Pop ups are the scourge of the internet (in my opinion).  To see one you may go to many different sites.  I usually see one when I visit CNN.COM.  Yes, I just tried it and got a pop up window advertising Orbitz.com, the travel company.  It is the window that “pops up”, hence the name, when you visit another site on the internet.

Now you know what they are.  When you go to many sites (it now feels like all of them) you get an advertisement that pops-up when you get to the page you wanted.  It covers up part, if not all, of the page you were interested in and requires you to stop and close it in order to remove the ad (the advertiser hopes you read it first and then click on the ad).  Apparently enough people actually do read/click on the pop-ups to check the items advertised, since they are popular and seem to be getting more so each day.

Some sites will have a pop-up when you enter their site and another when you leave to go to another location on the Internet.  Some of them have multiple pop-ups that just won’t leave you alone.  Web page developers have another item in their advertising arsenal called a “pop-under” window.  These ads are hidden under the main page you were looking at and you don’t see it until you close the top page.  I am not a fan of them and I will venture a guess that you aren’t either.

I have a couple of ways to temporarily deal with them.  When they appear use your mouse to click the close button in the upper right hand corner of the pop-up.  If there is no close button (aren’t they smart?) then use the “ALT+F4″ keystroke to shutdown any active window.  Active means that it is the top window you are viewing and the “Title Bar” is dark in color.

I personally don’t stop pop ups as some of them are needed to get to the proper place you are looking for.  For instance, some online banks have them for you to log into your account with.  If you stop the pop ups it will be much harder for you to gain access to your online accounts.

Most modern day web browsers have ways to stop pop ups if you wish.  In Microsoft Internet Explorer go to, Tools | Internet Options then click the Privacy tab.  From there you can figure it out.  In Firefox, it is Tools | Options and next the Content tab.

Don’t be too upset by pop ups.  They keep portions of the internet free for you to use.  The main site makes a small amount of when you click the ad, you don’t even have to buy anything.  So click every now and then just to keep things going.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 5:52 am and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.