‘Popups’ are a form of online advertising that open unexpectedly on your screen. Examples of popups include adverts for casinos, holidays, competition wins and surveys. It is best to close these windows immediately without answering the questions or clicking anywhere inside the advert.

If you are troubled by popups, you can get free software called a ‘Pop up stopper’ or ‘blocker’ to restrict most of these adverts. Unfortunately, some popups will always get through the net, and blocking popups can prevent some websites from working correctly.

‘Spyware’ is computer software that gathers and reports information about a computer user without the user's knowledge or consent e.g. it can track a user's downloads, web surfing habits, logins and passwords. Spyware is unwittingly installed when you install something else.

A good firewall and virus checking package will help to prevent spyware.

You can learn more about protecting your computer from these problems:

• www.itsafe.gov.uk (opens new window).
• www.getnetwise.org (opens new window).
• www.spywareremoversreview.com (opens new window).

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