61. Pop-Up Ads, PreventingSome Web sites generate pop-ups when you visit them.
Just landing on the site triggers their appearance.
Some Web sites will place coding on your hard drive to bring up the ads at other times. The list of devious ways in which the ads are generated is long.
The easy way to stop pop-ups is to disable Java scripting in the Advanced section of Internet Options.
That's not a terrific idea, though, because disabling Java scripting will also disable your ability to take advantage of interesting features on many Web sites.
Still, if you want to go this route, look at article 308446 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. The Web address is below.
The alternative option is to use software to stop the ads.
Some software specifically aimed at pop-up ads - including Pop-Up Stopper and AdShield - are free.
So is SpyBot, which is not a first line of defense against pop-ups but which you can use to hunt down the malicious pieces of pop-up-inducing code on your hard drive. It also looks for and deletes spyware, which uses you as a marketing research subject.
Others will cost you but will provide other services as well.
IHatePopups, AdSubtractPro and NetNanny are meant to control other forms of online advertising also, including junk e-mail, or spam. They can also be of help against other nuisances, such as cookies that track your journeys on the Web.
These and other programs are generally effective but not 100 percent so.
Firewalls such as Norton Personal Firewall and Norton Internet Security as well as some ZoneLab products guard against pop-ups while also providing security against hackers.
Microsoft says that Windows XP may be vulnerable to porn site pop-up ads engendered by the W32.DSS.Trojan horse. Recommendations for dealing with the Trojan can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 810981. The URL is below.
Moreover, a messaging service built into both XP Home and Professional, to enable system administrators to send messages to users on their networks, also opens the computer to pop-up ads.
Thus, another way to stop pop-ups, if you have XP, is to disable this administrative tool.
Go to Start/Run and type services.msc in the Open box. Right-click on Messenger in the Services list, then choose Properties.
In "Startup type," choose Disabled.
Under "Service status," click on Stop.
Click on Apply and OK.
The administrative messenger is not to be confused with the Messenger that is part of Microsoft's MSN service, used for chatting online.
On the Web
www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,8060,00.asp
http://www.security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];308446
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810981
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