Choose your favorite tool for complete Web ad destruction.

Pop-up windows are nasty. They're those little advertisements that open new windows over or under your work. Although some people may argue that these ads help fuel the waning Internet economy, I still think there are better ways to sell products.

There are scores of programs that will let you get rid of ads, cookies, and other nasty bits that slow down your surfing. These are my favorites:

  1. Pow
    Pow is one of the oldest free pop-up smashers out there. It works quite well, but you do need to train it, which is a bit of a drawback. Each time you get a pop-up (or a pop-under), click the Pow icon in your system tray. Then double-click the name of the offensive window to add it to your kill list.

  2. Pop-Up Stopper
    Panicware makes a free and pro version of this ad-blocking software. You can set the preferences to general or aggressive pop-up stopping. And if you really do want to see the ad, all you have to do is hold down ctrl + shift when you click on the link. I think my favorite feature of this program is that you can make it play a sound every time you kill a pop-up.

  3. PopUp Killer
    PopUp Killer can detect ads on its own, or you can train it to kill just the ads you hate the most. Don't forget to download the sound packs so you can enjoy the sweet sounds of destruction.

  4. WebWasher
    WebWasher wins points for all the different platforms it covers. You can download it for Windows, Mac, or Linux, and it works with IE, Netscape, and Opera. Not only does WebWasher nix pop ups, it also squashes banner ads. It's free for personal use.

  5. Proxomitron
    This is my favorite free Web filter because it does so much. It kills pop-up ads, even those really annoying eye-blaster ads that fly across your screen. It also prevents cookies, nosey JavaScript, and the referring stuff that sites (like TechTV.com) use to indicate where you surfed in from. The only thing to watch out for: This download may slow down your surfing, depending on how many items you choose to filter.