Community Service Announcement

Think of this post as kinda like one those helpful announcements on TV or radio, like reminding you to change your smoke alarm batteries or to buy a carbon monoxide detector.

If your computer is constantly throwing pop-up ads in your face for online diplomas, mortgage refinances, etc., chances are you have "spyware" or "ad ware" on your PC. This is because several sites sell advertising space, and the same technology that makes web surfing easier (called "cookies") can actually track your visited websites and send appropriate pop-up ads.

So......Here's what you do:
1) Download a free utility like Ad-Aware or Search and Destroy. Make sure you understand what you're doing before installing or using this. But they are very helpful tools, I see them referenced A LOT on tech support websites, and I use them at work almost every day.

2) Get something that stops pop-ups from happening!! If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer has one built in. Otherwise, get something like the Google Toolbar that has it built in. NOTE: Many sites have legitimate things (forms, pictures, etc) that act similar to a pop-up and thus get blocked. You CAN turn the blocker off temporarily, or some (like the Google toolbar) will remember it for that site only.

Please don't misunderstand me......I'm not setting up a 24-hour spyware technical support line. But if you know what you're doing with downloads, installs, and program executions, these are great (and FREE!) tools to use.