Pop-up Ads are the advertisements that pop-up when you visit a Web page. Some ads will pop up directly on top of the page you want to view, forcing you to close the ad before reading the Web page you requested. Often times, one or more ads will “pop under” the page you requested, and you will not see them until you close the original Web page.
In addition to being an annoyance, pop-up advertisements can increase the amount of time it takes for Web pages to load. There are several free pop-up blockers that will prevent most pop-up and pop-under ads from appearing. Following are links to the Google and Yahoo toolbars, either of which would be a good choice. Both include a pop-up blocking feature.
Note: Pop-up and pop-under ads should only appear when you actively go to a Web page that is hosting the advertisement. If you find that you are getting pop-up ads even when you are not actively surfing to a Web page, then you may have “Adware” on your machine, which is a type of Spyware used to generate pop-up advertisements. See our tips on Spyware for more information about Adware, including links to Spyware detection and removal tools.