Page 16 • Thursday, February 26, 2004
FEATURES
The Pendulum
ELITE Series: How to avoid annoying pop-up ads, e-mails
Laura Cunningham
Reporter
Elon students are constantly con
nected - connected to the Internet,
that is. The Internet has become a
significant part of college life and is
the fastest way to stay on top of the
news, play games, listen to music
and chat with friends.
With virus attacks, pop-up ads,
and spam added to the picture, the
Internet has lost some appeal.
Before losing all hope in new tech
nology, learn more about your
options to avoid excessive pop-ups,
mass e-mails and other potentially
harmful problems.
Viruses are an ever growing
issue with the Internet. The secret to
protecting yourself is simple -
update your anti-virus protection
and know what you’re clicking on.
Virus protection software such as
Norton Antivirus (http://www.nor-
ton.com) and McAfee,
(http://www.mcafee.com) can be
purchased from Student Computing
Services on Williamson Avenue.
Students on the campus networics
not using anti-virus software could
face a $50 fine if their computers
become infected.
Pop-up ads cause more problems
for regular Intemet users. You start
to search the Elon Web site when,
out of no where, a pop-up ad for
Viagra appears. You close the win
dow, trying to ignore the message. A
few seconds later, a Visa credit card
advertisement takes its place. This
continuous pop-up catastrophe can
continue for hours under certain cir
cumstances.
If your computer is experiencing
excessive pop-ups, you are most
likely infected with an Intemet par
asite. Pop-ups are more than a sim
ple annoyance.
Your activity on the Intemet is
watched through spyware, and spy-
ware installs software on your
machine that you did not consent to.
There are several solutions to lessen
the amount of the ads and to reduce
the threats to your security and
privacy.
Unfortunately, there is no real
solution for the annoying pop-up
ads because they are a legal form of
advertising. Free software is avail
able to combat some of these prob
lems though. Ad-Aware, Pop-Up
Stoppers, and Spybot are three pop
ular programs. Each can be down
loaded for free at http://www.down-
load.com.
Ad-Aware scans your RAM,
registry, hard drives and external
storage devices (basically, your
computer) for known tracking and
advertising components. Then, with
your instruction, it removes these
components from your computer.
Pop-up ads often come from track
ing components which have been
routed in your computer from previ
ously visited sites or downloads.
Ad-Aware minimizes the
amount of pop-ups because it elimi
nates many of the tracking compo
nents that allow these ads to recog
nize your computer system.
Pop-Up Stopper blocks any
types of pop-up screens on the
Intemet, therefore eliminating all
pop-up ads. In certain situations,
when the pop-up is wanted, you can
simply hold the control or shift key
to allow the • pop-up
5
Kristen Sween I Photographer
Pop-up ads are becoming a more prevalent problem among Intemet users.
Fortunately, there are various solutions that can help reduce the number of
such annoyances while you are surfing the web.
windows to show.
Spybot scans your computer for
spyware software and deletes these
programs with your permission.
This will ultimately provide you
with more security in using the
Intemet.
Downloading and running these
programs on a weekly basis will
help your computer run better, pro
vide you with more security protec
tion and ultimately make your
Intemet surfing more enjoyable.
Contact Laura Cunningham at pen-
dulum@eIon.edu or 278-7247.
Student organizations gain recognition through Web site design
Group sites provide easy communication with members, the public and prospective Elon students
Andrew Baker
Reporter
There is always something
going on around a college cam
pus. A lot of this has to do with the
fact that them are numerous stu
dent organizations on every col
lege ciimpus in America.
Now that more and more col
lege students are spending a lot of
time on the Intemet, these oi^gani-
zations na'd a presence on the
World Wide Web.
Here at Elon, there are more
than 10() student organizations,
many of which have Web sites.
Many of these Web sites are very
helpf^ul in communicating with
current members, recruiting new
ones and getting their message out
to the public.
Three oi^anizations on cam
pus that strive to send out their
mes.sage to students through their
Web sites include Hillel, Sweet
Signatures and Alpha Xi Delta.
“Our Web site gives prospec
Our Web site gives prospective freshmen and their parents the opportunity
to leam about Hillel and Jewish life at Elon. In fact, we get several e-mails a
week from prospective students who have visited the site.
—Li.'ia Beuerle, faculty adviser to Hillel
tive freshmen ;md their parents the
opportunity to leam about Hillel and
Jewish life at Elon,” said Lisa
Beuerle, faculty adviser for Hillel.
“In fact, we get several e-mails a
week from prospective students
who have visited our site.”
Beuerle also said that a primary
goal of the organization is to “foster
and promote relations between stu
dents and faculty.”
The Hillel Web site gives view
ers the chance to visit other Jewish
organizations sites on its links page,
view photos from group activities
and find out some general informa
tion about the organization.
Sweet Signatures, Elon’s only
all-female a cappela group, is anoth
er student organization on campus
that uses its Web site to its advan
tage.
“It is hard to get all 15 of us
together as a group at one time
unless we are at a concert, so this
Web site allows people to see all of
us and put faces with names,” said
Virginia Galvez, Sweet Signatures’
vice president.
There are two other big advan
tages to having a Sweet Signatures
Web site. Since Sweet Signatures is
a music group, it can sell its CDs
online, and the Web site gives con
sumers the information they need,
such as where to send checks and
how much CDs cost. Site visitors
can even listen to sample tracks
before they purchase the CDs.
The group’s Web site also allows
any other group or oi^anization to
contact the musical ensemble about
scheduling singing gigs by listing
contiict information.
The Alpha Xi Delta sorority also
manages a Web site. Their Web site
is important to the sorority because
it is full of information about its his
tory, photos, recruitment and philan
thropy.
“Our Web site really benefited
Alpha Xi Delta during ru.sh this
year,” said Kate Freeman, a member
of the sorority. “It really helps the
young girls put a face with the
members of the organization. Ttese
faces that match up with the name
of Alpha Xi Delta really help the
■girls feel more comfortable about
our organization.”
The sorority’s site is also impor
tant because it allows chapters
nationwide to see what the women
of Alpha Xi Delta are doing at Elon.
None of the student organiza-
tioas on campus would be able to
have Web sites if they did not have
their webmasters. These are the peo
ple who put their time into these
sites for their organizations and
maintain the sites.
How much time each one spends
really depends on what type of
organization is involved and how
much the group wants to include
online.
“It isn’t a difficult responsibility
as long as you ktx)w how to use the
programs and have good resources
for problems you encounter,” said
Megan Karrenbauer, Alpha Xi
Delta’s webmaster.
Contact Andrew Baker at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.