I use Ad-Aware SE and SpywareBlaster, both free. I get no pop-ups at all except at a few random sites...nothing that floods my booting or usual surfing.
I don't know what they do, natch, except what they describe. Ad-Aware you already have, so you know what that does. It is kind of like weeding the garden.
SpywareBlaster does not stop the malware or adware, but it prevents the junk from working by placing protection on all files so that the malware can't communicate. (Hey, like I'm supposed to know how this works? :-) )
I have, besides these two, AVG virus protection, also free, which has blocked a lot, and the few viruses that did get through, it pinpointed them for quick location and removal, or ID'd them sufficient to go to the web for removal suggestions.
SpywareBlaster, which does nothing you can see, only has to be updated now and then. I believe this appy is the one that has just about eliminated my pop-up problems.
There is also a msn (Microsoft Network) function in the IE browser on which many pop-ups piggyback. I can't remember what I went into and clicked (or unclicked), but that also stopped a lot of the junk. (This was a couple of years ago. Google should be able to come up with this.)
Close, it's the Windows Messenger Protocol, which is used on Windows networks for status messages. WinXP SP2 has turned this service off, but if you need another way to get it, you can get Shoot the Messenger at Steve Gibson's site. While you're there, if you've got WinXP, you also want to get Unplug & Pray and The Dcombobulator.
These are "toggle" programs. Just copy them to your computer and run them. switching the service on or off, if you ever need to. There's NO reason that a home user should ever need these. While I'm thinking about it, you also need Socket to Me, and Socket Lock. Socket To Me is a test to see if you've got a vlunerability on your computer which can make it easier to hijack and use in a "distributed denial of service attack." Socket Lock disables that vulnerability.
And while you're at Steve's web site, you might also want to take the firewall leak test, just to see how effective your firewall is.
Mark