Pop-ups
What is a cheap way to get rid of annoying popups?
We recommend the program StopZilla for getting rid of pop-up ads. It costs $29.95/year, but has a lot of great features and is extremely effective. One of the reasons it is so nice is that you can allow or block all pop-ups from a specific site if you wish.
For instance, if you use a free service online like Hotmail, it might not work correctly unless pop-ups are enabled. With StopZilla, you can tell the program to enable all pop-ups for Hotmail (or other free online service) and then you won't run into that problem.
StopZilla also offers a free trial, so you can make sure it is the right program for you.
If you are on a budget and looking for additional security/privacy software as well, it is worth noting that ZoneAlarm Pro, a very good personal firewall program, comes with a pop-up blocking feature (albeit with less features than StopZilla). Since you get both a pop-up blocker and a firewall (plus some other good features) for under $50, this can be a more economical choice.
Another option is to switch browsers: the free open-source browser Firefox contains an effective pop-up blocking component and many other neat features; for even more pop-up blocking power you can download the Adblock extension for Firefox.
If you aren't worried about having to use online services like Hotmail, and you're looking for a free pop-up blocking alternative that works with Internet Explorer, you might try the free Google Toolbar. This browser add-on puts a search field right into your browser's toolbar and adds some other neat search features, plus includes a simple pop-up blocking feature (not terribly customizable, I'm afraid, but hey, it's free).
However, a word of warning about the Toolbar: Many anti-spyware programs consider the Toolbar to be spyware as it does report some of your browsing activity to Alexa (showing once again that nothing is really ever free). If this idea concerns you, I would NOT recommend downloading the Google Toolbar.
IE users who are concerned with safeguarding their privacy very carefully would be advised to try StopZilla, since it also includes a spyware and adware suppression component.
Last update: 2005-06-24 14:05
Author: Jordana
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