As far as I'm concerned, the most useful item to contol nuisances, after my anti-virus, is The Proxomitron. I use all the programs mentioned above, but I don't have to do nearly as many scans or fixes, because Proxo stops a lot of stuff before it gets to me. It is a 'proxy'...meaning I have told my browser to let Proxomitron look at everything first, and apply rules I decide on....so I often get a web page with [ad]
in various places, because I told Proxo not to show me certain types of ads...(even the [ad]
is optional....It can just delete them, but I like the reminder)

Here is a screenshot of maybe half of the built-in filters it can apply....note in the middle of the list ----pop-ups

http://home.comcast.net/~somethingextree/ProxoFilters.jpg
In my browser I have the defaults set to allow pop-ups, but in Proxo, I have it set to deny them...and if I arrive at a page where I want the popups or banners or advertising..etc...it is VERY quick to reach up and bypass Proxo for a moment, rather than going in and changing all my browser preferences.
The most common exception is where a page displays part of its content as a paste from another site...(to save space, get 'credits'...whatever)...Proxo is set to deny that trick unless I specifically allow it.

I sometimes am surprised how many of the problems I read about others having are avoided because it works so well...

try it...there are lot of places that offer help and special sets of filters (they are sort of javascript instructions, and hard to write unless you are eddicated in that stuff)