Popup windows can be useful
There is a way to create new windows in HTML. You simply add target="_blank" onto your <A HREF tag, and the link you are referencing opens in a new window. I think it's a great idea, I like being able to browse around the linked site for a while, close it and go back to the original site (or close the original and stay on the new one). I use the tag on my own site, for outside links. It's very useful, I have no problem at all with it.
Javascript ad popup windows are a very different thing. They can be programmed to pop up in your face on certain actions. The most commonly used ones pop up when you enter or leave a page. Quite often they are ads for some other site. Sometimes, and even more annoyingly, they pop up when you leave a site and say things like Bookmark this site!. If I wanted to bookmark it, I'd have already done so, and seeing little popups to remind me just makes me think I'm being treated like an idiot child.
Many of the free homepage sites use these. I don't know if those who use them know just how annoying they are. If they thought about it, I suspect they'd use the sites with ads on the page, they are a little less annoying. I did find a browser that gives you the choice whether to allow pop-ups or not. If they annoy you, try downloading NeoPlanet, it's a MSIE add-on, kind of cute - you can tell it to ask about popups and then click no. If you are a techie type, you might want to try The Proximitron, a web filter that allows you to disable the script that pops up windows (it also lets you do a whole slew of other fun things)! It's a great little program, but you do need to know a lot about how the web works to use it. You can use it with any browser that can handle a proxy.
Popup windows can be used for help files and other useful things, I'm in no way advocating getting rid of them completely. I only want to get rid of the rude and intrusive ones. To me, a window popping up in my face like a TV suddenly changing channels on me so I must watch an infomercial. Oh dear, I hope I didn't give any television advertisers an idea!
The absolute worst use of a pop up window is to keep someone from leaving a site. It's bad enough to pop up a "goodbye" window. Popping up another page, then continually popping windows up when someone tries to close the next one is inexcusably rude. I've only run into this once or twice, but I'm told "Adul"t sites do it as a matter of course (being the sweet innocent creature I am, of course I wouldn't know). The pirate warez sites do it also, that's where I ran across it - I was chasing a script-kiddie who had been causing problems for my employer. I traced her to her site (yes, a female cracker, they do exist), and had to go offlinebefore I could leave. After that experience, I virus checked my system, deleted all cookies, and so forth. Yes - there are times when I get a bit paranoid! Anyone who visits the pirate sites for software is probably going to have problems with trojans or viruses sooner or later. But I digress... (not unusual).
If you want to attract attention, a popup will do that. But it's the same kind of attention that someone who starts cussing in a religious institution would get. Unfavourable, to say the least! So, instead use some imagination, try something different. Web business is new and different, be creative. Entice instead of invading, you'll get much better results.