Apps Stop Annoying Pops

Is there anyone who doesnt hate the annoying pop-up windows that litter your Web path (not to mention your Windows tray)?

Dont Panic, Surf Pal and Pop-Up Stopper, three browser plug-ins from Panicware, attempt to put the power over pop-ups into users hands. All three essentially look for the code enabling the pop-ups and offer a variety of features and browser options, including sound alert, icon flash alert, panic button and clear cache.

Dont Panic, which costs about $30, offers the most options and is the most compatible, integrating with America Online, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. The $25 Surf Pal, with its simple Internet Explorer-integrated interface, proved quite useful.

I found that Pop-Up Stopper does its job too well—it prevented me from using any browser links to a new window, in effect becoming more of a nuisance than the pop-ups themselves. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for: Pop-Up Stopper is the one free option of the bunch. More information can be found at www.panicware.com.