Comments on: Disable balloon popup warnings in Windows XP

By: michael

michael — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:41:50 +0000

I’m astonished that people don’t find the pop-ups in recent versions of Windows annoying. I have a year-old laptop that tells me whenever I’ve plugged in the audio jack.

The old version of XP didn’t do this, and I really don’t see why it’s necessary. Thanks for writing this tip.

By: Ihatepop-ups

Ihatepop-ups — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:48:48 +0000

I hate those pop-ups so much!
maybe because I’m a mac user, and use pcs at work.

they slows my work flow.

But I see some of the pop-ups are helpful.
I hope there is a way not to disable everything but
list them up somewhere and users can check the list whenever he or she wants to check them.

By: mikes

mikes — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:21:20 +0000

I too don’t usually mind most popups in XP (apart from the Securite Centre popups, which are easily disabled), but I too have a reason for them to be disabled – I am using XP workstations to drive large TV’s that are used as information terminals.

Normally I’d use Debian’s netinst install but the boss requires that the information be updated by less IT-literate users (e.g. canteen staff), so Windows software is used for this.

Nothing says “lol” like a big display broadcasting a “This computer might not be secure” message. I’ve even seen it on an ATM before…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:34:15 +0000

I have to admit that I don’t find most windows popups to irritating, but I have reason for them to be disabled. I’m running a pc as an arcade emulator, so I need to to load up smooth, but everytime I start I get a popup telling me I could have me screen resolution set higher and that I don’t have a virus program installed. I have a low resolution because I am using an old tv as a monitor, and I don’t have a virus program because that computer won’t be going online. So this should help me out a lot. Thanks!

By: Vitres

Vitres — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:33:09 +0000

Thanks for the info, but the name “EnableBallonTips” is misspelled. it should read “EnableBalloonTips”

By: Anoj

Anoj — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:08:47 +0000

I also find popups/info-bars very irretating. Specially when I am downloading some .exe/.msi etc. from browser and it blocks the same displaying a warning message. There is no simple way to disable that rather than digging up the registry… eh!

By: Jumbo Shrimp

Jumbo Shrimp — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:39:24 +0000

Did the above. Changed all four values, no joy.

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:19:56 +0000

I agree that some pop-ups are ok, but some pop-ups are very annoying. For example, I have a small laptop, and each time I click start->All Programs, it pops up a warning that not all the programs are shown. Some of the annoying can be eliminated via certain settings. You give a good way to turn off more. Microsoft needs to stop these kind of stupid practice. Linux is catching up.

By: Sumesh

Sumesh — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:38:57 +0000

@Nirmal: Maybe you’re not irritated, but not at all? I hate it when it says you’ve a new program installed, or that disk space is less -which are things you’d know anyway. And if you don’t solve the issues, the popups are repeated -which is the worst part.

By: Nirmal

Nirmal — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:59:15 +0000

I agree with Manas, Vista popups are not irritating at all.

By: Joshua Clanton - Design for the WEB

Joshua Clanton - Design for the WEB — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:05:52 +0000

That’s pretty neat. I didn’t realize that you could disable the Windows popups.

Though I must say that I don’t find the popups annoying unless they are happening pretty frequently. In fact, I’d rather appreciate a warning that my C drive is getting low on disk space. I’d notice eventually, but that gives me a chance to clean things out before it becomes an issue.

If I’m writing a good post and a popup comes up (it’s only happened twice in the past couple of months), I just check to see whether it is important. If not, I close it. If so, I make a note to act on later, and then I close it. This doesn’t really interrupt the flow of my writing at all.

By: Sumesh

Sumesh — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:15:24 +0000

@Manas: You’re the second person to tell me popups are not irritating. Maybe I’m the only one irritated by it?

I’d included number of comments initially, but lower number of comments showing up is worse than not showing it. I hope you understand.

By: Manas

Manas — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:58:59 +0000

Pop-ups can be informative sometimes. Anyway I have never find Vista’s pop-ups to be too irritating.

A suggestion for your blog, try to modify your template to include the number of comments below each post on the home page.

By: Sumesh

Sumesh — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:09:37 +0000

@Nirmal: But don’t you feel irritated by a popup, for example when you’re writing a good post and ideas are flowing out? I hate popups then, and popups may even disrupt my flow of writing.

By: Nirmal

Nirmal — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:23:24 +0000

I prefer to have the pop up warnings, this gives an idea about the system condition because I’m running a Vista and not a Leopard.