As you are browsing around the web you'll find a lot of things slowing you down, crashing your browser, sometimes even crashing your computer. They aren't viruses or hack attacks or anything like that. There are some things that are not really a security risk, but just plain annoying.
- Windows that pop-up when you enter or leave a site,
- Java scripts that put you back onto a page when you try to leave it. I've found business sites that do this, and sent them nasty messages. That's harassment, virtual kidnapping, and worse yet, it's rude.
- Frames that are made to fit some particular size and text font (which font you may not even have) and won't let you scroll over to see the rest of the page.
- Frames that follow you around from previous sites, usually with flashing ad banners in them.
- Scripts and commands that override your browser's settings.
HTML Filters
These let you control particular sites, cookies, certain types of access to the computer, some even let you ban pop-up windows. As a side benefit, they'll up your security level a little as well, if configured right. Essentially they are firewalls/proxy servers, but limited. Very useful, and think about all the programs that claim to speed up your browsing. If you start bouncing back all the trash, you may not need them!
- Junkbuster
- I use this one myself - you can program it to accept/reject cookies from certain sites, and to block certain sites completely (such as advertising sites). I've also found it pretty interesting to turn on the debug feature and watch what sites are trying to send. This is a Dos program. Being a bit of a techie helps, but it can be comprehended by most who are likely to download it. It's really wonderful for filtering out the annoying bouncy ad banners. Won't handle frames and pop-ups, but takes very little memory to run, so if you are short of memory, try it!
- Proxomitron
- Get the web-surfing experience that you want. Filters out ad banners, cookies, pop-up windows and darn near anything else - and you can specify places to allow these things from. Tell frames they must scroll, don't let frames follow you. You can also customise how things look. And it's free! Get it before they get some sense and start selling it!