Stop The Popup

When surfing the Internet, all of us have had to deal with the inevitable popup advertisement window. You’re clicking around and suddenly ‘bam’, without warning, a new window pops up asking you to buy something or to “Click Here” to win. You close the window and suddenly another pops up or yet another. Sometimes you feel like your stuck in some horrible popup loop. Why is this happening? The popup started due to the lack of interest people have with banner ads. Studies have shown most people ignore banner ads so advertisers have had to get more creative. Enter the pop-up, a script enabled function, that triggers a new window to open without your consent. Web surfers are fighting back!

Here are a few solutions:

No-Ads
It is very simple to setup and use. No-Ads runs in the background always on the alert for the next popup. If a popup occurs, you simply open the program and select the window that is giving you the trouble. It records your entry and blocks the popup. It works with all browser types, including AOL and best of all…it’s free. No-Ads can be found at www.southbaypc.com.

Google Toolbar
If you’re familiar with Google, you probably have heard of the Google toolbar for Internet Explorer. The Google toolbar takes a few seconds to download and is immediately added to your browser. With many extra search features, the Google toolbar is capable of blocking and eliminating the nasty occurrences of popups. The Google toolbar can be downloaded from http://toolbar.google.com/ and it too is free.

Pop-Up Stopper
The Pop-Up Stopper, from Panicware, can setup various popup notifications, such as flashing icons or sounds. Simply hold the Ctrl or Shift key to allow selective popup windows. Pop-Up Stopper is not advertising-supported, nor does it require registration, and no information is collected from or about product users. Pop-Up Stopper can be downloaded from http://download.com.com/3000-7786-10048866.html.

If these programs aren’t powerful enough or do not work to your satisfaction, search your favorite search engine using the following keywords: “popup blocker”. Or check out the many online computer magazine websites for more info on popups and their blockers, including:

www.pcmag.com
www.pcworld.com

Unfortunately popup advertisements are here to stay. This could all change though…Microsoft has recently announced it will add (slated for release in Q2 2004) a popup blocker to its very popular browser, Internet Explorer (http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5105139.html).

This change to the most popular browser among consumers is likely to virtually kill popups as a useful technique overnight. But for now, we must contend with the present and utilize the tools we have.

Mike Swartz says, “Check it Out”