Pop-up ad

Pop-up ads are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to increase web traffic or capture email addresses. It works when certain web sites open a new web browser window to display advertisings. The pop-up window containing an advertisement is usually generated by JavaScript, but can be generated by other means as well.

A variation on the pop-up window is the pop-under advertisement. This opens a new browser window, behind the active window. Pop-unders interrupt the user less, but are not seen until the desired windows are closed, making it more difficult for the user to determine which Web site opened them.

=Background=

For early advertising-supported web sites, web banner were sufficient revenue generators, but in the wake of the dot com crash, prices paid for banner advertising clickthroughs decreased and many vendors began to investigate more effective advertising methods. Pop-up ads by their nature are difficult to ignore or overlook, and are claimed to be more effective than static banner ads. Pop-ups have a much higher click rate than web banner ads do (about every 14000th popup ad is clicked on).

Opera (web browser) was the first major Web browser to incorporate popup-blocking tools; the Mozilla Application Suite browser later improved on this by blocking only popups generated as the page loads. In the early 2000s, all major web browsers except Internet Explorer (then the most popular browser and still as of 2004) allowed the user to block unwanted pop-ups almost completely. In 2004, Microsoft released Windows XP SP2, which added pop-up blocking to Internet Explorer. Many users, however, remain unaware of this ability, or else choose not to use it. Many others are not able to use it at all, as they do not use Windows XP SP2, but older versions of Windows. Some users install non-Microsoft ad-blocking software instead. Advertisers continually seek ways to circumvent such restrictions. Many of the latest pop-ups are created using Macromedia Flash and have extensive animation and trickery, others use DHTML to appear in front of the browser screen.

Pornographic web sites are among the most common users of pop-up ads. Some particularly vicious types of pop-up ads (again, most often seen in connection with adult entertainment sites) appear to have either been programmed improperly or have been specifically designed to hijack a user s Internet session. These forms of pop-ups sometimes spawn multiple windows, and as each window is closed by the user it activates code that spawns another window -- sometimes indefinitely. This is sometimes referred to by users as a Java trap , spamming cascade or Pop-up Hell among other names. Usually the only way to stop this is to close the browser.

Another variation of pop-up, commonly called mousetrapping , particularly fills an entire screen with an ad or Web page, in the process removing any menu bars or other on-screen icons by which the user can close the window. This problem mainly affects users of the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer. Often, access to other open windows and Web pages is denied. One way for PC users to close these ad windows is via the control-alt-delete command, which can result in all active IE windows (including those not connected to the pop-up) closing, and another way to close the mousetrapping window could be to hold down the Alt button and press F4 to closes the active window. Another variant, a static image ad , is a pop-up ad that stays in a fixed position of a window of an ad-supported program. This kind of ad does not distract the computer s concentration of a program window like a traditional popup ad does. One example of an ad-supported program that uses a static image ad is KaZaA.

= Non-browser pop-up ads =

Processes other than the Web browser can also display pop-up ads, or can direct the browser to display them. Many Spyware programs do this, as well as some advertising-supported software, although the line between the two is sometimes thin.

A different sort of pop-up ad can be sent via the Messenger service in Microsoft s Windows operating system. These pop-ups appear as Windows dialog boxes with a textual message inside, usually directing the user to a Web site. Claims have been made that this type of pop-up has been used to commit extortion. Threats of legal action against the company D Squared Solutions has caused them to stop using this technique.

= Cyworld and non-advertising pop-ups =

Cyworld is one of the largest Korean communities on the web, with approximately 11 million users. Each user has a home page, pre-designed and the same size, but customizable. The home page itself however, is technically a pop-up as it is less than the size of a typical browser window (a so-called mini hompy , or mini home page). After Windows XP SP2 was released there was a flurry of activity as Cyworld changed its front page to explain to its 11 million users (nearly a quarter of the population) how to get past the pop-up blocker.

=Browsers that block pop-up ads=

*Gecko (layout engine) **K-Meleon **Mozilla **Mozilla Firefox **Netscape Navigator **Camino **Galeon **Epiphany (web browser) *Internet Explorer (if Windows XP SP2 is installed) *Opera (web browser) *Safari (web browser) *America Online 9.0 *Konqueror

=Add-on programs that block pop-up ads=

*Most of the new Toolbar *[http://www.iomagic.org/fsc/pleasedontlinkheredirectly.htm KillAd] -- freeware *[http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/ NoAds] -- freeware *[http://www.superadblocker.com/ Super Ad Blocker] *Pop-up Stopper *Proxomitron *Bayden Systems [http://www.bayden.com/popper Popup Blocker] *Google Toolbar

=See also=

*Adware and Spyware *Malware *Junkmail

=References=

*Adams, Cecil. [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041015.html What s up with popup ads] . The Straight Dope . October 15, 2004.

=External links=

*[http://www.popuptest.com/ Pop-up Test] - a site for testing how well your pop-up blocking software works (does not test flash and noscript popups) *[http://www.freepopupblockers.net/ Free Pop Up Blocker] - lists several free pop up blocker add-ons *[http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/computer-article-spyware-pop-ups.html How to Find, Remove and Prevent Spyware, Internet Intruders, and Pop-Ups] *[http://popups.surferbeware.com SurferBeware.com Popup Ad Help] — Everything you ever wanted to know about popups, including how they are created, what makes them tick, and most important how to stop them. *[http://pc.wikicities.com/wiki/Anti-popup_propoganda Anti-popup propaganda on Wikicities]; this website has propaganda from members of Wikicities. *[http://www.everythingcartman.itgo.com/about.html Example Website] - Website with 2000 popups *[http://brandsuicide.20six.co.uk BrandSuicide] - Hilarious anti-pop-ups blog and general online advertising news