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How do I stop popups?
Popups have several causes, each with their own solution. First we'll explain what popups are and then show you how to stop them.
 Popups are browser windows that appear unexpectedly to show you unwanted advertising. They often appear while certain websites are accessed but they
sometimes appear at random times for seemingly no reason at all. The former is rather easy to block but it may take a little more effort to
put a stop to the latter. If you've arrived here looking for a way to block these annoying popup windows, you've come to the right place.
Blocking web popups
The popups you see while surfing the web are relatively easy to block. In this case a good popup blocker should suffice. There are several
good ones. My favorite is the Google Toolbar. MSN and Yahoo have their own toolbars
with many of the features found in the Google version. All of them do more than stopping popups. They have search bars, form fillers to name
a few of the additional features. There are two important things to consider when installing one of these popup blockers.
When you install your toolbar/popup blocker, go through the installation slowly. Sometimes there are boxes checked that will install additional
software you didn't intend to. If you want both Firefox and the Google toolbar, download and install it. If all you want is the toolbar, be
careful that the link you clicked isn't going to add Firefox as well. We aren't knocking Firefox, it's a great browser. We just want you to
know that the two are often linked.
Once you've installed your popup blocker, you will need to configure it to suit your needs. Some advanced functionality may require you to
allow your browser to submit data to Google. If you don't allow this communication, the toolbar will still be capable of essential tasks
like popup blocking.
While using your popup blocker, you'll need to be aware that some websites use popups legitimately. In some cases, blocking popups could
render the site unusable to you. Fortunately, each popup blocker has a way to allow popups on a per site or per page basis.
Your operating system or browser may also have built-in popup blocing capabilities. You should search through the help on each for even more
popup blocking options.
Blocking Adware Popups
Another leading cause of popups are the result of adware. Adware can be installed sereptitiously onto your computer or it can be included with
software you intentionally install. Either way, it can be annoying. Some adware is small, inobtrusive and something we can live with as long
as using the software is free. Some adware, however, behave as though they're on steroids, spewing huge quantities of popups rendering computers
inoperable. In some cases this is by design, but many of these programs are simply poorly written. If you have one of these on your computer,
you'll have to get rid of it ASAP. Sometimes this is easy, but be prepared for the worst. Some adware is tricky to eliminate.
How to get rid of Adware
Getting rid of these Adware programs should be as easy as going to Add/Remove Programs and simply removing the offending program. Sometimes
you do get lucky and this is all it takes but once in a while it takes something more to remove spyware. This is why Adware removal software exists.
There are many good options for Adware removal and we recommend that you check your computer regularly to keep it free of Adware. Some of the
best adware removers include Ad-Aware SE, Spybot S&D, AVG free Antispy, Superantispy and Microsoft Windows Defender.
The best way to protect your computer against spyware and adware is to avoid installing any file-sharing programs known to contain adware and spyware, such as:
- Applejuice
- Ares P2P
- Audiogalaxy
- BearShare
- BonziBUDDY
- CometCursor
- eDonkey2000
- Gnucleus
- Gnutella
- Go!Zilla
- Grokster
- iMesh
- KaZaA and KaZaA Lite
- KMD
- LimeWire
- Morpheus
- NeoModus (DirectConnect)
- Overnet
- Rapigator
- Shareaza
- SwapNut
- Warez P2P
- WinMX
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