Sick of excessive advertising? Use these apps to kill bad ads

Surfing the Web can be like navigating a minefield of advertising. One site will put cookies in your Web browser; another will bombard you with pop-up ads. Some programs even contain spyware that'll keep trying to sell you things long after you've deleted the original program. Preston comes to the rescue with three downloads that'll zap those ads.

What are the some of the things that annoy you most about using the Internet? How about pop-up ads--no, thanks, I do not want a miniature camera! Or maybe Web sites putting cookies on your system tops your list of annoyances. Perhaps you hate "spyware"--modules in free software that deliver ads to your computer.

ZDNet Asia Downloads to the rescue! I've rounded up three programs that will get rid of those annoying problems.

Pop-Up Stopper kills those annoying pop-up windows whenever you surf the Web. Say good-bye to come-ons for cameras, credit cards, and more. (Shareware/Win95-98-NT)

Ad-Aware scans your system and removes "spyware" modules from it--small ad servers that some free programs use to deliver advertising to your system. Some free programs leave these modules behind even after they're deleted, and Ad-Aware kills them dead. (Shareware/Win95-98-NT)

Cookie Crusher gives you control over what cookies are put on your system. You can also delete cookies already on your system and delete multiple cookies at a time. (Shareware/Win95-98-NT)

So use these three annoyance killers and start enjoying the Internet again.

How do you combat cookies and spyware? TalkBack to me.