POP-UPS AND HOW TO STOP THEM

What Are Pop-Ups?

OK. So you've been quietly browsing away on the web when suddenly out of nowhere a small window appears advertising some previously unheard of product or service. Welcome to Pop-Ups.

Actually, Pop-Ups can have a useful purpose and are a legitimate programming tool. For example, they are useful for entering sign-on information. Suppose you need to enter a password to get into a web site - its much better and quicker to use a small, supplementary window than to have to wait until a full 'Password Entry' screen is loaded. Pop-Ups are also useful for small Java Applets such as those little buttons that allow entry into many chat rooms.

Where do they come from?

For the most part, Pop-Ups are caused by small pieces of Java script which are attached to web pages that you view. Some are timed to appear after a set period as you view a page while others will open a pop-up window underneath the current page and so only become visible when you close the browser window (pop-unders). The main use of Pop-Ups is for intrusive commercial advertising.

There are quite a few software programs that claim to control Pop-Ups - some good and some not so good. There are so many in fact that I don't want to get embroiled in a program by program comparison. If you want to take a look at a selection and make your own mind up then I would recommend Download. COM Just enter Pop-Ups in the search window and I'm sure you'll be kept occupied for some time.

For the purpose of this guide I want to concentrate on the method that I personally use to control Pop-Up Ads because I know that if you're suffering from the little blighters then this approach will lower your stress levels significantly without requiring much effort on your part.

Firstly, we have to consider our old enemy SPYWARE.

Remember the main job of Spyware is to feed back to an organisation your surfing habits i.e. the things you are interested in. The other side of this coin is the forward traffic this produces to you PC which often takes the form of Pop-Up Ads. So you visit a couple of insurance web sites and pretty soon you're deluged with pop-ups trying to sell you car insurance.

Getting rid of Spyware is therefore stage 1 in a 2-step process and for this I would ask you to read The PC Doctor Guide 3 on Spyware. Our main weapon against Spyware is Spybot Search and Destroy which you can download from the download section of the Arrival site at www.arrival-computers.co.uk or from download.com.

Stage 2 is to install one of my favourite little add-ons the GOOGLE Toolbar.

I like the GOOGLE Toolbar for a number of reasons. Firstly, its FREE an important point as many of the other pop-up stoppers are commercial programs requiring payment. The second reason is because GOOGLE have had the sense to keep it small. As a result it sits unobtrusively under the explorer bar; unlike other similar toolbars which seem to take up so much space.

The GOOGLE toolbar provides a number of genuinely useful extra facilities and it's well worth reading about them all on the download site. The most useful, however, is undoubtedly the built in pop-up stopper which seems to work a treat. The number of pop-ups that it blocks is displayed as a running total on the toolbar and from this its clearly very effective.

Significantly though, it also includes the option of allowing those useful pop-ups we discussed earlier to get through while less clever utilities insist on blocking everything. By=passing the pop-up stopper is simply a case of holding down the button while you click.

Installation is simple enough. You will need to re-start Internet Explorer to get the Toolbar to appear.

Do read The PC Doctor Guide 3 on Spyware first and run Spybot as recommended before installing the GOOGLE toolbar.

You can download the GOOGLE toolbar from http://toolbar.google.com

PC Doctor+ Guides are aimed at users new to computing. They can be downloaded and used as content on web sites provided a link to our own site www.arrival-computers.co.uk is displayed.

Steve Latimer is Systems Manager with Arrival Computers (http://www.arrival-computers.co.uk)

Hey Mac, have you ever been thinking of someone and then-bang! - The telephone rings and its them on the phone?

Pinkus, why are you always asking me stupid inane questions that have absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the job at hand?

Mac smiled and laughed loudly. It was the kind of laugh that could boil the water in your fishbowl. He rolled back from his desk slowly in his ergonomic computer chair, and then whipped a super-quick 360-degree wheelie stopping with perfect precision, his eyes staring directly at mine with a look of pure mischievous intent.

You know Pinkus, I often wonder if youre actually a human at all. The planet Kleptar 12 definitely seems like a much more probable location from which your form popcorned out and graced our universe with your presence. Im serious man, answer the question!

Pushing back from my desk in the cubicle I tried to remember Macs stupid question. Had I ever been thinking of someone and then the phone rang, that person calling on the line?

Of course I have, it happens once in a while. Why do you ask? You got one of your deep-space theories that the reason for this coincidence is actually a sign that humans were spawned by giant mushroom people in another galaxy, or is it a hidden conspiracy where mutants on Pluto are controlling our minds with ectoplasm injected into our chewing gum?

Mac didnt seem perturbed by my comments, obviously he was getting quite used to them. A very serious look covered his face; this was a rare event in itself as Mac never looked serious. Normally a smile was permanently imprinted on his mouth, a chilly reminder that maybe I wasnt as happy as I could be in this life. His face often appeared in my dreams, sometimes whispering sacred proverbs, other times just a giant head chasing me through a tunnel that stretched for eternity. Of course I never spoke of these dreams to him, I didnt want him to know that he had any effect on me, if he knew itd be like letting a bee loose in a field of wildflowers. Id never get him to shut up.

Have you ever heard of the concept of a collective consciousness Pinkie old boy? he asked in an unusually intimately sounding voice.

Yeah of course I have. Im a computer programmer like you man; its called the Internet. Everyone with access to it has a means to obtaining as much knowledge as they like from anyone and anywhere in the world. What, do you think Im a complete moron or something?

Macs eyes lit up, they gave the impression a tiger was about to pounce on a helpless antelope. In this particular case Pinkus Brewster was the antelope. It was at this moment the Beatless famous song lyric I am a walrus. popped into my head. I really could have handled being a walrus at that moment. It would have made it a slightly bit more comfortable.

Collective consciousness is a concept I didnt create Pinkus me lad. Its the idea that a species can obtain knowledge mentally from others in the species without even searching for it. Have you ever heard the story of the bird that back in 1927 in England that was documented to have figured out how to rip the lid off a milk bottle and then eat the cream on top?

No. What happened?

Just after this event, birds of the same species all over Europe were also recorded as suddenly having gained the new skill. There was no way the information could have been passed by personal instruction, the knowledge had spread out geographically over a large area that the small birds couldnt have traveled in such a small period of time.

So Mac, why do you feel this is so important to be telling me that Im not getting any work done?

It s like the telephone call Pinkus. Humans are more connected than we are aware of. You know whos on the line beforehand because were all linked to a field of energy that all of our species uses to learn and grow. Have you ever heard of an invention that appears at the same time historically but in two completely different parts of the world where the inventors had no contact with each other whatsoever?

A stupefied look now covered my face. I know this because Ive got a computer monitor mirror staring right back at me. Why is this crackpot telling me this bull winkle? As if reading my mind with his collective consciousness Mac gave it to me straight.

The big breakthrough is about to come Pinko. Youre right about the Internet, but youre not seeing the whole picture. Now that a whole lot of us humans are hooked into this new technology it means we are hearing each others thoughts and ideas more easily subconsciously. The feelings you have are being transmitted through your blogs words as well as the plain information. The Internet is the means for a psychic revolution! Its going to take humanity to the next level of evolution.

I sat quietly and thought to myself, Psycho revolution more like it! This guy sure is making me feel strange. Uh, oh! -Did I just say he was making me feel strange? Already this collective consciousness idea is playing with my brain. A weird feeling of calm overcame me. Maybe other humans have gotten used to the idea and now theyre sending me the knowledge to relax and take it all in easy and slow. I looked over at Mac. He was looking deep into his computer screen as if it was a set of enchanting eyes and kept whispering to himself over and over:`

I am you, you are me. Together that makes we.

By Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is an alien from Kleptar 12 hoping to show humanoids the power of the Internet as well as the power of the creatures thatve created it.