Dealing with Pop-Up-Under Web Advertising

Joe St Sauver, Ph.D.
Director, User Services and Network Applications
joe@oregon.uoregon.edu

If you use Yahoo or any of a growing number of other popular websites, you may have had the annoying experience of getting hit with "pop-up-under" web advertisements.

What's A 'Pop-Up-Under'?

Pop-up-under ads are stealthy, almost subliminal messages that flash across your screen when you visit a particular website. The pop-up-under scenario typically goes something like thisÉ

You're surfing away, clicking from one web page to another. As you surf, you may have the impression that something briefly flashed on your screen, but whatever it was probably came and went so quickly you couldn't be sure. You check your screen again and don't see anything new. After a minute you rub your eyes and decide that you must have been hallucinating--but in fact, you did see something. What you saw was a "pop-up-under" advertisement flashing briefly across your screen before slipping behind your web browser's main window.

Once that pop-up-under hides beneath your main web page, it quietly lurks there until you close your main browser window (or move it enough to reveal the concealed pop-up-under window)...then SURPRISE! This can be quite annoying, particularly given the creepy content of some of these pop-up-under advertisements.

Pop-up-under ads are different from, but closely related to, so-called "pop-up-on-exit" advertising, which may launch a new advertising window when you attempt to leave a given website. As you may know, it is possible for unscrupulous advertising entities to "trap" you in a chain of such windows, opening a new one as fast as you close the current one, until you disable Javascript or Java, kill your browser manually, or reboot your system.

What Can You Do About Pop-Up-Under Advertisements?

There are many things you can do about pop-up-under advertisements. For example:

1. You can block the pop-ups outright by using an anti-pop-up software program such as PanicWare's free Pop-Up Stopper (http://www.panicware.com/product_dpps.html )
   
   
2. If you don't want to add yet another program to your system, you can simply disable Javascript, Java, Active X, and similar scripting technologies in your browser. Doing so will prevent most, if not all, pop-up advertisements, as well as blocking a variety of other real and potential vulnerabilities. To disable these scripting technologies in your browser, follow the steps described at
   http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/malicious_code_FAQ.html#steps
   
   Note: Some sites, including Blackboard, Hotmail, and some online shopping sites, may require use of Javascript, Java, or Active X; if you disable Javascript, Java, or Active X, you will not be able to use those sites.
   
   
3. Avoid websites that accept placement of pop-up-under advertising, such as Yahoo. Instead, make the effort to go to sites like Google that do not permit pop-up-under advertising. (See Google's no popup ad policy at http://www.google.com/help/nopopupads.html )
   
   
4. Don't let anyone trick you into believing that if you "just" accept cookies you'll then see fewer pop-up advertisements. You do not need to compromise your privacy--and accept being tracked online--just to regain some semblance of control over your browser. Instead, use a pop-up-under blocking program, disable Javascript, Java, or ActiveX, and avoid sites that accept pop-up advertising.
   
   
5. If you inadvertently visit a website that hits you with a pop-up-under advertisement, take a minute to write a polite complaint to the website. In particular, let the site managers know that because of their advertising policies, you'll bypass their site in the future. It's true that they have the right to run whatever advertising they want on their website, but it is equally true that you have the right to avoid that website.
   
   
6. Never, ever click on a pop-up-under advertising window. And it goes without saying, never purchase products advertised via pop-up-unders, just as you should never purchase products advertised via email spam. If you ever do respond to these ads, you'll be helping to perpetuate their continued use.