Pop-up ads

Small browser windows that pop up when you visit a web page. Geocities is notorious for this (but...), but it's common - Real, et al, does it. There are infinite pop-up porn ads, done also by some MP3 and warez sites - these are worse, since a browser (well, Linux Netscape 4.x) is more likely to crash under the strain of opening a bunch of pages from the livehotsex.com domain.

I was only clicking an unrelated AltaVista search result, honest.

The Pop-up ad is a new method of internet advertising evolved from basic banner ads. They are usually made with Javascript and automatically open on any site that contains the code for it. They are used on websites to forcefully grab the attention of the user by popping it up in front of the user's application. Commercial websites generally use pop-up ads as a means of profit to help make their services either cheap or free.

When used moderately, pop-ups can be a very effective means of advertising. However, websites containing illegal or pornographic material usually abuse the pop-up and may contain hundreds of pop-up ads that when closed, trigger even more ads. This can discourage the user from ever visiting that website again. A fine flash website, http://www.newgrounds.com was ruined because of its provacative ads. However, not all hope is lost.

There are several ways to disable pop-up ads. The easiest way, if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer is to go into the security panel, select the custom options button, and disable javascript. However, some sites require pop-ups to function and disabling pop-up ads completely may be undesirable. Instead, one can download software that will filter pop-up ads, automatically closing or disabling them as they come up by scanning the title or information in the ad. A very good one is the SIP (Surf in Peace) software distributed by Iconlabs.net. It takes up very little space and has virtually no strain on an average PC processor and is very customizable with a wide range of options such as disabling pop-ups by size, name, and keywords.

If you are so annoyed by pop-up ads, I recommend Mozilla or iCab. Both can block pop-up ads in a very unique way. Instead of eliminating pop-up windows completely, they block pop-ups that have no user interaction. What that means is that you have to click on something in order for it to be able to make a pop-up window. So if your favorite website (pr0n) has images or movies that use pop-up windows, you can still stay free of the annoying and intrusive pop-ups, but still be able to download porn, I mean screenshots of some game....

Not only can they do the above, but they can prevent websites from changing the status bar text, the window size, where the window is, or raise or lower windows. So with Mozilla or iCab (or a browser that can do all of described above) you will never have to face evil intrusive and annoying advertisements ever again!

On a side note: I have been told that the latest version of Opera (version 7) and Phoenix (another Mozilla based project), can also block pop-ups in the same way Mozilla and iCab do.

Thank you for those who told me.