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Pop-Ups: How To Stop Them
What Are Pop-Ups?
OK so you've been quietly browsing away on the web when suddenly out of nowhere a small window appears advertising some previously unheard of product or service. Welcome to Pop-Ups.
Where do they come from?
Actually, Pop-Ups can have a useful purpose and are a legitimate programming tool. For example, they are useful for entering sign-on information. Suppose you need to enter a password to get into a web site - its much better and quicker to use a small, supplementary window than to have to wait until a full 'Password Entry' screen is loaded. Pop-Ups are also useful for small Java Applets such as those little buttons that allow entry into many chat rooms
Let's be honest though - the main use of Pop-Ups is for intrusive commercial advertising so here we'll talk about how to control them.
There are quite a few software programs that claim to control Pop-Ups - some good and some not so good. There are so many in fact that I don't want to get embroiled in a program by program comparison. If you want to take a look at a selection and make your own mind up then I would recommend Download. COM Just enter Pop-Ups in the search window and I'm sure you'll be kept occupied for some time.
For the purpose of this guide I want to concentrate on the method that I personally use to control Pop-Up Ads because I know that if you're suffering from the little blighters then this approach will lower your stress levels significantly without requiring much effort on your part.
Firstly, we have to consider our old enemy SPYWARE.
Remember the main job of Spyware is to feed back to an organisation your surfing habits i.e. the things you are interested in. The other side of this coin is the forward traffic this produces to you PC which often takes the form of Pop-Up Ads. So you visit a couple of insurance web sites and pretty soon you're deluged with pop-ups trying to sell you car insurance.
Getting rid of Spyware is therefore stage 1 in a 2-step process and for this I would ask you to read The PC Doctor Guide 3 on Spyware. Our main weapon against Spyware is Spybot Search and Destroy which you can download from the download section on this site.
Stage 2 rather depends on which version of Windows you are using. If you are using Windows XP then you should install the Windows XP Service Pack 2 which not only includes an effective pop-up stopper but also includes an improved firewall and numerous security patches from Microsoft to keep your PC up to date. You can install Service Pack 2 by visiting the Microsoft Web Site HERE and running the windows update program which will check the updates you need.
If you are using Windows 98 or 95 then our recommended way to stop pop-ups is to install one of my favourite little add-ons the GOOGLE Toolbar.
I like the GOOGLE Toolbar for a number of reasons but chiefly because GOOGLE have had the sense to keep it small and as a result it sits unobtrusively under the explorer bar unlike other similar toolbars which seem to take up so much space. The GOOGLE toolbar provides a number of genuinely useful extra facilities and it's well worth reading about them all on the download site. The most useful, however, is the built in pop-up stopper which seems to work a treat.
Significantly though, it also includes the option of allowing those useful pop-ups we discussed earlier to get through while less clever utilities insist on blocking everything. Simply holding down the <CRTL> button while you click will bypass the pop-up stopper and allow any pop-up through.
Installation is simple enough though you will need to re-start Internet Explorer to get it to appear.
Windows 95/98 users should also visit the Microsoft Update page which will check your system for any security updates that you need. Click HERE
Do read The PC Doctor Guide 3 on Spyware first and run Spybot as recommended before installing the GOOGLE toolbar.
You can download the GOOGLE toolbar from the link at the bottom of the page.
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