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Using AdAware and Mozilla are probably the best ways to deal with these pop-ups. However, a new type is starting up which has nothing to do with your browser.

Most current versions of Windows accept messages directly from their TCP/IP ports via the "messenger" service. Someone sends you a message and it pops up in the middle of your screen with an "OK" button to close it. So far they have no active content, but you don't even have to have a browser open to get them.

One of my friends was on the phone with a person who got a very intrusive pop-up. The window informed them that "Windows had detected security problems on their machine". They were directed to a commercial URL to get a solution to the problem. It looked very official. This type of advertising is fraudulent. The person was alarmed by the message, but my friend recognized it and had them close the window.

Apparently, there is a business which sells the software which will send these types of messages. This person was connected with a dial-up on AOL. Supposedly, any good firewall will block them. I would suspect that since they are based on TCP/IP, ZoneAlarm (free) should block them.