Most people don’t use these ‘alternative’ browsers, however – the chances are that you’re using Internet Explorer right now (if you’re not sure, then you almost certainly are). Whether Internet Explorer has pop-up blocking built-in depends on which version of Windows you have. If you’ve got Windows XP and you’ve kept it up to date by installing all Microsoft’s service packs, then you’ll have pop-up blocking. If you have an older version of Windows, however, or if you don’t use Windows Update, then you’ll need to block your pop-ups some other way.
Probably the most popular way to block pop-ups now is to use the Google Toolbar (downloadable from Google’s homepage). As well as integrating Google search into your browser, it quickly and reliably blocks all sorts of pop-ups. Toolbars from search engine rivals MSN and Yahoo! work the same way. If you’re looking for a good, simple pop-up blocker and you like one of these search engines, then you won’t go far wrong with this option.
If you want a standalone package, then you could go for something like KillAd or NoAds (use a search engine to find where to download them). These freeware programs are generally more configurable than the built-in toolbars and browser pop-up blockers, with the added advantage that you can turn them on and off easily whenever you want, often with a simple double-click.
Finally, if you want a more fully-featured, advanced pop-up blocker, consider buying a utilities package such as Norton Utilities or McAfee Internet Security Suite. These software packages also include firewalls and anti-spyware defences, among other things.
Adverts. The scourge of the Internet. It turns out that it’s actually quite expensive to keep a website running, especially if that website is popular and contains images or worse, music, video or other multimedia. In response, ads have been becoming more and more intrusive in an effort to get advertisers to pay more for them – and ad blockers have started to become more and more necessary.
Much like spam-blocking in email, ad-blocking on the web is an arms race. The advertisers are constantly coming up with new ways to get their ad in front of you, and the ad-blocker software is getting more and more sophisticated in order to block each of these workarounds.
The most essential kind of ad blocker to have on today’s web is a pop-up blocker, simply because pop-ups are one of the most intrusive forms of advertising yet invented. Instead of just sitting there on the page you’re reading, these ads pop up in front of it in a new web browser window, forcing you to close them before you can keep on reading. They often feature obnoxious animation, sound or even video, desperately trying to get you to pay attention to what they say and ‘click through’ to their page.
Pop-up blockers monitor for these nuisance windows and close them on sight, or in some cases modify the web page’s code so that they never open to begin with. There are all sorts of programs available, from simple free ones to expensive ones full of bells and whistles. They can either be integrated into your web browser or stand alone, often running in your computer’s ‘system tray’ or invisibly in the background like an anti-virus program. To some degree it’s a matter of personal preference which one you prefer, but some are more effective than others, so you should check out all the options.
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