Simply go to Google and get their new tool bar. There's no spyware in it except for Page Ranker which can easily be turned off in options. Also included is a Pop-up blocker which works better than any of the others I've used.

another vote for the google toolbar - I've played with a few pop-up blockers in the past, and google's is the only one that has worked well without being a hassle to use.

As others said, use mozilla. Much more secure for browsing than IE.

Ad-aware and webwasher do the trick for me.

I use the google bar. I find it invaluable. It stops pop ups and can quicky search the web to answer questions in forums very quickly.

depends on what type your talking about. if your speaking of the ones that popup when your browsing on the internet then use the popup stoppers that everyone is speaking of. if your talking about the windows messenger ones there are other ways than turning off a windows component to stopping those.

on the PC, I reccomend using Opera, on the Mac, use Safari, both block pop-ups rather well. Also, meantime, go get as-aware from www.adaware.com and clean all the spyware crap off your system!

The Google task bar has a pretty fine popup-blocker. And a neat counter right in the middle that keeps count of how many adverts you didnt have to see :-)

Amazed no-one has mentioned MyIE2. It uses the IE engine (ie compatibility) but has a whole load of other features, one of which is a popup-and-inline-ad-killer. Try it out!

spyboy and adaware to check for spyware. googles toolbar does a really good job with popups

i find google toolbar works really well, it lets some popups through, but usually the ones you want when you have clicked on things. Ive tried other popup blockers before and you usally had to turn them off to get the popups you wanted.

This program requires some advanced configuration, the interface doesnt look very professional at first sight (however its customizable to some extent), but its extremely thorough and customizable.
It can filter anything you can think of out of a web page. Its customizable and you can create your own advanced filters. It really does too much to list, although some of it is on the excessive side.
The problems are that its not being worked on any longer, and I still should probably look for other web filters that may be better. Also, when a user tries the program out, it may not work exactly the way he wants, and he'll give up before bothering to understand and custom-configure the settings (there several config files to chose from, but even then its hard to find the right one for you). Really though the program is configurable beyond comparison, it can even change headers and cookies. I'm currently looking for a way to deal with gamespy arcade pop-ups.

URL: proxomitron.info
the (dead)project page is at geocities.com/srl_list/index.html

Second, in regards to Ad-aware and alike programs, Spybot SD is a free and surpassing alternative. It stays up-to-date on its databases. Can be run in advanced mode. It also has an interesting feature of immunizing from some possible future infections. Like preventing you (or your little kids or siblings) from installing more sneaky spyware again.
URL: security.kolla.de

Google toolbar is pretty good for its quick search, highlighting, and convenience features though, it supposedly stopped 26,000 pop-ups in a few short days. LOL somebody's been visiting too many shady sites

I use EMS Free Surfer Mk II, possibly the best pop up blocker I've come across. Download it here. It features a "Natural" mode, which blocks most annoying pop-up ads, and a "Strict" mode which blocks ALL pop up ads. It also features a nifty little add-on that automatically clears your cache, cookies, recently downloaded files, whenever you ask it to, or whenever you have it scheduled to.

The following are spyware/adware scanners/removers
You can download SpyBot: Search and Destroy here.
You can download Ad-aware 6.0 here.
I would recommend downloading both Spyware/Adware programs.

Spyware Blaster blocks all annoying bad ActiveX installation prompts, but allows the good ones through. Download it here.

I've also used WebWasher and P.O.W, both of which are alternative Pop-Up blockers.

yea use the google toolbar, but if its those shitty XP messenger pop ups, then you have to go to control panel > admnistrative tools > services or some garbage to turn those off, search for it, doesnt anyone do that anymore?

I downloaded the Google toolbar. It's quite handy and has a button wich allows you to allow pop-ups on a site or not