For all PCs, perhaps Macs as well: Pop-ups are those annoying ads that pop onto your screen as you browse various web sites. They offer free this or that, you've supposedly won a contest (which I'd bet most everyone does), other ads for the company's web site you are already visiting and plenty that have nothing to do with what you are looking for. In the past folks have had to drag these out of their way to see what they wanted to see, close them via the 'X' box in the corner of the ad and hope that they don't pop up again in the same time while on the same site. Once in a while you may hit a web site where the pop-ups seem to go crazy to the point that a multitude of ads or boxes open on your desktop and you cannot close them fast enough. Closing the browser and hoping it didn't freeze your computer beforehand sometimes was the only way to escape the onslaught. Fortunately some nice folks have come along with ways to keep these to a minimum or entirely eliminate them from your viewing experience. The best one I've found, for the best possible price - Free! - is located at Google. Please note the pop-up blocker requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. It does not appear to work with Netscape. This toolbar has the added feature of a little search area where you can input terms you are seeking information about, lets you know how many pop-ups it has blocked and various other options. >From Google's site for those who have Macs - The Google Toolbar is not currently available for the Mac. The good news though, is that Apple's Safari browser offers a Google search box, enabling you to perform Google searches directly from your address bar. Safari can be downloaded for free from http://www.apple.com/safari/ . Safari also can be configured to perform Google searches from its address bar. To learn how, visit http://www.google.com/options/defaults.html. Go to - http://toolbar.google.com/ and Download Google Toolbar. You will then be asked should you: Open the program and install it while you wait Save the program to your hard drive and install it later Cancel More Info Choose which option works best for you. Since this is a relatively tiny program, I save it to my downloads folder on my C drive. But if you choose to open the program it doesn't take long for it to install. Once you have it installed - you can type in pop-up blockers into Google search term area and find several more pop-up blockers that are available, some free and some not free. Since I've yet to see a pop-up come through since I installed the Google toolbar with the pop-up blocker - I've looked no further. Netscape has a built in pop up blocker. it can be activated by Edit > Preferences > Privacy and Security > Popup Windows and check the box. One can also selectively allow any site to bypass the pop up filter. ========================= End of lesson. ========================= Other: For those who've sent questions unless individual in nature, they will be included in lessons down the road. Please also be aware that I don't always download email every day during the work week. For those of you who have AOL, Compuserve and other domains owned by AOL - please be aware that you may/may not receive this and future letters at the time they are sent for AOL or a pretty consistant basis now blocks email from Rootsweb to its subscribers every few days. 554-(RLY:B1) The information presently available to AOL indicates this 554-server is generating high volumes of member complaints from AOL's 554-member base. Based on AOL's Unsolicited Bulk E-mail policy at 554-http://www.aol.com/info/bulkemail.html AOL may not accept further 554-e-mail transactions from this server or domain. For more information, 554 please visit http://postmaster.info.aol.com. ... while talking to mailin-03.mx.aol.com.: This apparently doesn't affect all AOL users but rather some with certain versions or settings on their AOL account. Should you not get your weekly lesson, please review the notices at http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ to see if AOL is once again blocking mail. Apparently AOL just doesn't understand that folks who subscribe to mailing lists actually wish to receive email from them. Tim