Internet Explorer 6.0 could end pop-ups forever.

Essay by knacker5000University, Bachelor'sB+, May 2004

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Pop-up advertisements have invaded home computers for years, but analysts believe that the internet's most hated form of advertising will meet its match with IE (Internet Explorer) 6.0 upgrade, which will hit home August 2004.

Microsoft, the Washington based software corporation recently indicated that it will add pop-up blocking features to its next update of the popular IE web browser. With the addition of the Windows Security Center to the control panel of IE, internet advertisers fear the changes could eliminate the pop-up market forever.

"If this upgrade actually works," Keith Richards, a Corpus Christi internet entrepreneur said, "I think the use of pop-up ads will decrease dramatically, saving everyday users a lot of...clicks."

Pop-up ads have been around since the dot-com bust, and have grown into a market allowing publishers to advertise at a very cheap price. Web page hosts can serve many pop-up windows at a time, because they don't take up much room on a web page.

Statistics from Advertising.com, which serves pop-ups ads for clients, reports that the average pop-up receives 14 times more hits than the previous banner ad type of advertisement. On the negative side, however, 95.3 percent of ESPN.com and Yahoo.com user report pop-up ads as their least favorite part of their internet experience. Billy Luther, market analyst for MSN estimates that 30 percent of their clients use some type of anti-pop-up software. "The number of blockers will most likely double if the customer is given a free and effective way to block ads with IE," Luther said.

Microsoft isn't the only company trying to do something about the increasing use of pop-ups. Popular search engines WebCrawler and Google, have utilized specialized toolbars to block unwanted ads. Both companies recently embedded anti-pop-up features in their toolbars which will let customers choose to receive...