You're not alone! Who hasn't surfed the web looking for information only to have their session interrupted by those annoying pop-up windows displaying everything from banner ads to newsletter sign-up's? Though pop-up windows and other methods of influencing a user's online experiences originally had positive intentions, they now seem only to annoy and manipulate users at every turn. For anyone who ever felt extremely irritated by online advertising, the following advice should help. ** Pop-Up Ads ** Pop-up windows open new pages in your browser without your permission and, sometimes, without your knowledge. They slow down your surfing and cause confusion, even for the most experienced surfer. If you don't want to see pop-up windows in your browser, you should get a free pop-up blocker like the ones that come with the Google tool bar (http://toolbar.google.com) or the Alexa tool bar (http://download.alexa.com). Either of these free tools "plug in" to your web browser and will stop the majority of pop-ups, including the situations where 5 or 10 pop-up windows fly up on your screen and "attack" you all at once! ** Page Hijacking ** Have you ever surfed along peacefully when all of a sudden you hit your back button and nothing happened? Click-click-click - no matter how many times you hit the button, it seemed your web browser had been "wheel locked" to a certain site and no amount of effort allowed you to back track. This nasty little trick, otherwise know as "page hijacking" involves inserting a small bit of code into a web page that disables your browser's "back" button. To defeat this little nasty just click and hold the down arrow next to your browser's "back" button (on both Internet Explorer and Netscape) to see a list of the last few pages you've browsed. Click on a link in the history list to free yourself and resume surfing. Careful though, you may not have been hijacked, you may have been the victim of the next dirty trick. ** Fast Meta Refresh ** A predecessor of the pop-up window, the fast meta refresh trick involves opening one page and almost instantly having your browser redirected to another page. This tactic, often used by search engine promoters, often leads to wasted time on pages that have little relevance to your search. It may also entail opening five to ten additional windows, frequently displaying offensive material such as pornography. Closing all your browser windows and starting over seems the only sure-fire way to defeat this tactic. Hitting your back button to retreat from the problem will usually just cause more windows to appear. Quick Tip: If you find yourself attacked by multiple pop-up ads, hold down the key and hit the key repeatedly, all the web browser windows on your screen will disappear faster than new ones can pop open. If you feel a website operator appears to openly abuse visitors with annoying or unscrupulous tactics, feel free to complain to their hosting company or the search engines. By doing so you might save the next person a whole lot of inconvenience. (c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved - http://www.thenetreporter.com |
