XP Service Pack 2, you have a built-in pop-up blocker. When you login to WebKids, you will usually see Microsoft's Infobar appear, noting that a pop-up has been blocked. The Infobar appears in yellow, and looks just like this picture. To ensure WebKids will work when you login, you must configure this pop-up blocker to allow pop-ups while visiting the www.minutemenu.com web site. To do this:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Visit www.minutemenu.com
  3. Click on "Current Providers"
  4. Supply your Login and Password, and hit [Submit]
  5. You will be presented with a page which says "Loading WebKids", and will immediately see the Infobar appear.
    Click the Infobar.
  6. This will bring up a gray menu (as noted to the right). Choose "Always Allow Pop-ups from this Site..."
  7. You will be asked whether you want to allow pop-ups from "www.minutemenu.com". Choose [Yes].

On some computers that have been upgraded to Microsoft XP Service Pack 2, this Infobar does not appear. So if you are encountering a pop-up blocker and you use Windows XP then try this:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Go the gray menu at the top of your screen: Tools >> Pop-Up Blocker >> Pop-Up Blocker Settings. (Note: if you don't see the Pop-Up Blocker choice in the Tools menu, then you don't have Windows XP Service Pack 2, so you most likely have a different pop-up blocker.)
  3. Type "www.minutemenu.com" in the small white box at the top of the screen, then hit [Add]
  4. Hit [Close] to close that window
That's it! You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. Close Internet Explorer, open it again, and try to login again. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to Microsoft Internet Explorer's built-in pop-up blocker).
Pop-Up Blocker #2: Google Toolbar



Look at the top of your screen. If you have the Google Toolbar installed, you should see something similar to the toolbar circled in this picture. If you are using the Google Toolbar, you must do the following to ensure WebKids will work when you login:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Visit www.minutemenu.com
  3. Once you have arrived at www.minutemenu.com, click the button on the Google Toolbar that indicates "# Pop-ups blocked". When you click that button, you'll notice the button will change to "Site popups allowed". This means that you won't block pop-ups while using WebKids, but other web sites will continue to have their pop-ups blocked.
That's it! You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to the Google Toolbar).
Pop-Up Blocker #3: Yahoo Companion



If you have the Yahoo Companion Toolbar installed, you should see something similar to the toolbar circled in this picture. Older versions of the Yahoo Companion do not have a pop-up blocker -- and so Yahoo Companion would not be blocking your pop-ups. But newer versions do have a pop-up blocker, indicate by the icon circled above. If you have a newer version of Yahoo Companion which includes a pop-up blocker, you must do the following to enable pop-ups while using Minute Menu WebKids:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Visit www.minutemenu.com
  3. Click on Current Providers, and supply your Login and Password
  4. When the system attemps to log you in, you will be prevented from continuing because of the pop-up blocker. You should notice the appearance of the pop-up blocker icon (circled above) has changed, indicating a pop-up was blocked.
  5. Click on that pop-up blocker icon. A drop-down menu will appear. Click on the option labled Always Allow Pop-Ups From....
  6. A gray window will appear with a list of web sites where pop-ups have been blocked. www.minutemenu.com should be in the list. If it is:
    1. Click on www.minutemenu.com to highlight it
    2. Click on the [Allow] button
    3. When asked for confirmation, click [OK] to Always allow pop-ups from www.minutemenu.com
    If for some reason www.minutemenu.com is not in this list in this gray window, then:
    1. Close the gray window
    2. Click on the pop-up blocker icon to expose the gray drop-down menu. You will see Enable Pop-Up Blocker with a checkmark beside it. Click on this icon to un-check the Enable Pop-Up Blocker. This will completely disable the Yahoo Companion pop-up blocker, allowing you to use WebKids (but possibly causing pop-ups to appear on other web sites; you may want to re-enable it when you're not using WebKids).
That's it! Close Internet Explorer and re-open it, then try to login to Minute Menu WebKids. You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to Yahoo Companion).

If you need to re-enable the pop-up blocker, you can follow the above instructions, except ensure a checkmark appears next to Enable Pop-Up Blocker.
Pop-Up Blocker #4: Netscape Toolbar



If you have the Netscape Toolbar for IE installed, you should see something similar to the toolbar in this picture. The Netscape Toolbar blocks pop-ups, and cannot be configured to allow pop-ups for a specific web site, so you must completely disable it's pop-up blocking function. You can re-enable that function when you are finished using WebKids, if you like. To disable the pop-up blocking function:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Click on the icon that looks like the icon circled above. It's label will change to Pop-Up Block Off.
That's it! You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to the Netscape Toolbar).
Pop-Up Blocker #5: Viewpoint Toolbar



If you have the Viewpoint Toolbar installed, you should see something similar to the toolbar in this picture. The Viewpoint Toolbar completely captures pop-up windows, which will prevent you from logging into WebKids. (Not only will it prevent you from logging in, but it will also close Internet Explorer if you attempt to login.) Luckily, you can configure the Viewpoint Toolbar so that it allows pop-ups on the Minute Menu WebKids web site, but still captures pop-ups on other web sites.

To configure the Viewpoint Toolbar to allow pop-ups on Minute Menu:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Visit www.minutemenu.com
  3. Click on the "Pop-up Bin" icon. You will see two options. Click the option to "Allow Pop-ups on this site".
  4. Close Internet Explorer, re-open it, and try to login again.
That's it! You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to the Viewpoint Toolbar).
Pop-Up Blocker #6: PopUpCop Toolbar

If you have the PopUpCop Toolbar installed, you should see something similar to the toolbar in this picture. The PopUpCop Toolbar will allow most users to login to WebKids without any problem. But if you have PopUpCop configured with higher-than-default security, you will be prevented from logging into WebKids.

If you have PopUpCop installed, and cannot get passed the Loading WebKids page, try lowering your PopUpCop security setting:
  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Visit www.minutemenu.com
  3. Click on the slide-bar within the PopUpCop toolbar, dragging the slide-bar setting completely to the right. (You will see the PopUpCop status icon change from red to orange).
That's it! You should now be able to login to WebKids without any problems. If you continue to have trouble logging into WebKids, you may have another pop-up blocker installed (in addition to the PopUpCop Toolbar).
Not In This List?

If you don't see any of the toolbars listed above on your Internet Explorer screen, but you're still unable to login to WebKids because of a pop-up blocker, don't dispair. There are still a few things to check.

Check All Toolbar Icons

Most pop-up blockers work in a very similar fashion to those described above. So even if you don't have one of the toolbars described on this page, take a close look at the toolbars you have to see if you find what is blocking your pop-ups. Move your mouse over each icon that you see in Internet Explorer. If you move your mouse over an icon and stop for a few seconds, a yellow text box will appear with a text description of that icon. If the yellow message says something related to "pop-up", then that icon may control how you can disable your pop-up blocker.

In many cases, you will have so many toolbar icons that some are hidden. You can typically expose these hidden toolbar options by hitting a "More" button, or a button with a little down arrow or a right arrow [>>]. Don't forget to check these icons.

If you find the correct icon, click on it to see if you can disable or reconfigure your pop-up blocker. That way you can start using WebKids.

Expose All Installed Toolbars

You could have a toolbar installed that is not visible. One of these invisible toolbars may control your pop-up blocker, so making it visible may allow you to disable or reconfigure your pop-up blocker so you can login to WebKids.

To expose hidden toolbars:
  1. Across the top of your Internet Explorer window, you should see a gray menu bar with choices like "File Edit View Favorites Tools Help". Go to View
  2. Move your mouse over Toolbars. This will expose a small menu to the right. This menu contains a list of every installed toolbar, and should appear something like this:

    Installed toolbars are listed above the separator bar. From this sample image, we can see that three toolbars are installed:
      - Standard Buttons - this is currently visible
      - Address Bar - this is currently visible
      - Links - this is NOT currently visible (it doesn't have a check)
    The item "Lock the Toolbars" is not selected, meaning this user can move the physical position of the toolbars within Internet Explorer.
    "Customize" allows specific toolbars to customized, and is unrelated to the search for pop-up blockers.
  3. If you have other toolbars that don't have a checkmark next to them, click on them to put a check in place. Those toolbars should then appear within Internet Explorer. (You may need to un-check "Lock the Toolbars" to be sure you can see and/or move the toolbars that you are making visible.)
    Note: If you see any blank lines between the list of toolbars and the seperator bar, then that is an additional toolbar that has been installed by a piece of Spyware or Adware. For more information on Spyware or Adware,     click here.
Once you've exposed all the toolbars installed on your system, look at the icons on that toolbar to see if any are related to blocking pop-ups.

Remove Spyware

In some cases, pop-up blockers are installed by Spyware/Adware without your explicit consent. We recommend you take steps to protect your computer from Spyware/Adware. Click here for more information.

Try a Temporary Solution

Most (but not all) pop-up blockers allow you to use the <CTRL> key on your keyboard to temporarily disable the pop-up blocking feature. So try this:
  1. Visit the login page of WebKids
  2. Type your Login and Password
  3. Hold down the <CTRL> key on your keyboard while you use your mouse to click the [Submit] button
This will (usually) bypass the pop-up blocker when trying to log in, so you should see the main menu after you hit [Submit] (rather than being presented with an error when trying to load WebKids). Assuming this works, you could continue to hold down the <CTRL> key any time you click on something within WebKids... but this will get pretty annoying pretty quickly. So to actually solve this problem, you must change the way your pop-up blocker works by either (a) disabling or (b) reconfiguring your pop-up blocker.

Still Can't Login?

There are always a few places to turn for help getting rid of pop-ups. There are generally six more options available for you to figure out how to do (a) disable or (b) reconfigure your pop-up blocker:
  1. Pop-up blockers come with AOL, MSN, SBC Yahoo, Wal-Mart Internet, Earthlink, and with software given out by many other Internet Service Providers (ISPs). So if you're not sure what pop-up blocker you have installed, we first recommend you contact your ISP's customer support line for assistance disabling or re-configuring the pop-up blocker on your computer.   ... If your ISP hasn't given you a pop-up blocker, it may come from another source.
  2. Most anti-virus and personal firewall and security software offers some sort of pop-up blocker as well. If you use McAffee, Symantec/Norton Anti Virus, or other anti-virus software, you should find out whether that is blocking your pop-ups by examining your software manual or by calling that software maker's customer support lines. You may also have SpySweeper or other Internet security software programs installed, which can also block pop-ups.   ... If you don't have any anti-virus, firewall, or other Internet security software on your computer, then something else must be blocking your pop-ups.
  3. Sometimes you can eliminate the cause of the problem by uninstalling software you don't recognize. Go to your Start Menu >> Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs. This will give a list of all the software installed on your computer. Check out Download.Com's list of pop-up blocking software. If you have any of those pop-up blockers installed, then you may be able to completely uninstall it, even if you can't figure out how to disable or reconfigure it.   ... If you don't solve the problem that way, your not out of hope yet.
  4. If no other options pan out, we recommend you contact the company who sold you the computer originally. Dell, Gateway, Compaq, IBM, and many other computer hardware companies, when selling new computers, will include a pre-installed pop-up blocker on the computer for your benefit. So you may want to contact their customer support hotlines for help on how to reconfigure or disable any pop-up blocker that may have come with the computer initially.   ... But if they want to charge you to do that, or they don't have any answers, you'll need to turn to one final source of technical support.
  5. It's always important not to forget the best source of help with your computer: friends and family. If a son or daughter uses your computer regularly, s/he may have installed a pop-up blocker on your computer without telling you, so be sure to ask him/her for help disabling or re-configuring your pop-up blocking software.
  6. Contact us! We'll be happy to help you login.
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