Microsoft plans to add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer next year as part of its Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, a move that would go far toward stamping out the Web advertisements.

Darin Linnman, a Microsoft spokesman, said that the company plans to add the pop-up blocking feature to an updated version of Explorer with Service Pack 2 (SP2) when it's released in the first half of next year. But one caveat, he said, is that Microsoft will be gathering customer feedback that will be weighed as part of the final decision to add the feature.

Read more: CNet News.

Sounds like a good move, providing it actually works and doesn't stop new windows from being opened like most free ones seem to.

have they been abducted by aliens or something?, since when did MS actually listen to users.

Ill stick with the google toolbar.

Certainly there are good alternatives for IE (pop blocking) out there already, perhaps the real question would be, what other improvements and upgrades are planned for the browser with the Service Pack, if any?

Not bad, Microsoft are only a year or so behind Mozilla now

Their new IE will probably render the google toolbar invalid, at least until google upgrades.

hmm, seems this will get mixed reactions. On the one side will be those who have thought it should have already had one, on the other are those who will now say that its just another strongarm tactic, to eliminate their new competition in the world of popup blocking.
Personally, I feel that NPF's adblocker addon is enough, no need for MS to add some buggy blocker to IE.

Yea, but some of us that have used Mozilla don't like it very much. I wont touch it. After using it for a few months I got sick of it and I tried 3 or 4 different versions of it including Firebird. It was slow loading, ugly no matter what theme you used, and just didn't bring anything to the table that I don't have with IE. I've noticed a lot of other people are switching back to IE as well.

The only thing I really liked about it is the pop up block feature, but that can be done easily with IE.

It really annoys me how these companys throw popups at you telling you that you need their software, just like the companys that send you messages with Messenger Service telling you that you need their software to fix a problem that you can easily fix for free. Their should be a law against it. To me that is no different than some ***** lighting my house on fire and telling me I need his magic bottle of water to put out the flames.

LET ALL POP-UPS BURN!!!! LET THEM BE DESTROYED, AND DIE A FIREY DEATH!!!!

Actually I have heard of many more cases (by far) of people switching from IE to Mozilla or Opera and doing quite better with those, but sure there are both cases...

What can be said for sure is that IE is now in a position lagging behind those other two alternatives (compatibility, expandibility and simply feature-rich wise), that same thing couldn't be said 18 months ago when IE still ruled, unfortunately Microsoft has done nothing to improve the browser other than security patches for a while now.

I'd have to disagree with that, I've not really had any problems using Mozilla Firebird, it's been my default browser for a few months now & even with nightly builds I've not experienced so much as a crash. The ad-blocking works perfectly & it's easy to unblock it for sites you need to have pop-ups. It loads site noticeably faster as well.