Are Pop-Ups An Internet Security Threat?

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Are Pop-Ups An Internet Security Threat?

Pop-ups are the annoying ads and other things on the internet that open on your monitor as you're surfing the web. Their main goal is to either get you to visit a certain website or to collect your name and email address for marketing purposes.

These pop-ups are usually caused by something called Javascript, which is a simple programming language built into the web page you're visiting.

Some pop-ups are useful. Sometimes a user clicks a link on the Web page and a small window will open asking a user to fill in information or giving a user more information. Music sites often use pop-ups to play tunes in a specialized player window. This can be a completely legitimate use of pop-ups and is quite different from the pop-up advertisements that appear unbidden.

JavaScript can control the size of the window and the elements displayed. The status bar or the menus can be hidden, making it impossible to navigate away from the pop-up. Your only options are to close the window using the 'x' box in the top right corner or to click on the ad and be taken to the advertiser's web site. Annoying, huh?

Some pop-up windows are either poorly programmed or intentionally malicious. The JavaScript will create multiple windows, and when one of those windows is closed more windows will open. The only way out of this endless cycle is to close the browser.

A recent type of pop-up is created using software called Flash and can even be made to follow your mouse around the screen as you move it.

One of the more notorious uses of pop-ups is in adware, which often opens pop-ups related to the web pages you're looking at, even if it's not from that website. This adware is supported by advertising, which is why it uses these pop-ups to get your attention. It usually comes along with some other program, which may actually be useful, and gets installed at the same time. If you don't read the license agreement closely when you install it, you might miss the fact that this is going to happen even though they tell you (although it's usually hidden somewhere in the middle of the agreement, where most people never see it).

Another type of pop-up is the pop under. Rather than appearing on top of web pages they're hidden until you close the browser window. These are a little bit less intrusive than pop-ups but still an unwanted nuisance. There's no end to the cleverness of advertisers!

The main problem with pop-ups is the nuisance they cause, and almost every web browser has some kind of pop-up killer included these days.

You can also get specialized pop-up killer software that will catch most of the pop-ups that the browsers miss, giving you an almost 100% pop-up free internet experience.

Article Source: http://articlenexus.com

If your kids use the same computer as you, pop-up windows can be a big problem. In recent versions of Windows multiple user accounts can be set up to keep their junk away from what you're doing. Get more info about stopping popups at www.securitymanor.com

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