Ways to Block Pop Ups…

Advertisers are constantly looking for any way to draw attention to their products. Although typical banner ads are still used heavily, they now seem to be almost invisible to the average web surfer. Pop ups and other intrusive types of advertising are now used to thrust an ad in your face that you have no choice but to at least acknowledge. Regardless of the nature of the ad, pop ups are a nuisance, and there are now many options available for keeping them off of your computer screen all together.

1. Web Browsers with Ad blocker

Chrome, Mozilla Firefox browsers have become quite popular as an alternative to Internet Explorer and Edge. Firefox is a highly customizable web browsing application that includes an effective pop up blocker, tabbed browsing, and many other features 3. Browser Tool Bars

A growing trend is for websites to offer a downloadable toolbar for use with Internet Explorer. Many of these toolbars offer unique features intended to enhance the user’s web browsing experience in different ways, but they generally also include a pop up blocker. Although there are toolbars available from dozens of websites, Google, MSN, and Yahoo are some of the more reputable names with one available.

2. Pop Up Blocker Software

Standalone pop up blocking software is available from dozens, if not hundreds, of different sources. With various interfaces, and prices ranging from free to $30 (and higher), choosing one can be a difficult task. Many of the programs that are not available for free do come with a free trial download, so you can at least get a sense of whether the program is right for you before committing

The main drawback to this type of pop up blocking solution is that you now have another independent application running on your computer. Although they
are generally not resource intensive, why run a program
to do something that can be handled by one that is already running anyway?

Along with a dedicated pop up blocker, another recommended tact for eliminating pop-ups is eliminating spyware on your computer system. Some pop-up programs use accompanying spyware to target pop ups specifically to you and your web surfing habits.

3. Internet Access Software from Select ISPs

Some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) now incorporate a pop up blocker with the software they provide to subscribers for accessing the internet. Bundling this functionality with the ISPs base software definitely makes things easy for the subscriber, as there may be no need to find one elsewhere.

In general, these blockers are effective, but are not the most feature rich and may have limited options for customization by the end user. One drawback with ISP provided pop up blockers is that some only work with their service. So, if you ever switch to a new provider, you’ll need to be prepared to switch to a new pop up blocker
as well.

Final Words

Pop ups are a fact of life on the internet, but that does not mean you need to put up with them. Among the general solutions presented above, there are literally hundreds of options available for eliminating the clutter of pop up ads, allowing you
to enjoy only the content you intended to see.