BEWARE OF THE POP-UPS

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by Brian Mattah
Danger Lurking Beneath

Beware of such links especially from pop-ups (which are actually online advertising forms on the World Wide Web intended to attract web traffic or capture email addresses-so don't be surprised when you clicked on any of them and next morning find your spam folder or inbox clogged up with mails from unknown people, companies or even institutions).
Pop-ups may include buttons that say ‘Close’ or ‘Cancel’. There is no guarantee that the link behind the button will dismisses the pop-up once you click on the buttons. Instead they could trigger other pop-ups or download pieces of VIRUS. It’s safer to close a pop-up in Microsoft Windows by using a keyboard shortcut such as Ctrl-W or Alt-F4, or by opening the Task Manager, selecting the browser programme and clicking End Task.
Some pop-ups don’t come from websites but from malware (a malicious type of software) that has been secretly installed on the user’s PC. If this happens, the PC must be thoroughly cleaned using good security software. If the PC has been used to access banking, shopping and other important sites, all passwords should be changed because they may have been compromised.
Particularly nasty pop-ups are used to sell fake anti-virus programs, which are sometimes called ‘scareware’.

The pop-ups pretend to find viruses on your PC and - after you have paid up - pretend to remove it. In fact, these programs are malware and may install more malware.
To stop pop-ups in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8, go to the Tools menu, select ‘Pop-up Blocker’ and then ‘Turn On Pop-up Blocker’.
To stop pop-ups in Mozilla’s Firefox, click on Tools, select ‘Options’, and then ‘Content’. Click the checkbox next to ‘Block Pop-up Windows’. Most browsers have similar options.

Pop-ups Can As Well Be Helpful

Not all pop-ups are there to infect your computer. On some sites they’re used to explain something so that you don’t have to navigate away from the main window. Also, sometimes pop-ups appear when you need to download or install something from a web page. ONLY ever INTERACT with these POP-UPS if you TRUST the WEBSITE they’ve come from.