Howdy to all and a big old “Welcome Back” to this edition of The Weekly Geek. This week I want to cover those pesky pop-up ads, or in our case removing and stopping them, not just cover them up.

Pop-up ads along with pop-under ads are a thing of the past when it comes to the technology used to create and install or run them. These ads range from pesky cruise line solicitations to sexual stimulation or enhancements. As a rule of thumb this type of advertising comes from the same people that brought you SPAM (unsolicited unwanted e-mail). Before we get to far, there are legitimate forms of pop-ups, some are satisfaction surveys others occur when you click on a web page link and it pops up a new web page. Some are forms that web sites or their advertisers want you to fill out while others are pure nuisance ads.

Let me begin by stating one fact. NEVER RESPOND TO A POP UP AD! Do not buy anything or send a request to be removed. Especially if the ad looks like an official warning. There are a couple of ads that specifically pray on your fears. With titles or statements like “Your computer is vulnerable”, “Warning 1,234 spyware programs have been found on your computer” or even “You have been exposed”, yeah, I have been exposed, to those crappy ads. These are lies preying on you and trying to make your system vulnerable to even more problems by installing their spyware, malware or crapware. Continue reading →