What is a pop-up?

Pop-ups are small windows that open automatically on your screen. Most often, they display advertising, which can be from legitimate businesses, but also might be scams or dangerous software:

• Pop-up ads can be part of a phishing scam designed to trick you into revealing sensitive personal or financial information as you surf the Web.
• If pop-up ads open even when you're not surfing the Web, your computer might be infected with spyware.
• Not all pop-ups are bad: Some Web sites use pop-up windows for specific tasks. You might need to view the window in order to complete that task.

Windows Defender can help protect against dangerous pop-up ads

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-up ads, spyware, and other unwanted software. Windows Defender is included in Windows Vista. If you use Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), you can download Windows Defender for free.

Use a pop-up blocker

We recommend that you turn on a pop-up blocker when you surf the Web, and turn it off only for those rare cases where you need to interact with a pop-up on a site to complete a task. Internet Explorer includes a pop-up blocker.

To turn on Pop-up Blocker:

1. Click Tools
2. Point to Pop-up Blocker
3. Click Turn on Pop-up Blocker

To download Internet Explorer 8, visit the Internet Explorer Web site.

If the Internet Explorer Pop-up Blocker blocks a pop-up window from a site you trust you can decide to temporarily allow pop-up ads from that site or to always allow pop-ups from that site.

To adjust the settings in the Internet Explorer Pop-up Blocker

1. Click Tools
2. Point to Pop-up Blocker
3. Click Pop-up Blocker Settings