A pop-up blocker is a piece of software used to block pop-ups on a user’s computer. This can combat adware, or sites with too many invasive adverts. Marketers should avoid this black-hat practice and users should install blockers if necessary.
A pop-up blocker is a piece of software that will block pop-ups on a user’s computer. A pop-up meanwhile is a window that opens up separately from the main browser window in order to show a user an advert or to generally try and engage with them.
Often, pop-ups are delivered primarily by spyware or adware. This is a malicious and black hat marketing strategy that places unwanted programs on a user’s computer, in order to advertise to them without permission and outside of the usual context.
No marketer should consider using a pop-up of this nature and likewise, they should be avoided on most websites seeing as the majority of browsers don’t support them and most users find them distracting and frustrating. This is not to be mixed up with a pop-over which is a box that appears within the browser, but over the top of the rest of the text. This is often used for email opt-in boxes.
How to Avoid Pop-Ups
If you want to avoid pop-ups on your own computer, then there are a few steps you can take.
Browse Carefully
Most computer viruses and adware programs come from the internet and there are a number of ways this can happen. One of the biggest culprits when it comes to filling your device with viruses is e-mail – and once a piece of malicious code manages to hack into your mail it will then proliferate itself by getting you to message everyone on your contacts list with it.
As such then you need to be wary of any e-mails that don’t sound like your friends wrote it – even if they’re the senders. At the same time of course be suspicious of e-mails from unknown senders as these ones could just be malicious. In short make sure that you are general suspicious of all e-mails you don’t instantly recognize and make sure you don’t open up any attachments.
Likewise, some viruses can come from simply browsing the web, and generally this happens when you’re looking at sites that dubious to begin with. Avoid any site with too many ads or that’s giving away free downloads.
Use the Right Software
Other little tips can help you to avoid getting viruses while browsing too. For instance, you should make sure that you use a good browser – and some browsers will be more likely than others to protect your PC. At the same time you can make sure to use the right devices and if you do need to surf a site that you don’t trust, then you might want to consider doing this with a phone or tablet device which are less prone to picking up viruses.
Run the Right Software
Of course, your first line of defence when it comes to computer virus protection is just to have the best anti-virus software on your machine which will help to filter anything that comes through and that can eliminate threats once they’ve been identified. However just having the best computer virus protection software isn’t going to cut it – you also need to make sure that you keep it up to date by installing any updates as they come through (so that you have all the most recent virus definitions and don’t get infected by something your software hasn’t heard about yet) and that you run checks regularly to make sure that nothing slips through the net ...no pun intended.
