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| THIS ARTICLE |
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| Pop-ups |
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Pop-ups
On this page...
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Many of the dangers outlined in this article are not confined to just pop-ups,
they can be found on any page of an unscrupulous web site. Learn
the dangers, absorb the risk reducing tips and be particularly
cautious when browsing away from mainstream sites.
What is a pop-up?
It's a new browser window that appears on top of your current window. Most
are much smaller than a normal window and many are without
any of your normal toolbars or sliders and are void of the Minimize and
Restore Up/Down buttons, top right. The red Close button  ,
top right, will be present.
Automatic or User Requested
There are two basic types of pop-ups. First the ones that open automatically
without any action from you, other than entering or leaving
a web site. Secondly the ones that are requested
by you, for example, appear after you have clicked on a
link or a button requesting more detailed information or to view a larger
image of a thumbnail. |
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| Programs that are
installed on your computer with or without
your knowledge, intending to deliver
adverts to your desktop. See this page
for more info. More» |
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| Malware that covertly
installs itself onto your system and
changes your web browser settings.
You aquire a new StartPage or HomePage
that seems impossible to get rid of. More» |
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| Cookies are small
text files that some web sites place
in your computer to remind your browser
of specific information. For example,
they might store your preferences for
content so pages can be personalised
for you. Have you ever gone back to an
online store and found a couple of items
that you chose, still at the check out,
well that's achieved by a cookie. The
vast amount of cookies are designed to
enhance your visit to a site. Some sites
use session cookies that are
deleted when you exit your browser, while
others place persistent cookies,
which stay on your hard drive for long
periods. All good sites outline their
policy on cookies, usually within their
privacy statement. |
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| Malware that covertly
installs itself onto your system and
changes your internet dial-up settings
to a Premium Rate number. You may not
discover the breach until you query your
excessive phone bill. Dialers are NOT
a problem if you have a broadband connection. |
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| Designed to prevent
unauthorised access to or from a computer
or a network. Usually software based
but can be hardware based within a network
router or a Broadband modem. More» |
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| Users that spend
time attempting to breach online security
systems. Some do it just for the devilment
whilst others have pure criminal intent.
A Firewall helps to stop Hackers entering
your system when you are online. |
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| Malware
that captures all keystrokes made by
you and monitors for your bank and card
details. It usually has the
ability to transmit the captured information
to interested parties either via a network
connection or email. Your
personal data is then used in fraudulent
activity. See this page for more info. More» |
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| A generic term
becoming popular to describe any form
of malicious software. Sometimes referred
to as rogue programs, they're the bad
side of Spyware. See this page for more
info. More» |
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| A term that covers
all the issues on this list. Whether
it's the theft of your personal details,
virus riddled emails or invading your
privacy. More» |
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| Pronounced 'fishing'.
Not Spyware or a Virus but a type of
scam. It's when fraudsters attempt to
obtain your personal information, usually
your bank details by duping you into
entering your details into either a dummy
web site, replying to a false email or
even by a phone call to your home. The
sites and emails are very convincing
and appear genuine, even to the trained
eye but give themselves away by the very
nature of what they are requesting you
to do. More» |
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| A new browser window
that appears on top of your current window,
smaller than normal and containing either
information or an advert.
You really need to take the time to know
how useful and how dangerous they can
be. See this page for more info. |
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| Remote Access Trojans.
See Trojans below. |
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| A generic term
for programs that are installed on your
computer without your knowledge with
the intent of gathering information about
you, whether for commercial or criminal
reasons. See this page for more
info. More» |
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| Also known as Trojan
Horses or RATs (Remote Access Trojans)
it's a way of delivering Spyware onto
your system. The malicious code is hidden
within a seemingly harmless program.
Trojans are often used to infect you
with Keyloggers or Dialers. A favourite
with Hackers to allow them to open a
backdoor to your system. More» |
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| A small program
designed to make copies of itself over
and over again. The effects of a virus
can range from harmless messages to the
destruction of data and can be exucuted
at any given time and date. More» |
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| Very similar to
viruses in their replication but exploit
a users email system to send themselves
around the world. |
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More about automatic pop-ups
Automatic pop-ups usually contain an advert and at
best are just annoying. To most users they are a 10mm strip
that appears along the top of their browsers page view, along with a bleep, informing
them that a pop-up has been blocked. That is, if you have
your pop-up blocker set properly.
There are a few otherwise great web sites that use automatic pop-ups, PCAnswers
magazine, linked from this page, is an example. It does make some users
click away but most put up with them. Always be guarded
of the automatic pop-up that appears upon leaving a web site or
closing a window, this is a last chance effort to con you into clicking
the seemingly innocent button that will download a malicious script.
If you are being bombarded with pop-up ads, even offline, you are showing the
classic symptom of an infection of Spyware and you need
an AntiSpyware Tool. More»
The biggest risk from any automatic pop-up is undoubtedly the one that
appears to be a warning or error message
from your computer's operating system. It will be designed
just like a Windows XP dialogue box (see the section below) and
if you click the "OK" or Cancel" button, you're in trouble.
More about user-requested pop-ups
User requested pop-ups are the unsung favourites of the unscrupulous web
site owners only because your guard is often
down since you have requested its presence. Web sites are
set up with the sole intention of trapping you... its content will be genuinely
useful but some or all of the links it contains open a pop-up window similar
to the illustration below. It could be a
text link or an image link and while the one below is actually
an image, the real thing will appear in the centre of your screen and all
other windows are disabled until you close it. You assume that by clicking
the "OK" button
your link request will be cancelled and you will save time trying to load
an Error 'Page unavailable' Screen, well you assumed wrong... once clicked
your computer is infected.
Preventing malicious pop-ups
The only sure way of preventing a malicious attack that originates from
a pop-up, is to use a Pop-up Blocker and block all pop-ups. This isn't
a practical option for most users as they
would miss out on some invaluable content. Here are a few
tips that will greatly reduce any risk, the first tip should be obvious
having read this article,
• Never close a pop-up window by clicking OK, Yes,
No etc. Instead, click the red Close button,
top right corner of the window, or press the Alt + F4 keys.
• Set your Pop-up Blocker Tool settings to prevent
all pop-ups and scripts until you log a website as being trustworthy.
• Don't surf the Net (away from mainstream sites)
when logged-on your computer as an Administrator, switch to a Limited User. [?]
User
Accounts X
If you are running the Windows operating system you can set up two types of
user account... Administrator or Limited. It's done via the Control Panel and
if you haven't yet set up any user accounts then you will be logged-on as an
Administrator with full access to all parts of your computer.
If you are online when logged-on as a Limited User then over 90% of any nasty
malware that you could come across, is prevented from covertly accessing your computer.
• Use the latest version of your preferred
browser program.
• Have a Spyware Tool and a Firewall
running in the background when you are online.
Pop-up Blocking Tools
At long last Microsofts Internet Explorer now has a  Pop-up
Blocker Tool. If you use any other mainstream browsers such as Mozilla,
Netscape, Firefox, Opera or Safari you'll have been using the tool for
some time. If your hardware prevents you from using any operating system
after Windows 98 then you can download
a great tool from Download.com HERE!
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