Popup Blocker Software

A computer without popup blocker software is like a mailbox overflowing with advertising circulars, coupons, and third-class bulk mail. The difference is that the mailbox can be emptied and the junk mail tossed into the trash. An unprotected computer continues to be bombarded with popups, pop-unders, and, perhaps, even more malicious and hidden applications. Popups are a type of banner advertising that appear on top of the website page that is being accessed. A pop-under is a banner ad that is hidden beneath the website page. But when the page is closed, there it is, demanding the user's attention. Internet advertising and marketing companies promote these types of banner ads for their clients because they can be an effective means for companies to sell their products and services. However, they can also be a great annoyance to computer users, especially when they appear faster than the user can close them. When that scenario occurs, the computer user needs immediate help, perhaps in the form of free popup blocker software.

Internet advertisers, of course, prefer that users do not utilize popup blocker software. Their businesses depend on getting a client's message in front of as many pairs of eyes as possible. The internet marketing strategy for many clients is to place banner ads or have either popup or pop-under ads appear on the specially selected websites or a network of related websites. For example, an entrepreneur that sells designer cat collars would want her marketing strategy to include placing advertisements on websites frequented by cat fanciers. The entrepreneur controls her marketing costs with pay per click advertising which means that she only has to pay a fee to the advertising firm when someone actually clicks on one of her ads. By clicking on the ad, the user is taken to the entrepreneur's website and, hopefully, will purchase a designer cat collar. With this type of marketing strategy, the entrepreneur isn't wasting scarce marketing dollars on ads that targeted to different niche audiences than her own. She can also track, through the advertiser's program, the number of unique visitors to her site from a particular ad, how long the visitors stayed on the site, and what purchases, if any, were made as a result of the visit. With this type of information, the entrepreneur can determine the effectiveness of the ad campaign and adapt it as needed to increase sales.

Though banner ads are a legitimate component of an internet marketing strategy, most website surfers find them to be annoying and frustrating. Each one of the major internet browsers comes with popup blocker software as a built-in function that acts as a shield to protect the computer user from malicious spyware. A psalmist praised God for being a shield, a protection from harm, with these words: "Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed" (Psalm 28:6-8). In the computer world, however, the browser's software isn't always enough to keep the ads away. Web surfers can download free popup blocker software as a second line of defense against them. There are other ways that web surfers can protect themselves and their computers from the more malicious effects of popups. Industry experts warn users to be especially careful about downloading file-sharing software, even the more popular ones, and freeware. Such downloads often comes with additional software, known as adware or spyware. Information about the additional software may be hidden away in an obscure section of the licensing agreement or part of a readme text file. Though such agreements are supposed to be read before downloading the application, the freeware and file-sharing vendors know that most people do not. Without the protection of popup blocker software, the consumer may download the freeware or file-sharing software without receiving any clear notification of what additional software is also being installed on his computer. Even a free popup blocker software program will probably be able to thwart most adware and spyware.

Though the popups and pop-unders are an obvious annoyance, they are not necessarily the biggest problem caused by these secret downloads. Some of these programs run continually, hidden in the background, even when the downloaded application is not being used. These applications, which usually include bugs, can affect the computer's ability to appropriately navigate around the internet. The surfer may experience delays in accessing sites or downloading other files. Even worse, however, is that some of these applications are designed to create a user profile by gathering personal information and sending it back to the software owner. This information may include what websites the surfer visits and may even include email addresses in the user's contact directory. Even worse is the fear that some of these applications have the capability to capture and pass along information that a website user enters on an online form. For example, the application may pass along that an individual purchased certain books, subscribed to a particular magazine, or applied to become a member of a grassroots political organization. These privacy violations are of real concern to many. Knowing the possibility of such violations should be incentive enough for almost every internet user to download a free popup blocker software program or to purchase one of the many available programs. Most of these come with a free trial period so that the individual or business owner can find the right one to meet his or her specific needs.

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